Hawaii's Supreme Court has found our State legislature guilty of repeated violations of the State's Constitution . . . violations that went on for more than a decade
Past laws, illegal, now need to be culled and repealed
For the past at least ten years, our legislature has been introducing and passing laws that have been in violation of the State's Constitution, according to a recent Supreme Court ruling.
If our system of lawmaking is to retain any semblance of credibility, all of the laws that were legislated through this reoccurring illegal process need to be culled out and repealed as expeditiously as possible.
Since Hawaii's government leadership isn't pono enough to find the means to police itself, it's up to us, the residents who are affected by this illegal legislation, to demand justice. The legislature was called to the carpet by a lawsuit filed by The League of Women Voters of Honolulu and Common Cause Hawaii. Since public input is mostly ignored by our legislators, it seems likely that lawsuits may be the only effective way to communicate with them.
In fact, this may be a good opportunity for every resident in Hawaii to have their voice heard, loud and clear: every citizen in this State should consider signing on to a class action lawsuit demanding that all of the legislation passed illegally over the last ten years be repealed and, if necessary, reintroduced following the letter of the law. There should be no ambivalence or hesitation in doing this, as this would send a strong message from the people of Hawaii and set the tone for all future legislative processes, and would restore whatever remains of the credibility of our lawmaking system.
They lied to you . . .
Senate President, Ronald D. Kouchi (representing Kauai and Niihau), and House Speaker, Scott Saiki (representing McCully, Kaheka, Kakaako, Downtown), flat out lied — under oath — to their constituents and the people of Hawaii when they said that they would uphold and protect Hawaii's constitution. Instead, they knowingly violated it — not just once, but repeatedly over at least the last ten years.
And remarkably, when finally found guilty, their responses ranged from being "disappointed" that they had to follow the constitution, to they were confused about how to proceed, now that they had to follow the rules. While this might have made a wonderful SNL skit, the sad truth is that we trusted these people and now they've outed themselves for their agendas and who they really are — none of it beneficial to the people of Hawaii.
This is the stuff of dystopian political landscapes
The illegal manipulation of agenda items within any given piece of legislation has been going on for decades — in clear violation of Article 3, section 14 of Hawaii's State constitution. Textbook example, SB795 2021. Not only was the core premise of the so-called "fair market value" rationale based on a fraudulent appraisal (and in court because of this), the agenda items shoehorned together in that same bill were mutually exclusive, in violation of the constitution (Article 3, section 14).
But your legislators, most of them dead silent during committee hearings (leaving one to wonder if they weren't catching up on some sleep or had cut out on the hearing shortly after roll call), and clearly clueless about the details surrounding the measure, voted, with but a single dissent, to allow the illegal and unconstitutional bill to proceed. During that whole legislative process, there was only one single lucid comment in dissent — coming from Representative Tina Wildberger (Kihei, Wailea, Makena) — questioning the murky basis of SB795. One dissent. (Watch as legislators are brutally conned by a minor DLNR administrator, here.)
It appears that a move towards a class action lawsuit demanding the repeal of all laws passed unconstitutionally (according to the recent Supreme Court ruling) may be our only option. This one single act could transform our legislative process into a more equitable and pono lawmaking system here in Hawaii.