A bill restricting the governor's emergency powers would interfere with her ability to deal with unanticipated public health crises, the administration says.

However, lawmakers who favor the bill say Gov. Linda Lingle abused her emergency powers when dealing with homeless people on the Leeward Coast.

They say she improperly set aside procurement and environmental laws to build a shelter and pooled unspent money the Legislature had appropriated to other agencies.

The emergency powers legislation, which the Senate sent to the governor for her signature yesterday, seeks to limit the ways the governor can use her powers, particularly on long-standing social issues such as homelessness. Quick passage gives lawmakers enough time to overturn a potential veto before the session adjourns on May 1.

Asked if Lingle would veto the bill, spokesman Russell Pang said he did not have an answer.

Emergency powers are meant to give the governor broad discretion to waive laws that might interfere with immediate response to natural disasters, such as hurricanes or earthquakes, or man-made problems, such as massive oil spills or terrorism.

House Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell said the legislation still allows the governor to deal with natural and civil disasters as she traditionally has. But on issues that might better be dealt with in concert with the Legislature, the governor would have to explain her actions in the emergency proclamation.

"To allow something to become a crisis under your watch and then say we have to take extraordinary measures, I say, why did you let it get to this point?" he asked.

BILL'S CLARITY DEBATED

But state Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Robert Lee said that while the Legislature has worked with the state Department of Defense on concerns about the bill, "it's not far enough and I think it's going to impact how we do business more than help."

Lee said the bill does not make clear whether the administration would need to consult with the Legislature to prepare for a potential disaster — like a hurricane — before it actually becomes an emergency. Also, it doesn't address unexpected problems, such as a recent incident in which a U.S. spy satellite was projected to fall out of the sky before it was shot down by the Navy.

But state Sen. Rosalyn Baker, chairwoman of the Ways and Means committee, said lawmakers have provided for unanticipated emergencies, along with hurricanes, tsunami, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, floods and a host of other disasters.

"Of course there's flexibility," she said. "We're not stupid."

Baker just wants to make sure that the governor — any governor — does not cut the Legislature out when dealing with certain issues, especially when it means waiving public comment, environmental protections and looking at how a project will affect a larger community.

When it comes to dealing with social problems such as homelessness, "That's not what emergency powers were meant to do and she has abused them in my view," Baker said.

$37M FOR HOMELESS

Since 2006, the state has planned — and in some cases completed — more than $37 million worth of projects to address homelessness along the Wai'anae Coast.

Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the state Health Department, said overcrowding and inadequate facilities on beaches drove the homeless situation from a social problem to an immediate public health issue.

"When you have a lot of people and very limited (restroom facilities) that are not in the best shape, what you have is a problem," she said. "If you have toilets that don't work, it can become very unsanitary in the restrooms."

Health inspectors determined it was also unsanitary on the beaches, where some of the homeless relieved themselves instead of going to the restroom.

To the Health Department, it was a situation that had to be addressed swiftly "otherwise you have to sit on your hands and wait for things to happen and go through long arguments and debates," Fukino said.

Brenda Abbott and her 16-year-old daughter were told by authorities they had to leave a beach where they were living in Poka'i Bay. Abbot said she felt she had no options except to move to another beach and "I was already petrified being in that one," she said.

Being able to move to a homeless shelter erected quickly by the state in Kapolei has turned around her prospects, she said.

UNDERSTANDING URGED

State Comptroller Russ Saito, who also coordinates the state's homeless efforts, said the emergency proclamations allowed the governor to waive numerous laws.

By treating the situation as an emergency, the state was able to open a Wai'anae shelter in a few months, rather than the two to three years it would have typically taken.

Saito said he understands some of the Legislature's concerns, including using money it had appropriated for something else to build the shelters.

"I think if that's the crux of the matter then we could address it without having to limit the governor's emergency powers," he said. "I think the real fix is not to pass that bill, but just to create an understanding on that funding issue."

State Rep. Joe Souki was one of the few Democrats to speak against the bill when the House gave it final approval last month.

Souki, from Maui, said he was concerned about how quickly the Legislature could respond to an emergency and pointed out it took lawmakers three months to pass an emergency appropriations bill for the Hawaii State Healthcare Corporation.

"An emergency measure should not take two or three months," he said.

However, his primary concern was that the governor's powers shouldn't be eroded because some lawmakers disagree with the way she used emergency proclamations.

"What's considered an emergency and nonemergency is in the eye of the beholder," he said. "I think it's easier for one person to make (the decision), even if it's a little flawed at the time."