Kauai Bill 2491 passes

The bill passed in the middle of the night, earlier today after a marathon special council session. The controversy will undoubtedly continue, there may be lawsuits, enforcement issues, and so forth, but at least we should get some information disclosure and perhaps that will enable some clarity and transparency that seems much needed.

The video is quite instructive (I watched the last 45 minutes, see link below) as the long night meeting in the end brought out the very human side of the process. Following 17:55 there is a distinct turning point when the patience of many in the room suddenly runs thin, order is firmly but gently restored by the chair, and from that point there is a momentum to wrap up with thank-you's and move to a vote.

First off what's striking is how gut-wrenchingly emotional this entire process is. I have to say that objectively looking at this bill it requires what appears to be quite routine county oversight of five businesses yet the tone of the room is as if World War Three is hanging in the balance.

Overhanging the whole thing is a county attorney opinion about the bill that the council has chosen not to make public. As a result, there are references in the proceedings to unspecified legal concerns that they are unable to discuss publicly. It's difficult to have useful public debate when there are important concerns held in secret as part of the process. Why these legal issues were not mitigated through the amendment process I have no idea.

Another unfortunate circumstance surrounding the bill is that in theory the state of Hawaii should already have responsibility for this matter but in fact has been doing so little for so many years that the county was forced to take this on itself if anything was to be done at all. Yet for the county to act within the purview of state responsibility appears to require a Memorandum of Understanding. Whether the bill or the MOU comes first seems to be a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem but since the mayor has already started dialog with the state - and was urging delay as those discussions seem to take considerable time. With this bill in the works now for many months I would think a MOU could have been forged long ago, or perhaps an MOU of intent to produce an MOU. Again, this is all part of an opaque process so I won't speculate beyond remarking how clear-as-mud the whole thing is.

With the bill now destined to become county law (the mayor has pledged not to veto it) no doubt the county, the state, and of course the affected big ag companies here will doubtless be having many strategy meetings. By no means does passage mean the Bill 2491 story is over!

Coincidentally in Washington DC it seems that also after a lot of emotion the Congress finally agreed to fund the government and restore federal services that have been shutdown over their wrangling. This may be a week for reconciliation.

More details:

• Special Council Meeting video can be found here: click the County Council section look for Special Council Meeting, 10/15/13, 18h 37m; click on Video link there.
• Joan Conrow
• Andy Parx
• The Garden Island