Maybe it’s the fallout from the false missile alert and the utter disgust Hawaii is feeling about local government’s ability to do its job.
Maybe it’s because the most prevalent complaint about local lawmakers is that they never get things done.
But here we are in an election year, a time when lawmakers are thought to play it safe, and it looks like maybe stuff might be happening. Big stuff, too, not just small stuff that’s all photo op but no appreciable impact.
This week at the state legislature, a proposal to legalize medical aid in dying advanced out of two House committees. It will move to the full House of Representatives next week for a floor vote. It would give patients with terminal illnesses who have less than six months to live the option of asking a physician for a lethal dose of medication. Anyone who has ever stood at the bedside of a formerly strong-as-an-ox parent or spouse who was so sick they were begging to be set free knows this is an option that a compassionate society must allow, albeit with safeguards. If the House approves the bill, it will cross over to the Senate, which has supported medical aid in dying in the past. Gov. David Ige has said he would sign the measure into law. This option is not for everyone, of course, but for those who are of sound mind but facing great suffering before their death, it is a blessing. People have been fighting for this at the Legislature for close to 20 years.
And just this week the Honolulu City Council waded through a stack of proposals and managed to pass a two-year moratorium on the building of large-scale apartment-type houses, which have become known as “monster houses.” The bill was approved unanimously, and Mayor Kirk Caldwell has indicated that he will sign it. The measure would ban building permits for homes with a floor area that exceeds 70 percent of the lot area and caps the number of bathrooms and wet bars, crucial features of an apartment building masquerading as a home in a neighborhood not zoned for mixed use.
It’s just putting on the brakes while the Council takes time to work out permanent options for getting hold of the proliferation of these ominous unregulated behemoths rising up in older neighborhoods. But still, it was bold. This was a problem that had the feel of being already out of control. It took too long for the city to notice what was happening, and then there was the false pushback that claimed these were all extended family members pooling their money to live under one roof. It took the diligence of community members to prove that assertion wrong and to make sure the city did its job. But it did, and the moratorium is as surprising as it is significant in the effort to get government to listen to voters, not just to donors.
There are other recent things, too, like plans to incentivize building owners to install fire sprinklers and a bold idea to have an independent authority take over our wretched airport. Things that seemed like they were going nowhere are suddenly moving.
Maybe it was the false missile alert. Maybe it woke up the electorate to demand better, and maybe it shook those in office to make them want to do better. Platitudes aren’t cutting it at the moment. People want real change.
Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.
