Rep Har Floor Speech: Point by Point Debunk of SB1HD1
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New Federal Rule Mandates Mental Health and Substance Abuse Parity for Insurance Plans
Excerpts from House GOP Floor Speeches
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Veterans Day Events salute service of isle military
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Gay-Atheists Announce Plan to Target Kawaiahao, Waioli, Kroc Center
SA: The House disposed of Republican amendments to establish a task force to study the potential impact of marriage equality, to allow parents to opt their children out of school instruction on homosexuality, to provide a "conscience exemption" so individuals and small businesses could refuse service to gay couples, and to entirely exempt churches and religious organizations from the state's public accommodations law.
Rep. Marcus Oshiro (D, Wahiawa-Whitmore-Poamoho), as he did Wednesday, offered a series of amendments that would have added a state version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, an inseverability clause that would have invalidated the entire law if one provision were struck down by the courts, and a "conscience exemption" for individuals and small businesses.
One by one, Oshiro's amendments were knocked down.
Rep. Sharon Har (D, Kapolei-Makakilo) defended the repetitive amendments, arguing that they were attempts to fix legislation that has been rushed. "We are trying to make a bad bill better," she said.
Oshiro cloaked his "conscience exemption" proposals for individuals and small businesses as sincere attempts to balance equal rights with religious liberty, even though no state with gay-marriage laws has such an exemption.
Har said the bill is "frightening and emotional" for many because she claims it would not adequately protect religious freedom and would "regulate thought."
McDermott predicted that once gay marriage becomes law, "political correctness" would come crashing down on anyone who objects to homosexuality because of their religious beliefs. He said that gay-rights activists and others would attempt to "shame" people of faith as bigots by testing the boundaries of the law....
(Then Hoshijo outlines the targets selected to test the boundaries of the law.)
William Hoshijo, executive director of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, on Thursday provided lawmakers with an analysis of the religious exemption that expressed concern about its scope.
Hoshijo wrote that the religious exemption would clearly apply to and shield churches that allow the use of facilities for weddings that produce income, such as Kawaiaha‘o Church, which provides wedding services to Japanese visitors and other couples. He wrote that it would also cover weddings and wedding rehearsal dinners and receptions at venues such as the Kroc Center Hawaii in Kapolei or Waioli Tea Room in Manoa, which is owned by The Salvation Army.
Hoshijo questioned whether churches that own large tracts of land that contain shopping centers or hotels could require tenants or management companies to discriminate against same-sex couples and deny requests for goods, services and facilities related to gay weddings.
The same argument, he wrote, could apply to religious nonprofits such as the YMCA or YWCA that might deny family-related services to gay couples that could be construed as a celebration of marriage.
read ... Targets Identified
Rep. Jo Jordan: We don’t need a lot of Mainlanders coming and telling us what we gotta do
HM: I saw some stuff I wasn’t pleased with; it was more like, a national group coming down. And that’s when you start tearing at my other side. We don’t need a lot of Mainlanders coming and telling us what we gotta do. And you’ll hear that going on. I said, "You know what, I’m here with my legislative hat, not my personal hat. You guys move forward with whatever you’re doing, and I don’t want to be a participant in that."....
As soon as I got off the floor, probably within the first half hour… (makes explosion noises) I want to have faith that it’s the Mainland and it’s not here. I’m like, "You don’t know who I am, No. 1, because obviously you weren’t in those hearings."
I totally thought I was going to get blasted by the religious community. When I walked into the hearings, I was like, those faith-based guys are going to come out. And not one of them said anything. They were more about, "Thank you, thank you for listening." And they didn’t know who I was. Outside, I was Rep. Jordan sitting at the table. They had no idea who I was, or my lifestyle, and that’s why I like it. Can we get to know each other before you know the rest of the stuff?
I was blasted by the GLBT community on Saturday, outside the door. That took me aback. At the time, I hadn’t stated my position, and I was still undecided. These were testifiers the day before, saying, “How can you be undecided? You should be a 'yes.' Do you know what this means?” And I politely engaged with them: "I have some problems with SB1." I explained the issues and they slammed me again. “It’s good. Just vote yes.” They started getting boisterous. My natural instinct is, I’m going to fly some words at you.
It has been interesting. I am not part of any faith-based group, so I walked in thinking those were going to be the ones going, grrrr, grrrr. But unfortunately, it’s been coming from my community during the hearing. I was like, “Wow, so much for minorities that have been suppressed.” But I’ve got to look at it this way: Maybe they feel they’ve been suppressed for so long that they no longer can contain it and they are just going to lash out at anything without thinking first. But I have to keep that faith to help me not take it personally. It’s not about who is right and who is wrong. It’s about, are we creating a measure that meets the needs of all?
I had come to the decision that SB1 needed to amended. It wasn’t protective enough for everybody. And I truly know, my GLBT community is not going to go somewhere where they are not welcome. They are not going to go, "Pastor, you need to marry us, even though it is against your grain." Because they want their happy day to be a happy day. A couple isn’t going to step into something that’s not warm and welcoming. We’re really looking at those fringe guys, those ones that pop up on the edges that say, "You’re treading on my rights, so I’m going to come and challenge you."
