You Can Make an Impact!
Aloha,
I’ve introduced the following bills to solve problems in our community and our state – and you can play a major role in helping these bills get hearings. The bills are grouped into 5 categories:
- Bills to Decongest Traffic
- Bills to Cut Taxes & Make Government More Responsive to the People
- Bills to Solve Problems within Homeowner Associations
- Bills to Stop Elder Abuse
- Bills to Solve Problems for Our Schools
You can help these bills pass into law by emailing the committee chairperson to whom each bill has been referred and urging them to give these bills a hearing. Contact information for each chairman is at the bottom of this email.
Remember: If a bill isn’t given a hearing, IT DIES.
Below is a list of these bills along with a brief summary of each, the committees to which the bill has been referred, and links for you to retrieve a copy of the bill and send your testimony through the Capitol website. Please send a short email (at least) to each committee’s chairperson respectfully urging him or her to hear the bill; you can even email the House Speaker to urge him to give the bills hearings.
If you're interested in receiving updates and notices for certain bills as they occur, please call my office to be added to the notification list.
Hawaii State Capitol, Room 333, 415 S. Beretania Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Email: reppine@capitol.hawaii.gov Ph: (808) 586-9730, Fax: (808) 586-9738
I. Bills to Decongest Traffic:
HB 1351 – Reduce traffic by removing uninsured drivers from our roads: This bill is estimated to reduce traffic by 40%.Thousands of drivers are on our roads without insurance. By requiring easily identifiable insurance for all drivers, this bill will significantly reduce traffic, increase motorist and pedestrian safety, reduce medical and first-responder costs, cut insurance premiums for insured drivers, and help the police easily identify the uninsured.
HB 933 – Reduce traffic by requiring developers to build roads before houses: This bill requires residential developers to complete necessary roads and infrastructure prior to mass development. This bill will prevent areas from experiencing Ewa Beach traffic which occurred from 2005 to 2009 when roads were built after the development of thousands of homes.
HB 1350 – Reduce traffic by speeding up funding to build roads before houses: This bill provides funding assistance through the issuing of special purpose revenue bonds as an incentive to developers to complete proper infrastructure before they build the houses in new developments.
HB 1353 – Reduces traffic by completing improvements to existing roads more quickly: Yet, even after needed roads go in, improvements to those roads -- such as traffic lights, crosswalks, sidewalks, and drains -- may be needed. The required reports to determine these improvements impact on traffic flow can cause long delays. The report is still required to be done under this bill, but this report will no longer delay installation of such improvements nor the benefits to the public for now being more immediately installed.
HB 1467 – Reduces traffic by getting more funds back to counties to fix traffic problems: Funds for reducing our traffic problem must be done without increasing taxes. This bill would give GET rail tax money back to the City to build the rail, as the State is now taking more than it needs to cover state costs for collecting the GET rail tax for the counties.
II. Bills to Cut Taxes & Make Government More Open to the Public:
HB 471 – Makes it harder for the government to raise your taxes: None of us likes new taxes or increased taxes. This bill would amend our state Constitution to require that all new or increased taxes or government fees be passed by a super-majority (two-thirds vote) of the legislature. Currently, all it takes is just a simple majority (51%) to increase our taxes and fees. When passed, this bill will let the voters decide if a super-majority vote will be required to raise our taxes.
HB 934 – Provides for a Constitutional amendment to require one-year residency for candidates: It disserves our democracy and our communities when candidates do not actually live within the district they seek to represent. This bill requires candidates to reside in a district for a year before being a candidate to represent it. If this bill is passed, voters will decide if our Constitution should be amended to require candidates to meet this one-year residency requirement.
HB 935 – Requires proof of residency for candidates in state elections: This bill specifically applies the one-year residency requirement to state elections and outlines the general proof the candidate must provide upon filing for candidacy. This bill also provides that the chief elections official determine if the candidate has provided proof of residency. If the chief elections official finds that the proof has not been provided, the aggrieved candidate may seek an expedited court review to decide this matter promptly.
HB 936 – Requires the one-year residency requirement for candidates in county elections: This bill applies these proposed proof of one-year residency requirements and expedited court review requirements to county elections.
III. Bills to Solve Problems within Homeowners Associations:
HB 1464 – Protects homeowners from neighborhood associations: This bill seeks to protect the rights of association members by requiring that board decisions and actions be as open and transparent as possible. This bill also requires that boards enforce the association's rules fairly, that association members be protected from board member harassment or intimidation, and that no board member have any financial conflicts of interest when they render their board decisions or undertake board actions.
