Hawaii civil unions bill, hike in sales tax unlikely to pass
By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Government Writer
State Senate President Colleen Hanabusa said a civil-unions bill will probably not advance this session after a procedural deadline passed yesterday.
Senators had been considering at least two amendments to help move the bill, which is stalled in the Senate Judiciary and Government Operations Committee, but needed to act by yesterday's internal deadline to have amended bills ready for second crossover between the Senate and the House next week.
The only option now would be for the Senate to recall the existing bill from committee, pass it unamended, and send it to Gov. Linda Lingle. A recall motion failed last month and another attempt would likely not succeed without the endorsement of Hanabusa and state Sen. Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Manoa, McCully), the committee chairman.
"I think, at this point in time, it is highly unlikely that it would happen," said Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha). "I don't know of any senators who have changed their position on the recall itself."
Several other high-profile bills that have stalled in committee are also likely not to advance after yesterday's deadline.
In the House, lawmakers did not move a Senate bill that would have increased the general-excise tax to help fund public education, provide tax breaks for low- and middle-income residents, and help close the state's budget deficit. Although a GET increase could be added to other tax bills during conference committee negotiations, state House Speaker Calvin Say, D-20th (St. Louis Heights, Palolo Valley, Wilhelmina Rise), said yesterday there is little enthusiasm because the tax is so broad and regressive.
Other House bills that failed to advance in the Senate include:
HANABUSA UNSWAYED
Gay rights advocates, meanwhile, were hopeful that an amendment expanding civil unions to both same-sex and heterosexual couples and softening the connection to marriage would help it advance after it received Hanabusa's blessing.
In a letter to Hanabusa yesterday, Jo-Ann Adams, an attorney active with the Democratic Party of Hawai'i, said the Senate president had the powers at her disposal to move the bill. Hanabusa, acting on behalf of a majority of senators, could waive internal deadlines, change the structure of committees, or bring the bill before the full Senate as a committee of the whole.
"We found that there are options remaining, and nearly all of those options are available to you as Senate president," Adams wrote.
Hanabusa said, however, that she and other senators wanted to respect the committee process and would follow the lead of Taniguchi, the chairman of the committee with jurisdiction over the bill.
Taniguchi told senators in private caucus on Wednesday that his committee did not have the votes for either of the two amendments on civil unions. Along with the proposal from gay rights advocates, state Sen. Will Espero, D-20th ('Ewa Beach, Waipahu), had suggested expanding some of the rights same-sex partners have under the state's reciprocal beneficiaries law.
'IT IS TOO LATE'
State Sen. Robert Bunda, D-22nd (North Shore, Wahiawa), the potential swing vote on the committee, told Taniguchi he did not support either amendment. Bunda had been inclined to back Espero's idea but concluded that some of the language was still too close to marriage.
"Many of my colleagues were criticized for choosing the integrity of the process over voting their political convictions. Neither is as important as our duty to represent the people that elect us in good faith," Bunda said in a statement. "I consider an eleventh-hour attempt to resuscitate the bill equally damaging to public confidence in the integrity of the process.
"While the proposed amendments have merit and could have saved us countless hours of time and effort had we considered them earlier in the session, it is too late for any amendment to receive the public scrutiny an issue like this deserves."
The bill would give same-sex partners who enter into civil unions the same rights, benefits and responsibilities as married couples under state law. Domestic partnerships, civil unions and same-sex marriages performed in other states would be recognized as civil unions in Hawai'i.
The House passed the bill 33-17 in February, which gay rights advocates described as a significant step toward equality. Opponents of the bill, led by religious conservatives, mobilized after the House vote and generated a surge of protest and objections in the Senate.
OSHIRO NOT HOPEFUL
The bill is still alive in the Senate for next session, but lawmakers have conceded it would probably be even more difficult to advance in an election year.
State House Majority Leader Blake Oshiro, D-33rd ('Aiea, Halawa Valley, 'Aiea Heights), the bill's sponsor, said he would likely introduce the amended version of the bill suggested by gay rights advocates in the House next session. But he said he is not hopeful because lawmakers will likely not want to take up the issue again unless there is movement in the Senate. He said it could be 2011 before people rethink the issue.
"I just think it's sad that religious dogma and fear have kind of trumped civil rights," Oshiro said. "I think that's just sad overall for Hawai'i and where it's always stood, being at the forefront of individual rights."
Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.
