A compromise bill that would allow Hawaii Superferry to resume service while the state conducts an environmental review is ready for a final vote tomorrow after the state Senate approved it yesterday and state House committees moved it to the House floor.

The state Senate voted 20-5 in favor of the bill but several senators voted with reservations because they were uncomfortable about coming back into special session to overturn the courts and help Superferry. The House committees sent the Senate's version to the floor without any changes, but only after lawmakers spent much of the afternoon and evening questioning Gov. Linda Lingle and the Superferry's president on the circumstances that led to a special session.

State House and Senate leaders, meeting almost daily in private, have kept the bill on track for passage before the session is scheduled to adjourn tomorrow. In Senate floor speeches and at the House committee hearings yesterday, however, it was apparent that many individual lawmakers are distressed by the process while others took the opportunity to interrogate Lingle over her administration's handling of the project.

State Sen. Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Manoa, McCully), said the state could not let the divisions caused by the Superferry debate to fester in the Islands.

"At this point, only legislative action can begin to balance the legitimate concerns between those who seek a viable transportation alternative and those who expect that the laws to protect our environment will be carried out," Taniguchi told senators. "We must accept our responsibility as legislators, no matter who is to blame, to address the concerns of a divided community, because only by taking some kind of action can we begin to bring healing to these divisions."

HIGH COURT RULING

The state Supreme Court ruled in August that an environmental review of the Superferry project was necessary, while the Maui court ruled this month that Superferry could not use Kahului Harbor until the review was completed.

Yesterday, it was obvious that several senators were conflicted but were bowing to what they believe is a majority in the state that wants the interisland ferry. Fourteen senators voted with reservations. All five of the senators who voted against the bill are from the Neighbor Islands, where concern about the ferry's potential impact on the environment is greatest.

State Sen. Sam Slom, R-8th (Kahala), said it was appropriate for the Legislature to step in and respond to the Maui court ruling.

"After all, the buck stops here," Slom said. "It is the Legislature that makes the law. It's the Legislature that determines what we do. It's the Legislature that has the responsibility and, ultimately, the decision-making for what happens within our state."

State Sen. J. Kalani English, D-6th (E. Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i), one of the senators who voted "no," said he expects legal challenges over whether the bill is constitutional. He said the bill is written only for the Superferry despite generic language describing it as a "large capacity ferry vessel company."

"That is what we're doing here, we're passing a bill for a single interest," English said.

In the House, House leaders had wanted the original Superferry bill introduced last Wednesday to survive but had also said they were open to the Senate's version, which includes operating conditions to protect whales and deter the spread of invasive species.

The Senate bill would require Superferry to apply for an incidental-take permit from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and restrict unpermitted rocks, soil, dirt or sand other than soil in inspected potted plants. The Lingle administration would impose other operating conditions. An oversight task force would monitor the ferry and report monthly to the Legislature, which would have the discretion to add conditions next session. The state auditor would investigate the Lingle administration's review of the project.

FINAL PASSAGE

State House Speaker Calvin Say, D-20th (St. Louis Heights, Palolo Valley, Wilhelmina Rise), said House lawmakers are heading toward final passage tomorrow.

"I really don't care for the operating conditions, but if that was what it took to get the vote in the Senate, what can I say?" he said.

The two House committees that met jointly on the Senate bill yesterday voted last night to send it to the floor. Only two lawmakers, state Rep. Mele Carroll, D-13th (E. Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i), and state Rep. Faye Hanohano, D-4th (Puna, Pahoa, Hawaiian Acres), voted against the bill, although several voted with reservations.

Lingle appeared at the House committee hearing to answer questions at the request of state Rep. Marcus Oshiro, D-39th (Wahiawa), who noted that the Republican governor did not testify last week.

LINGLE QUESTIONED

Oshiro confronted Lingle about her administration's 2005 decision to exempt the Superferry project from an environmental assessment, which led to legal challenges by environmentalists and, ultimately, the court rulings. Oshiro asked why the administration fought bills requiring an environmental impact statement for the project in the years before the ferry launched.

Lingle told Oshiro that the House also was opposed to requiring an environmental impact statement for the Superferry project when the Senate offered a bill last session. The governor said lawmakers had a clear choice of either passing the bill or losing the ferry service.

State Rep. Joseph Souki, D-8th (Wailuku, Waihe'e, Waiehu), who as chairman of the House Transportation Committee made the decision not to hear the Senate proposal last session, cut Oshiro off with the gavel and briefly recessed the hearing when Oshiro kept pressing the governor.

"This is checks and balances, folks," Oshiro told his colleagues. "This is democracy."

Lingle said afterward that she thought the tone of the questions from lawmakers was fair, "except for Representative Oshiro, who just either has a different opinion or an ax to grind."

Lingle also predicted that the operating conditions the administration comes up with for Superferry will not satisfy everyone. Superferry executives have said they could be back in service within 10 days of the Legislature taking action.

"I think it's important to note and I'm going to predict it in advance, Superferry's going to think I put too many conditions on them and the opponents are going to think I didn't put enough," the governor said.

Under questioning by lawmakers, John Garibaldi, the Superferry's president and chief executive officer, said if the Legislature does not act and the ferry were to leave, it would likely have to agree to a two- to three-year lease in another market. He said there would be even less of a chance it would return to the Islands.

"I think with everything they're hearing today, I think it's giving them a good appreciation of the situation that we're in and their vital role in coming up with a resolution," he said afterward. "We're very appreciative of all their efforts."

Asked if he believes the Legislature is close to an agreement, Garibaldi said: "I'll tell you on Wednesday."

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.