MEDIA RELEASE

HONOLULU – Gov. Linda Lingle has vetoed 32 bills that would adversely impact Hawaii residents and businesses, would be detrimental to public policy and would hinder efforts to expand the economy and create jobs.

The bills were vetoed due to various factors including significant negative impacts on the public, legal or constitutional concerns, potential unintended consequences, or technical flaws in the legislation.

“After carefully reviewing each of these bills and weighing the considerable amount of input that we received from the public, I made the decision to not allow these measures to become law,” Lingle said. “Although the Legislature passed bills they believe are important, I have the final responsibility to ensure that any new law is constitutional, fiscally responsible and in the best interest of the state.”

On June 21, the governor submitted to the Legislature a list of 39 bills she was considering vetoing.

Of the 39 bills on the governor’s potential veto list, three bills had been vetoed earlier. SB2001 would have retroactively eliminated previously promised high technology investment tax credits. HB1907 would have resulted in tax increases totaling more than $140 million over the next five years and discouraged charitable contributions. HB415 would have required an expensive and unnecessary audit of the Department of Public Safety.

She also signed HB1015 (Act 187), which affirms that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands may initiate housing and other projects prior to having the full funds for the project available and allows the Department to extend existing commercial land leases for up to an additional 20 years.

Six other bills that had been on the potential veto list were allowed to become law without her signature.

The governor’s statements of objections regarding the bills she vetoed today can be found on her website at: www.hawaii.gov/gov/leg/2010-legislative-session. The full list of all bills signed and vetoed by the governor in 2010 is also posted on the website.

GOVERNOR’S BILL ACTION REPORT

VETOES

July 6, 2010

HB415 HD2 SD2 CD1
Veto Date: June 24, 2010
RELATING TO PUBLIC SAFETY.
Directs the auditor to conduct an expensive and unnecessary audit of the Department of Public Safety’s contracts with mainland prisons and the Honolulu federal detention center.

HB1907 HD1 SD1 CD1
Veto Date: July 1, 2010
RELATING TO TAXATION.
Adversely impacts Hawaii taxpayers, businesses, and charitable organizations by capping state income tax itemized deductions, including donations to charities, and making the capital goods excise tax credit nonrefundable for businesses until January 1, 2016, contrary to sound economic policy.

SB2001 SD1 HD1
Veto Date: July 1, 2010
RELATING TO TAXATION.
Extends the Tax Credit for Research Activities by one year at the expense of the High Technology Business Investment Tax Credit and Technology Infrastructure Renovation Tax Credit, which would be retroactively repealed on May 1, 2010, reversing the State’s commitments to encouraging investments and job-creation opportunities in technology companies.

HB444 HD1 SD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO CIVIL UNIONS.
Extends the same rights, benefits, protections, and responsibilities of spouses in a marriage to partners in a civil union.

HB865 HD1 SD1 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION.
Establishes an unfunded mandate on the State Department of Transportation by setting up a working group to perform a feasibility study on transferring state highway maintenance functions to Maui County without providing resources or allowing adequate time for the study.

HB921 HD1 SD2
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO PUBLIC LANDS.
Complicates the transfer of 999-year homestead leases, bypassing existing statutes that provide for the determination of successorship.

HB1212 HD1 SD1 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO INFORMATION PRACTICES.
Disallows 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.

HB2083 HD1 SD2
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO MILK LABELING.
Requires milk beverages to be labeled in a manner that does not comply with the National Conference of Interstate Milk Shippers Pasteurized Milk Regulations and may violate the Interstate Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

HB2133 HD1 SD1 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO PROCUREMENT.
Needlessly requires the State Procurement Office to authorize reseller agreements in multi-state contracting agreements, and narrowly defines “local reseller”.

HB2152 HD1 SD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO BUILDING DESIGN FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES.
Increases the cost of planning and designing housing, public buildings, and other construction by allowing the Disability and Communication Access Board (DCAB) to charge a significant fee for the review of American Disabilities Act compliance.

HB2239 SD2 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO THE DEPOSIT BEVERAGE CONTAINER PROGRAM.
Increases the cost of dietary supplements and impacts consumers purchasing healthy beverages by repealing the exemption such supplements currently have from the Hawaii Deposit Beverage Container Recycling Program.

HB2377 HD3 SD2 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO EDUCATION.
Amends the Board of Education composition and member selection process in a manner that may not ensure the Board will be composed of members who reflect the best interests of the public and who understand the role of setting public education policies.

HB2441 HD2 SD2 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO PROCUREMENT.
Creates unrealistic deadlines for the Department of Transportation and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to award public contracts on bid proposals, and encourages inappropriate relationships by specifying that gifts made to the State shall not constitute or require a procurement contract.

