Rep. McDermott asks Speaker Souki for state-wide hearings on marriage bill

News Release from Office of Rep Bob McDermott

Honolulu, HI – October 10, 2013 – Today Representative Bob McDermott formally asked Speaker of the House Joe Souki to conduct a series of House Judiciary Committee hearings on the subject of same-sex marriage that will be before the Legislature in their special session.

“Clearly, this bill is being rushed through and has not been thought-out,” said McDermott.  “The people deserve to be part of the conversation, especially since they made their position on this matter clear in the 1998 ballot issue.”

McDermott, in a letter hand-delivered to Souki, asked for Legislative hearings on the Neighbor Islands and Oahu prior to the special session in order to let people voice their opinion on this important issue.

“Their intention is to rush this bill though in a five-day special session with very limited opportunities for the public to give testimony or attend public hearings” added McDermott.

McDermott contends “that allowing residents of the Neighbor Islands to participate in public hearings would assure them that the Governor and Legislature were not deliberately ignoring them on this major societal change.  They deserve to be heard.”  He further stated that the public should actually be making this decision for themselves via a constitutional amendment on the ballot, and that the previous vote in 1998 did NOT concede this issue to the Legislature.

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Attachment: Letter to Speaker Souki