HB 1468 – Protects homeowners’ rights to fly the US flag: Some homeowner associations have tried to take away an inherent American right to fly a flag despite the federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005. This bill brings Hawai‘i into compliance with the federal law and ensures that these homeowners may display their American flag continuously 365 days a year with no associated fee and despite any association board's regulation, covenant, or similar binding agreement to the contrary.
IV. Bills to Stop Elder Abuse:
HB 1478 – Helps elder abuse victims seek justice: Family members may often not discover that their elderly relative has been taken advantage of financially until years later. This bill expands the statute of limitations for bringing a lawsuit for changes made to a will, trust, or estate plan that are caused by fraud or undue influence.
HB 1465 – Makes it safer for elders to use a Power of Attorney: Sadly, the most widely exploited document used by perpetrators of elderly abuse is the Power of Attorney because it can give the perpetrator immediate access to the victim’s bank accounts, real estate, and other valuable property unlike a will, trust, or estate planning document that may not take effect for many years. This bill makes such exploitation more difficult by requiring a Power of Attorney to be signed by two non-party witnesses and notarized.
V. Bills to Solve Problems for Our Schools:
HB 1352 – Mitigates crowding in our schools: Our kids deserve better than to learn in overcrowded classrooms. This bill allows multi-track calendar schools to measure the required instruction time in increments of hours instead of days, thereby allowing these overcrowded schools to manage the scheduling of the schools instructional calendar more effectively.
HB 1349 – Improves school facilities through Capital Improvement Projects: Better school facilities encourage better learning. This bill allots money for Capital Improvement Projects to expand and physically improve our schools to so that they can effectively accommodate rising enrollments.
HB 447 – Gives schools more decision-making authority on how to improve themselves: A school’s own principals and administrators have a better understanding of their schools’ needs than do members of Department of Education, so they should also have a larger say in how their school’s educational funds are used. This bill seeks to increase the percentage of their decision-making authority from 70% to 80% of received funds.
HB 1466 – Reduces crime in our schools: This bill protects DOE employees from civil lawsuits when they intervene to prevent a crime by students that might occur on or off school premises. This will encourage staff to intervene to prevent criminal activity before it happens, and not just report it afterwards.
HB 932 – Gives our children equal opportunities: Extracurricular activities enhance the educational experience of all students, expand their perspectives and encourage cooperation with others. This bill will allow home-schooled students to participate in public school extracurricular activities. This will benefit public school students, home school students and the broader community as a whole.
Committee Chairmen contact information:
- CPC: House Consumer Protection & Commerce Committee Chairman: Representative Robert N. Herkes State Capitol, Room 320 repherkes@capitol.hawaii.gov Tel: 586-8400, Fax: 586-8404
- EDN: House Education Committee Chairman: Representative Roy M. Takumi State Capitol, Room 444 reptakumi@capitol.hawaii.gov Tel: 586-6170, Fax: 586-6171
- FIN: House Finance Committee Chairman: Representative Marcus R. Oshiro State Capitol, Room 306 repmoshiro@capitol.hawaii.gov Tel: 586-6200, Fax: 586-6201
- HSG: House Housing Committee Chairwoman: Representative Rida T.R. Cabanilla State Capitol, Room 442 repcabanilla@capitol.hawaii.gov Tel: 586-6080, Fax: 586-6081
- JUD: House Judiciary Committee Chairman: Representative Gilbert S.C. Keith-Agaran State Capitol, Room 302 repkeithagaran@capitol.hawaii.gov Tel: 586-6210, Fax: 586-6211
- LMG: House Legislative Management Committee Chairman: Representative Kyle T. Yamashita State Capitol, Room 422 repyamashita@capitol.hawaii.gov Tel: 586-6330, Fax: 586-6331
- TRN: House Transportation Committee Chairman: Representative Joseph M. Souki State Capitol, Room 433 repsouki@capitol.hawaii.gov Tel: 586-9444, Fax: 586-9499
- WLO: House Water, Land & Ocean Resources Committee Chairman: Representative Jerry L. Chang State Capitol, Room 435 repchang@capitol.hawaii.gov Tel: 586-6120, Fax: 586-6121
- Office of the Speaker of the House Speaker: Representative Calvin K.Y. Say State Capitol, Room 431 repsay@capitol.hawaii.gov Tel: 586-6100, Fax: 586-6101
Please contact my office at 586-9730 with any questions!
Mahalo,
REP. KYMBERLY MARCOS PINE
District 43 - Ewa Beach, Puuloa, West Loch Fairways, Iroquois Point