Hi everyone!
Because I always get phone calls or emails asking for my advice whenever there are proposed amendments to the County Charter or State Constitution on the ballot, I thought I would share my thoughts with you. I hope this will be helpful.
First, as disclaimer: These are simply recommendations for your consideration. I haven’t researched everything thoroughly, but I have an extensive general background on governmental issues, and this is my best analysis, given the time constraints.
I welcome your questions and alternative positions on these matters if you want to email me at jyukimura@gmail.com.
STATE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
You can find an explanation of the proposed amendments at www.capitol.hawaii.gov there are two proposed amendments. The first re the Board of Education is a very, very important.
1. “Shall the Board of Education be changed to a board appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, as provided by law?”
Vote YES! Under the present system of choosing board members, there is no accountability. For example, among the neighbor islands, each school district gets a representative on the DOE Board, but voters on all neighbor islands elect that representative. So the Kaua`i representative is elected by the voters of Big Island, Maui, Lanai, Molokai, Kaua`i and Ni`ihau.
On the recent primary election ballot, you may recall, was a position of the Board of Education representative from Maui that we on Kaua`i were supposed to vote for. I didn’t vote in that contest because I wasn’t familiar with any of the candidates and my voting would have been as accurate as a blind dart throw. When there is no accountability and people are voted in without a clear, informed majority, the election is meaningless.
The system of having the Governor appoint and the Legislature confirm members of the Board of Education (BOE) is being endorsed by Hawaii’s last four governors: Governors Ariyoshi, Waihee, Cayetano and Lingle. With an appointed board, a governor will have a body that agrees with his or her vision for reform of education and will be able to implement the new system with support of a team. If the Governor is “bad” or “off-base,” our job as voters will be to get rid of the Governor (and consequently the BOE) in the next election. If the Governor is “good” or knows how to make reform, s/he will be able to get the job done.
Our public education system is in crisis. We need wise, bold action. This is more likely to happen with an appointed school board.
2. “Shall the legislature be provided with the choice, when the state general fund balance at the close of each of two successive fiscal years exceeds five per cent of the general fund revenues for each of the two fiscal years, to provide a tax refund or tax credit to the taxpayers of the State, or to make a deposit into one or more funds, as provided by law, which shall serve as temporary supplemental sources of funding for the State in times of an emergency, economic downturn, or unforeseen reduction in revenue?”
VOTE “Yes.” I read the proposed amendment to say that when state budget expenses exceed 5% of the general fund, the Legislature should have the choice to either refund the money or keep it in a supplemental account for emergencies, economic downturns and unforeseen reductions in revenues. Presently, the Legislature is mandated to do a refund and is not allowed to accumulate a surplus for hard times. Our present situation of furlough days etc makes it clear we need a contingency fund.
COUNTY CHARTER AMENDMENTS
You can find an official explanation of them in a white 8.5” x 11” flyer hidden among the ad inserts in the October 6 edition of Midweek Magazine or you can find the actual wording of the proposed charter amendment on the web at Kauai.gov at the Charter Commission web page:
1. Shall the term of office for councilmembers be extended from two to four years with a limit of two consecutive four-year terms?
Vote “Yes.” Present law limits Council members to four consecutive 2-year terms, so limit in terms of consecutive years doesn’t change in the proposed amendment, but the length of each term does. A two-year term tends to favor short-term “popularity” decision-making rather than good management decisions. Consider that a council member is running every other year, so he or she has basically been in office for one year when the election process begins again. Consider that all major decisions are postponed for about 4 months before the Election, meaning that any significant issue tends to be suspended until after the election.
If I had my druthers, I would also require fulltime work with no other source of working income, but that is not in the present charter, to cut down on conflict of interest and require a full-time focus on the job.
2. Shall the Mayor’s Administrative Assistant, whose title shall be changed to Managing Director, be required to have appropriate job qualification and perform certain duties?
Vote “Yes.” We’re the only county that hasn’t made the change in title. As human resource experts know, titles make a difference in terms of expectancy and understanding of a job. The proposed amendments appropriately upgrade the minimum requirements for anyone holding the second highest job in the County and move the County toward greater professionalism.
3. Shall the Charter provisions relating to centralized purchasing and disposition of surplus property be changed to conform to State law?
Vote “Yes.” This basically aligns Charter provision related to centralized purchasing and disposition to state law.
4. Shall the dollar limit without competitive bidding for contracts with County officers, employees or firms in which an officer or employee has a substantial interest, be increased from $500 to $1,000.
Vote “Yes.” Another long overdue updating.
5. Shall the County extend from six months to one year the timeframe prohibiting the County from entering into a contract with a former County employee or a firm that is represented by a former County employee, for those contracts where the former County employee participated in the subject matter while employed with the County?
Vote “Yes.” This tightens the conflict of interest protections in the charter.
6. “Shall any employee delegated to act on behalf of the Director or Deputy Director of Finance be required to file a disclosure statement with the County Board of Ethics?”
Vote Yes. It stands to reason that he or she be held to the same standard of care; requiring a disclosure form is part of doing that.
7. “Shall the time in which the County Board of Ethics has to render advisory opinions be extended from 30 days to 45 days, which opinions shall be binding on the Board, unless changed or revoked by the Board?”
Vote No. This question is more complex than it looks. It appears that this was prompted by the desire to avoid the undesirable result that occurs when the Ethics Board is not able to make a decision in 30 days. By present law, if the Board doesn’t make a decision in 30 days, there is deemed to be no ethical violation. If that was the problem, then perhaps, just take away that consequence rather than extend the time. And have the Ethics Board convene more than once a month.
