North Shore preservation deal brings relief, regret
By Derrick DePledge and Sarah Zoellick, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The 48-2 vote was an emphatic endorsement for conservation on
Gov.
"Do we take a chance of an opportunity to preserve a precious piece of coastline forever, to stop the wheels of development, to give the community time to secure this asset? Or do we let this opportunity slip like sand through our fingers?" Rep.
Through a unique financing scheme, the state and the
The vote was a relief for
"We're absolutely thrilled with the House passage of this important measure," said
House Bill 2434, which cleared the
"This vote marks the culmination of years of effort to secure the future of the
"Like everyone on the
Yet many lawmakers felt uncomfortable, even resentful, about the lack of details on the agreement with
Sen.
The bill technically had the three readings in the
Luke said that it is "our duty to bend sometimes those rules to accommodate extraordinary situations, and this is one such situation."
But Rep.
Oshiro called Abercrombie's role "a debacle."
"I'll call it was it is, because it puts every single member -- all 76 of us -- in a very terrible position of a devil's bargain," he said. "You win on one hand, you lose on the other hand. Policy good -- process bad."
Rep.
"While opportunity is always a seductive prospect, hindsight has been unkind to
FOR SOME lawmakers there was also the twinge of hypocrisy at work. Environmentalists have often joined with good-government advocates to wail about procedural tools like "gut and replace" when trying to block legislation they oppose. Common Cause Hawaii and the
Rep.
"If we let our rules dictate everything, sometimes we're not going to be able to accomplish that."
While
The House killed a bill that would have explored a state land exchange with Castle & Cooke to help acquire and preserve some 20,000 acres of
House Majority Leader
Kim had asked House leaders not to kill the bill, explaining that she should not have allowed the manufacturing tax credit bill to go to conference without first checking with Dela Cruz.
But House Speaker
"No, we don't believe in retaliation," Souki said.
Lawmakers approved a bill that would increase the salary cap for the state schools superintendent to
The
Lawmakers also said farewell to some of their colleagues.
Ige, chairman of the
House and Senate, Ige mentioned his work in advancing the state technologically while improving public access, enacting education reform, establishing charter schools, adopting auto insurance reform, pushing for Hawaiian-language immersion education and implementing the
"We may not agree on all the issues, but it's very clear that we are all committed to serve the people of
In the House, lawmakers recognized Rep.
Takai, who has served in the House for two decades, said that "we are all here in
Unofficially, the House also likely marked the end of the leadership coalition between Souki, dissident Democrats and minority Republicans, which will probably not survive after this year's elections.
House Minority Leader
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