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Following nearly two years of COVID-19-related emergency proclamations issued by Gov. David Ige, the state House plans to consider legislation that would allow lawmakers to restrict the governor’s ability to issue future emergency proclamations through a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate.
“We’ll be revisiting the issue again,” state Sen. President Ron Kouchi told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser’s Spotlight Hawaii livestream program on Wednesday. “ … As COVID has remained such a powerful force in our community, and the length of the emergency continues to get extended, we’ll revisit it.”
Last year, a bill that would have curtailed the governor’s emergency powers and given the Legislature more oversight over the extension of emergency proclamations failed to make the final cut of bills forwarded to Ige’s desk.
House Speaker Scott Saiki told Spotlight Hawaii that “the issue there was not necessarily the power itself, because the governor should have emergency powers, especially when there’s a natural disaster. I think the issue was the length of time that these orders were in effect — they were basically in effect for almost two years. As a result, what we saw was there were times when the orders were confusing or conflicted with what the counties were issuing.”
A House proposal would allow the Legislature to vote down a future proclamation “in whole or in part when an order has gone on too long and is creating confusion,” Saiki said.
Under the proposal, legislators who oppose future proclamations issued outside of the regular legislative session would then have to meet in a special, one-day session to take action, Saiki said.
But Kouchi said that the Legislature likely would be criticized for the extra cost for holding a special session.
Another showdown is likely over Ige’s budget proposal to infuse the state’s Rainy Day Fund with $1 billion as the economy heats up and tax revenues rise.
“I don’t think that that will survive the legislative process this year,” Saiki said. “Because I think what we need to do is to use these extra tax revenues to fund some of the needs that are unmet and have suffered over the past few years. … We should fix things that need to be fixed now that we have this additional tax revenue.”
Additionally, Saiki and Kouchi announced that — for now — the state Capitol again will be closed to the public because of rising concerns over COVID-19.
Saiki said “it was a painful decision” to announce the closure, and that he and Kouchi and other legislative leaders “agonized over it for weeks.”
The Legislature convenes what is supposed to be a 60-day session on Jan. 19 and is scheduled to adjourn on May 5, barring a special session.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Kouchi said while lawmakers had intended to reopen the Capitol on Monday, “with delta and omicron variant positive COVID-19 cases in the several thousands, the Senate is in agreement with the House of Representatives that in an abundance of caution, the Capitol should not be opened at the present time.”
Saiki noted in the closure announcement that the decision is designed “to minimize the spread of COVID-19 among members, staff, visitors and other building occupants. The building status will be reevaluated in the coming weeks.”
Senate and House floor sessions and hearings will be held remotely and Saiki told Spotlight Hawaii that plans will be announced on how the public can submit testimony.
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