HB2497 SD1 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO THE ISSUANCE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE REVENUE BONDS.
Authorizes the issuance of up to $40,000,000 in Special Purpose Revenue Bonds to Carbon Bio-Engineers despite possible patent ownership and licensing issues associated with this firm.

HB2583 SD2 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO IMPOUNDED VESSELS.
Violates the Hawaii State Constitution by embracing more subjects than its title allows by adding provisions outside of this scope of impounded vessels.

HB2644 HD2 SD2 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO SOLID WASTE.
Increases the cost of waste disposal by expanding the current solid waste disposal fee to include solid waste disposed out-of-state.

HB2708 HD1 SD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION.
Unnecessarily requires the Department of Transportation to establish administrative rules regarding the public involvement process, even though public involvement policies have already been adopted by the Department.

SB1105 SD2 HD1 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO LEGISLATIVE HEARINGS AND PROCEDURES.
Burdens state agencies with the task of preparing for hearings and briefings that are duplicative and waste state resources.

SB2020 HD2 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO REAL PROPERTY.
Extends Act 189, Session Laws of Hawai‘i 2009, which changes the process for renegotiating the amount of rent during the term of an existing commercial or industrial lease, despite litigation that has deemed the Act unconstitutional.

SB2045 SD1 HD1 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO CRIME.
Proposes the establishment of class A and B sexual human trafficking offenses that make prosecutions more difficult under Hawaii law, by not clearly defining the prohibited conduct in such a way that it can be enforced and prosecuted in court.

SB2324 SD2 HD2 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE BENEFITS.
Violates the intent of Unemployment Insurance benefits by unfairly allowing certain partially unemployed individuals attached to a regular employer to continue receiving unemployment benefits even if they voluntarily quit their secondary part-time employment.

SB2434 SD1 HD1 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO SALARIES.
Allows salary increases and bonuses for the Department of Education’s Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent, Assistant Superintendents, Complex Areas Superintendents, and the State Librarian at a time when other State workers are losing their jobs, being furloughed, or experiencing salary reductions.

SB2473 SD1 HD2 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO HOUSING.
Allows an unlimited number of grandchildren of elderly housing project residents to reside with seniors under certain situations even though elderly housing projects have limited space and are not designed to accommodate children.

SB2491 SD2 HD1 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO TELEMEDICINE.
Jeopardizes federal funding for certain Medicaid services by authorizing health plans under Medicaid or QUEST programs to deliver telehealth services without the approval of the Federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services or oversight by the Department of Human Services.

SB2534 SD2 HD1 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO BAIL.
Adversely impacts state and county law enforcement agencies by requiring them to divert limited resources to accept bail on weekends and holidays when the courts are closed, without the proper training, facilities or staffing.

SB2547 SD1 HD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO SMALL BOAT HARBORS.
Favors a specific landowner and certain tour operators by requiring the Department of Land and Natural Resources to regulate commercial boat operators bringing visitors onto “quasi-public” property despite the Department lacking necessary resources to do so.

SB2566 HD2 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO MEDICAL AND REHABILITATION BENEFITS.
Increases workers’ compensation costs and the potential for conflicts of interest by allowing doctors to perform one-time diagnostic consultations at medical facilities in which they have a financial interest, without verification from the insurer or employer that the consultation is necessary.

SB2610 HD1 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO CONVEYANCE TAX.
Forces the Department of Taxation to reprioritize the scanning of its own tax documents and payment vouchers by requiring the Department to provide free digital images of property conveyance certificates to county real property assessment divisions by a specific time.

SB2849 SD2 HD1 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO THE HAWAII EMPLOYER-UNION HEALTH BENEFITS TRUST FUND.
Irresponsibly exempts from the state budget allotment process $478,025,239 in general fund appropriations to the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund for fiscal year 2011.

SB2883 SD1 HD2 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES.
Legislates a collective bargaining matter that may be preempted by the federal Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 by making it unlawful for employers to fire, demote, or withhold pay from an employee using accrued sick leave.

SB2919 SD1 HD1 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO THE HAWAII STATE HOSPITAL.
Improperly transfers the responsibility for security at the Hawaii State Hospital from the Department of Health to the Department of Public Safety.

SB2951 SD2 HD2 CD1
Veto Date: July 6, 2010
RELATING TO AGRICULTURE.
Discourages the use of public land for valid and necessary public purposes by providing unprecedented compensation to agricultural lessees of public land when such leases are withdrawn by the Department of Land and Natural Resources for public uses.

* List of new laws that went into effect July 1, 2010: http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B-HjwoxeF9rSMTU2YjkyZjctZTJmMS00NGRhLTk0YWMtNGVkY2E5OTY2YzZh&hl=en

* List of vetoed measures 2010: www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2010/lists/RptVeto.aspx

* Veto override measures 2010: www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2010/lists/RptVetoOverride.aspx