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Legislative Wrap-Up

No Special Legislative Session - All 32 Vetoes Stand

Despite calls and threats from public employee unions to Democrats to call a special session to override all of Governor Linda Lingle’s vetoes, Democrats wisely did not bite. No special session was held.

Governor Linda Lingle vetoed 5 bills prior to the end of the Session on May 4 and on July 11 she returned 27 bills to the State Legislature without her approval.

The Governor said, “Our Administration evaluated each bill based on its merits, as well as whether it was legal, constitutional and fiscally sound.”

“I have a responsibility to consider the long-term impact of allowing a bill to become law, including any potential unintended consequences. After an extensive review process, which in many cases included meeting with various parties who testified on the bills and taking into consideration communications from the public, I have decided that it is in the best interest of the public not to allow these measures to become law.”

On June 26, Governor Lingle notified the Legislature that she was considering 28 bills for potential vetoes. One of the bills on the list, HB2595, which relates to family visits for incarcerated persons, will become law without the Governor’s signature. The remaining 27 have been vetoed.

These vetoes bring the total number of bills vetoed for the 2006 legislative session to 32. This represents 9 percent of the 354 bills passed by the Legislature this year, the lowest percentage of vetoes in the past four sessions.
In total, the Governor signed or allowed to become law without her signature 318 bills this session, approximately 90 percent of the bills that were passed. Four of the bills passed this session call for constitutional amendments, which do not receive act numbers and cannot be vetoed.

A complete list of the vetoes and statements of objections for each bill can be found on the Governor’s Web site at http://tinyurl.com/o2evu.

The worst anti business bills are highlighted in bold type below left — the very worst being the Unemployment Compensation tax bill, SB 2190. SBH congratulates the Governor for vetoing these very harmful bills and for signing positive measures.

While this SB News went to press prior to the July 25 candidate filing deadline, there still were a few surprises. Another state legislator, State Rep. Bertha Kawakami, powerful Kauai Democrat, announced in July she would not seek re-election.

Businessman, MidWeek columnist and Vietnam War POW, Jerry Coffee, announced on July 11 that he would seek a U.S. Senate seat as a Republican. He will face Mark Beatty in the September 23 primary. Businessman and community leader, Paul Smith (R), will challenge State Senator Suzanne Chun Oakland (D) in Nuuanu/Pacific Heights. Also, State Senator Gordon Trimble may face off against Congressman Neil Abercrombie if he wins the Primary against Mark Terry and Noah Hough. This is the largest number of Republican contested primaries in recent memory signalling a new aggressiveness on the part of Republicans, outnumbered in the state Legislature, 4-1.