Honolulu Charter Commission Works on Wording for Proposed Amendments

by Natalie Iwasa, What Natalie Thinks, July 17, 2016

As election season heats up, a group of people continue their work putting together potential amendments to the Revised Charter of Honolulu. On November 8, registered voters will have an opportunity to vote on proposals such as creation of new city departments, increased term limits and revisions to the rail project, among other issues.

At its July 13 meeting, the Honolulu Charter Commission, narrowed down the list of proposed amendments to 27.  All 27 will likely be on the ballot in some manner. Some may be combined. Due to tight deadlines, no significant amendments will be made to these proposals.

The Committee on Submission and Information is currently working on the wording that will be used for each question as well as educational materials for the public. The public will have an opportunity to provide input on these descriptions (in draft form) 10 a.m. Monday, when the committee comes back from a weekend recess and again 3:30 p.m. Friday, when the full commission meets.

Final wording for the 27 proposals is available on the commission’s website. Some of these require significant changes to city management, so it’s important that voters become familiar with them.

For example, proposal 76A transfers operations and maintenance of the rail project from HART to the Honolulu Department of Transportation Services (DTS), replaces the transportation commission with a new fare commission, and “clarifies” the role of the HART board.

It makes sense to have TheBus, HandiVan and rail under one umbrella, but this proposal also allows DTS to create new sources of revenue (Sec. 6-1703(g)), collect data (Sec. 6-1703(g)(5)) and accept gifts. We should look at these authorizations carefully.

A much-needed change under C-1 would allow the police commission to terminate or suspend the chief of police. The need for this change has become apparent within the past year. Regardless of current affairs, however, this is good policy.

Proposal C-7 revises the grants-in-aid fund by requiring it to be the sole source of funds for city grants (excluding federal, state and affordable housing grants). This will cut down on line-itemed grants, such as the half million dollars that was recently appropriated to Kosong Foundation, an organization that is not in compliance with state law, according to the state attorney general’s website. This amendment would put all nonprofits on equal footing and force them to go through the city’s compliance checklist and vetting process.

Others I think should pass are:

• #23 – to conform the county public records law to state law;
• #29 – to allow the prosecuting attorney’s office some autonomy with respect to its budget. (The Honolulu Ethics Commission should also be allowed this autonomy); and
• #78 – allows the mayor to create special funds with the council’s approval.

Several that I think should not pass are:

• #35 – deletes the requirement that no more than a majority of the reapportionment commission members shall be from the same political party;
• #44 – would change term limits from two to three, i.e., allow for 12 consecutive years, for the mayor and councilmembers. It would also create term limits for the prosecuting attorney; and
• #C-3 – would create a new fund for the zoo and mandate that .5% of the city’s real property taxes be used only for the zoo. (I support the zoo, but special funds like this are bad fiscal policy.)

Keeping up with the commission and the many changes that several proposals have gone through has been challenging. It should be noted I have not read every single proposal, and just because one hasn’t been mentioned does not mean it’s not important.

I encourage voters, residents and taxpayers to carefully review each proposal and continue to provide input to the charter commission. The wording on the ballot is at least as important as the wording of the underlying proposal.