Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle submitted a list of 39 bills to the state Legislature Monday that she has the option of vetoing in the next 10 days.
Reasons that the bills have been placed on the list vary from legal or constitutional concerns and potential unintended consequences to technical flaws in writing the legislation.
“While the Legislature each year passes legislation it believes is important, it is my duty as governor to ensure the bills that become law are constitutional, fiscally responsible and in the state’s and the public’s long-term best interest,” Lingle said in a prepared statement Monday.
The Hawaii Constitution requires the governor to give the Legislature 10 days’ notice of any bill she is considering vetoing. This year, the deadline to veto bills is July 6.
Putting a bill on the possible veto list does not mean that it will be vetoed. Lingle could still sign it into law or allow it to become law without her signature.
Bills on the possible veto list are:
• House Bill 415, which directs the state auditor to conduct an audit of the Department of Public Safety’s contract for prison beds and services outside of Hawaii and with the federal detention center in Honolulu. Lingle placed it on the list saying it is expensive and unnecessary.
• House Bill 444, which would extend the same rights, benefits, protection and responsibilities of spouses in a marriage to partners in a civil union.
• House Bill 865, which would create a state and county transportation working group to study the feasibility of transferring all applicable state highway maintenance functions to counties with areas that had a population of between 100,000 and 135,000. It was put on the list because it was an unfunded mandate that was lacking resources and time to adequately complete the study, Lingle said.
• House Bill 921, which allows 999-year homestead leases to be assigned to land trusts that are created for purposes of managing and holding the homestead leasehold estate for the benefit of the lessee and lessee’s family members. Lingle said it could complicate lease transfer by bypassing existing statutes that provide for the determination of a successor.
• House Bill 1015, which temporarily enables the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to begin construction of housing and other projects without having the full amount of capital costs on hand at the beginning of the project. The governor said it might violate the Hawaii State Constitution and creates additional ambiguities.
• House Bill 1212, which provides that there is no significant privacy interest for the recording of complaints. Lingle said it might disallow the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs from disclosing pending complaints against a business or professional to the detriment of consumers who need the information for informed decision-making.
• House Bill 1665, which prohibits the sale of fee interests of public lands on which government-owned Hawaiian fish ponds are located. Lingle said it inadvertently resulted in the Department of Transportation caring for fish ponds that were intended to be made available to other organizations after being acquired as part of the Kalanianaole Highway widening project.
• House Bill 1907, which temporarily places a cap on itemized deductions claimed on state income tax returns until Jan. 1, 2016. The governor contended that it adversely impacts Hawaii taxpayers and businesses by capping state income tax itemized deductions, contrary to economic policy.
• House Bill 2083, which requires milk beverages to be labeled with the date of pasteurization or the date of packaging. It takes Hawaii out of compliance with the National Conference of Interstate Milk Shipper’s Pasteurized Milk Regulations, Lingle said.
• House Bill 2133, which requires the state Procurement Office to authorize reseller agreements in multistate contracting agreements and to place orders directly with local resellers designated by original equipment manufacturers. Lingle said it inappropriately requires the state Procurement Office to authorize reseller agreements in multistate contracting agreements, and narrowly defines “local reseller.”
• House Bill 2152, which authorizes the Disability and Communication Access Board to charge a fee to defray the cost of reviewing construction plans. Lingle said she included it on the list because it charges a significant fee for the review of American Disabilities Act compliance and duplicates compliance reviews already done by professional architects and engineers.
• House Bill 2239, which removes the exemption for dietary supplements from the deposit beverage container program. Lingle argued that it increases the cost of dietary supplements and impacts consumers purchasing healthy beverages.
• House Bill 2283, which requires government purchasers and private entities offering goods and services for sale to government purchasers to follow ethical principles in matters relating to procurement. Lingle said it subjects public employees and private entities to criminal sanctions under vague and nonspecific principles of procurement ethics.
• House Bill 2289, which extends the minimum expiration period for gift certificates from two to five years except for paper gift certificates. The governor said it establishes fees on the issuance of gift certificates, reversing previous statutes that prohibited such fees.
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