As Hawaii’s 2022 legislative session approaches its scheduled end on May 5, the number of approved bills sent to Gov. David Ige for action is building.
As of Friday more than 55 bills had been sent to the governor for consideration, including one that spells out general grounds for impeaching a governor or lieutenant governor.
Not all of the bills received by Ige will likely become law. But nine already have, including one providing a $170 million bridge loan for the state Department of Health to cover past and future COVID-19 mitigation expenses.
On average during the past decade or so, about 250 bills a year have become law, or roughly 1 in 10 bills introduced in the same year.
This year lawmakers introduced 2,505 bills. Another 2,820 bills were introduced in 2021, and
several dozen of them have been taken up this year, with some potentially becoming law under the Legislature’s two-year term, or biennium.
At the March 10 midpoint of this year’s session, 890 bills had advanced past a procedural deadline to stay in contention for final passage, though many of those measures have stalled since then.
Among the early new laws enacted with urgency this year is an appropriation to keep the Health Department from running out of money for coronavirus mitigation work that includes vaccinations, testing and medical staffing surges.
Such spending is due to be fully reimbursed by the federal government, but DOH officials said that in the meantime they need state funding amounting to
$99.4 million for the fiscal year ending June 30 and $71 million next fiscal year.
The agency asked for “expeditious consideration” of the funding measure, House Bill 2392, because of concern that available funds would run out during the current fiscal year’s final quarter, which began April 1.
“As we are approaching the fourth quarter, the department does not have funds available to continue to front costs and wait for reimbursement while maintaining our current level of services to the state and community,” the agency said in written testimony March 23.
Ige on April 12 signed the bill to create Act 5.
Another bill that drew expedient attention aimed to fix a recently declared defect in pending criminal complaints filed by Hawaii prosecutors.
A December Hawaii Supreme Court ruling dismissed a domestic abuse case based on what law enforcement officials described as ambiguous and antiquated language in a 130-year-old procedural law. As a result of the ruling, more than 1,000 pending misdemeanor and petty misdemeanor cases had to be dismissed.
Act 2, derived from HB 1541, updated the old law, which governs who must sign complaints notifying defendants of criminal charges brought against them, so that it matched long-established court practices. The revised law enacted March 28 allows most of the dismissed cases to be refiled.
The first new law from this year’s session provided funding for the Legislature and related service agencies that include the Office of the Auditor, Legislative Reference Bureau and state Ethics Commission.
The act stemming from HB 2500 took effect March 14.
Several of the early bills awaiting action by Ige, as well as a couple he already signed, address bureaucratic housekeeping issues and aren’t going to make significant differences in the lives of Hawaii residents.
Among those measures is an annual bill to adjust state tax law to conform with federal tax law changes, a measure to abolish a couple of obsolete statutes, and restoring state permit authority over federal landfills in Hawaii that was inadvertently removed by legislation enacted two years ago aimed at limiting new landfill development near homes.
One bill awaiting action by Ige would
elaborate on the Legislature’s constitutional authority to remove a governor or lieutenant governor from office.
Under Hawaii’s Constitution the House of Representatives has the sole power to lodge charges of impeachment, while the Senate acts as the jury in such a case. The Constitution also states that a governor or lieutenant governor may be removed from office upon conviction of impeachment for “such causes as may be provided by law.”
No such causes are defined in state law, according to HB 1339, a bill the House passed in 2021.
The House Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs explained its rationale for the measure in a 2021 report that said the impeachment process should be clearly articulated “before any specific circumstance arises that creates an immediate need for it.”
HB 1339 lists causes for impeachment as “malfeasance in office, corruption, dereliction of duty, or other high crimes or misdemeanors.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee took up and advanced the bill in March, and earlier this month the full Senate and House approved the bill and sent it to Ige on April 12.
Jodi Leong, deputy communications director for Ige, said Friday that the governor needed to complete a review of the bill before commenting or acting on the measure.
Under Hawaii’s Constitution the governor this year has 10 working days to either sign or veto any bills delivered on or before April 18. If neither action is taken, the bills become law.
Bills delivered to the governor this year after April 18 will become law if signed or not vetoed by July 12. The governor has until June 27 to inform the Legislature of an intention to veto any such bills.
Since the last day of the 60-day legislative session is May 5, to override any vetoed bills, the Legislature would have to convene a special session at or before noon July 12 and muster a two-thirds majority vote.
