Capitol gradually reopens with ‘hybrid environment’

The state Capitol continues to reopen to the public, a move applauded by the League of Women Voters of Hawaii, which wants even greater access.

“The league has been urging this in writing,” Janet Mason, a member of the League’s legislative committee, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Thursday. “We sent a letter to the legislators in February urging that the Capitol be reopened.”

The Capitol has been gradually reopening as the state continues to recover from the peak of the COVID- 19 pandemic, which forced the closure of the Capitol in early 2020.

On Thursday the state House announced it would accept three types of testimony on bills, calling the development a “hybrid environment.” The Legislature will accept written, videoconference and in- person testimony for public hearings.

For people wanting to testify in person, a photo ID is required to enter the Capitol. Visitors will receive a wristband after going through a security checkpoint.

“As we enter the new year, we welcome the public back to the Capitol, and encourage residents to exercise their civic kuleana by engaging in the legislative process,” House Vice Speaker Greggor Ilagan (D, Hawaiian Paradise Park-Hawaiian Beaches-Leilani Estates) said in a statement.

State Rep. Gene Ward said it’s about time that the public is allowed back into the Capitol to testify in person.

“We have missed them for two years, and it’s not the same passing bills without seeing people, hearing their voices and having the deliberative process face-to-face,” Ward (R, Hawaii Kai-Kalama Valley) told the Star- Advertiser on Thursday.

The legislative session starts Jan. 18 and is scheduled to convene at 10 a.m. Public access to the Capitol is scheduled for 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The Capitol was shut down for the 2022 legislative session due to COVID-19. The Senate and House responded by conducting floor sessions and hearings remotely, which had been requested for years by neighbor island and rural communities.

Not only was the Capitol closed for the 2022 session, security also was heightened due to the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol. Barricades and fences went up at the state Capitol as protection from rioters.

The barricades and fences have since been removed. What remains are 8-foot plywood boards that surround portions of the Capitol for ongoing renovations to the building’s street-level ponds.

The plywood boards are not related to security, but nevertheless send a bad image to the public that the Capitol remains off limits, said state Sen. Angus McKelvey (D, West Maui-Maalaea-Waikapu-South Maui).

“It conveys a sense of being closed off and that you’re not wanted,” McKelvey said. “But the reason why it was erected is because the Capitol pond became structurally unsound, and water was leaking into the garage down below.”

McKelvey suggested that schoolchildren be invited to come down and paint murals on the fence, as it would send a positive message to the public.

“We still need to use those separators for the pond, but what better than the children who are expressing their artistic view about Hawaii?” said McKelvey, chair of the Senate Government Operations Committee.

Prior to the pandemic, neighbor island and rural residents pleaded for years for alternative ways to testify other than having to appear in person, McKelvey said.

“The most important thing I can impart about the new reopening is how important keeping this hybrid system in place is for neighbor islanders,” McKelvey said. “We have often been disproportionately unrepresented when it comes to public testimony because it is very hard for our people to get to Honolulu.”

Mason, of the League of Women Voters of Hawaii, said it’s important for the public to be involved in government decisions that affect everyone.

“Citizens have the right to know what is going on with government operations, including the Legislature,” Mason said. “Opening the Capitol again and making it possible for us to participate with these methods of testifying is wonderful, and it’s consistent with our having the right to know.”