When you look at a measure, you have to consider, how do we make this the golden standard, as bulletproof as possible? My major concerns on SB1 was, first, the parental maternal rights, 57-2c, that wasn’t healthy. That definitely needed to be fixed. The religious exemption was not adequate enough. And the divorce portion in there is not fair. We’re talking about creating equity. They have made a provision here where you don’t have to domicile here. And I totally get what they’re saying, but I have some serious problems with that. We should at least make some sort of domicile in our state, so they can file for divorce here.
read ... Why Rep. Jo Jordan voted
Churches Embrace Rep Jo Jordan
AP: Rep. Jo Jordan, who was blasted on social networks and in LGBT circles for not supporting the bill earlier this week, cried as she recounted the past two days. Jordan said she has been embraced by a religious community she thought hated her and shunned by an LGBT community she thought never would.
"It was a rough day yesterday," Jordan said. At one point during her comments, supporters of gay marriage in the galley shouted at her.
read ... Rep Jo Jordan
NYT to Hawaiians: We Tell You What Your Culture is NYT: To allow a full airing of views, the Legislature said any citizen could comment. In what some called a “public filibuster,” religious opponents mobilized, accounting for most of the more than 1,000 people who testified for two minutes each, during 55 hours of hearings over five days this week.
Both sides claimed to represent the true “aloha spirit.” Some ethnic Hawaiians tearfully said the bill would destroy their culture, and the opponents’ television and radio ads described as endangered the Hawaiian heritage of “ohana,” or family, of “mothers and fathers caring for each other and their keiki,” or children.
But ethnic historians noted that the pre-European island culture did not have marriage in the modern sense and accepted homosexuality. (And even though we at the NYT have never heard of Queen Kaahumanu, we are here to tell you that all of your history from Kaahumanu on doesn't count.)
read ... Obey us
Rep Ing Still Using Matt Shepard as Martyr
TNCRM: In announcing his support for SB-1, the same-sex marriage bill, Democratic Rep. Tom Brower, a Christian, told his colleagues, “I urge Christians to be more concerned with the actions of people calling themselves ‘Christians’ than with gay people calling themselves ‘married.’”
Rep. Nicole Lowen took a few minutes to officially correct those who made false statements in their testimony. She reminded the chamber that “gay is not a lifestyle,” and that HIV/AIDS is not caused by homosexuality, “it is a virus.”
Rep. Chris Lee, who received a death threat last month over his support for marriage equality, also spoke eloquently in support of the bill. “It’s time we move forward,” Lee said, “once more.” He compared marriage equality to women’s suffrage, racial equality and to interracial marriage. “I choose to err on the side of fairness, on the side of freedom, on the side of aloha, on the side of love.”
Rep. Kaniela Ing, who just two days ago delivered an speech exposing himself as an airhead, explained how he came to embrace equality. Ing told the stories of Matthew Shepard, and of others, more recent, who have, or are struggling under inequality. He was close to tears at one point, and had to grab his speech off his desk for support. “How many more gay people must God create until we realize he wants them here?,” Ing asked repeatedly.
read ... Smug and Ignorant
Everybody Knew What Lifelong Criminal Was About to do
HNN: Meyer suffered from mental illness and was on constant medication, but Caldeira says her sister was sweet, always laughing, and would do anything to help a loved one.
Kahawai has been in and out of jail for years. He's been convicted of robbery, theft and burglary. He was arrested Wednesday for terroristic threatening. Thursday, police added murder 2. He has not been charged. Police sources say Kahawai is seen on surveillance video in the dumpster hours before Meyer's body was found.
Meyer had been staying at a mental health center and workers there were so afraid of him, Honolulu Police officers were signing up to work extra security there.
read ... Soft on Crime
Geothermal is a Red-Hot Topic
HB: Many people in Hawaii think geothermal electricity is a great renewable-energy idea, unless you happen to live in Puna, the epicenter of both geothermal and the opposition to it.
read ... Red Hot
Family Gets Closure Decades After Woman Disappears in Hawaii
NBC: A Jersey Shore family finally gets closure, 30 years after their loved one vanishes in Hawaii.
Nancy Baugh, who was born and raised on Long Beach Island, disappeared in 1979. Her boyfriend who she was living with on the island of Kauai was found murdered....
This September, Hawaiian authorities informed the family that human remains found along a stream in 2012 were a DNA match for Nancy.
read ... Kauai 30 years later
Hawaii Land Use Commission Puts Off Voting on Turtle Bay Land
CB: Hawaii’s Land Use Commission voted Friday to wait until next year before making a decision about whether the upscale resort on Oahu’s North Shore should keep its urban zoning designation for more than 200 acres or go through a process of justifying its plan for the land.
read ... Delay
Hawaii Species Protected Under Ecosystem Plan
CN: Fifteen species on the Big Island of Hawaii now have Endangered Species Act protection under an ecosystem-based listing determination. The 13 plants, a pool shrimp and a picture-wing fly have been listed as endangered in a recent action. The plants include relatives of asters, sunflowers, peas, mints, citrus and palms, and many have no common name.
read ... Hawaii Species Protected Under Ecosystem Plan
Kailua Downtown Sale: Beneficiary Sues, Asserts Insider Trading
SA: One beneficiary, Jeremy C. Baldwin, filed a petition in Circuit Court on Friday asking a judge to postpone a vote scheduled for next week to approve or reject the proposed sale.
Baldwin's petition alleges that Bank of Hawaii, as the trustee for 26 trusts with interests in the assets to be sold, has not done enough independent analysis on the merits of the proposed sale.
The petition says the bank relied too heavily on an analysis by Kaneohe Ranch, whose employees stand to be rewarded greatly in the sale.
Mitch D'Olier, president and chief executive officer of Kaneohe Ranch Management Ltd., would receive $13.2 million through the sale, according to a summary of the transaction. Other company employees would share $1.8 million. Carlton Au, the firm's chief financial officer, would receive $298,122, the summary said.
read ... Business as Usual
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