Column: Not hearing from the public in person is a big loss for lawmakers, good lawmaking

Legislators need in-person public participation at the state Capitol probably more than the public needs legislators at this time. The Capitol has been closed down, and now boarded up since 2020. Driving by, residents see massive plywood boards closing off access. They look like billboards saying “Government is Shut,” but it’s only shut to the public.

In my 30 years in the state House of Representatives, I saw time and again how important and impactful testifiers could be at committee hearings. In the Water and Land Committee in the 1990s, Windward farmer Charlie Reppun would calmly and knowingly explain to committee members how certain bills needed to be amended if we really were going to help local farming. This didn’t happen with written testimony, and it didn’t happen with Zoom-type hearings. Face to face, we could question Charlie and others, and the back-and-forth dialogue resulted in far better bills moving forward.

Hawaii’s Thousand Friends and Sierra Club both were dedicated participants in the legislative process. Donna Wong and Robert Harris, members of those respective advocacy group, didn’t “rest on their testimony,” as some committee chairpeople hopefully proposed; they walked to the conference table, laid out their positions, stood up to hard and sometimes offensive questions, and most times succeeded in convincing the majority of committee members to change their minds.

Remember PLDC? The Public Land Development Corporation, where an unelected body would have vast control over public lands and their development? The PLDC did make it through the Legislature and became a short-lived law — but environmental groups mounted challenges, testified in person and convinced a majority of legislators to take an unusual step and repeal the law.

The Public Defender, ACLU and the Prosecutor’s Office all stood up to interrogation during Judiciary Committee hearings, with the result that members usually passed more balanced bills. When different coalitions formed to support or oppose legislation, their physical presence and live testimony was important for legislators. In some cases, one side won and one side lost, but all recognized they were given the opportunity to speak out at our state Capitol and be heard in person. Isn’t that what a democracy should be?

And I’ll disclose a tactic that some of us used to defeat bills that would harm our environment or natural resources. At critical times, in Water, Land or Energy, Environmental Protection committees, when the chairpersons were dictatorially controlling the process to pass what a “dissident minority” group of members knew was bad for our environment, we used the questioning process to publicly show flaws in the bills. Back and forth went the questions and testifiers’ answers in front of a live audience, until it became obvious to the chairperson that he/she no longer could push this bill through as drafted. Important victories for Hawaii’s land and water, and they only could be accomplished in an open public forum at the state Capitol.

Lobbyists are skilled at getting their messages across to legislators. But the public’s voice is ever more important now. The closed Capitol effectively silences our community and results in legislators loosing out on sound advice, and heartfelt reasoning. Lock them out and someday soon, they may no longer care. It’s the legislators’ loss.

Cynthia Thielen is a former representative in the state House, 1990-2020.