Hawaii Passes Veto Proof Civil Unions Bill - So What's Next?

I put this out on Twitter earlier today because I didn't have time to put up a post, but for those who don't follow UTF on Twitter, here's the great news from the Honolulu Advertiser:

"The Senate voted 18 to 7 to pass a civil-unions bill. The bill now moves to the House for consideration with a veto-proof majority. The bill would give same-sex and heterosexual couples the ability to enter into civil unions and receive the same state rights as marriage. The Senate gallery was overflowing with people as the Senate prepared to vote. Sen. Kidani offered a floor amendment to change the effective date of the civil-unions bill from Jan. 1, 2010 to Jan. 1, 2011. Kidani said the amendment is to correct a technical flaw and would give the Department of Health more time to implement civil unions. A retroactive date would not make the bill legally invalid, but could invite a veto by Gov. Lingle on technical grounds. Amending the bill could also delay its passage and allow opponents to put more pressure on Democrat senators who appeared ready to pass the bill today. Sen. Ihara, who supports civil unions, said he felt compelled to correct the technical flaw to remove a reason for a veto."

Read HRC's Backstory on how the vote went down. All this, even after the major anti-LGBT protest against the civil unions bill.

The pressure is on the House now to pass the bill. They actually passed a similar bill last year, so hopefully we can get a repeat performance. A decision will be made next week whether they will take up the measure.

Go to Equality Hawaii to get involved.

URGENT ACTION ALERT: Stop the Civil Unions Bill in Hawaii from Dying

UPDATE: Unfortunately, the bill died in the committee with a vote 18-6 to keep it from the floor for a vote, and as a result, is dead for the senate session.

FROM THE ADVOCATE.COM:

Lack of support from a key senator makes it unlikely that a civil unions bill will be revived in the Hawaii legislature today, according to the Honolulu Advertiser.

State Senator Brian Taniguchi, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Government Operations Committee, said he likely would not recall the bill from the committee, where it stalled in a 3-3 vote in February.

Although Taniguchi, a Democrat, earlier said he would recall the bill from his committee, recent appeals from the senate leadership reportedly have contributed to his about-face. He also expressed concern about the inability to garner the two-thirds votes needed in both chambers of the legislature to override a veto threat from Governor Linda Lingle, a Republican.

ACTION:
Contact Sen. Brian Taniguchi and tell them to support pulling the bill out of his committee!

Phone: 808-586-6460
Email: sentaniguchi@Capitol.hawaii.gov

UPDATE: ACTION ALERT: Hawaii Civil Unions Bill May Be Revivied

UPDATE: Sen. Gary Hooser plans to pull the civil unions bill out of committee tomorrow and onto senate floor for a vote, March 25th.

And support for the bill continues to grow with clery members voicing their support by lobbying their legislators.
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Last heard from Hawaii, the civil unions bill, House Bill 444, was deadlocked in a subcommittee. Yet numbers released Saturday show that 81% of Hawaii agree with civil unions.

Sen. Gary Hooser, the bill's sponsor, highly encouraged by these numbers, is now working to push the bill to the floor for a vote and get it passed the deadlocked committee.

“As the person who was the sponsor of the Senate Bill, and as the majority leader ... most would believe that I would be the appropriate person to make the motion,” said Hooser, a Democrat representing Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau, in a phone interview with The GardenIsland.com. “If there’s a majority consensus, I would make a motion in my capacity as majority leader. If there’s no consensus, then I’ll make the motion as an individual senator.”

Having passed the House in February and sensing that 18 of 25 senators will vote for the measure, Sen. Hooser needs to get a motion passed in the committee by one-third of its members to pull the bill to the floor for a vote.

“The preferable way to conduct business is if you have the votes to pass something, then you’d initiate a pull. But it’s not the only way. Sometimes you don’t know if you’d have the votes until the pull is initiated,” he said. “I would prefer, and my hopes are, that the bill is pulled with support from the majority. (But) as an individual senator, I have an obligation, and the right thing to do is to allow the full Senate to vote on it.”

He has until next month to successfully pull the bill, otherwise the bill could stall until next month.

ACTION: Do your part and contact the Senate Judiciary Committee to pull the bill and get it to the floor for a vote. Their constituency supports it. So should they.

Senator Robert Bunda [OPPOSED]
808-586-6090
senbunda@Capitol.hawaii.gov

Senator Sam Slom [OPPOSED]
808-586-8420
senslom@Capitol.hawaii.gov

Senator Mike Gabbard [OPPOSED]
808-586-6830
sengabbard@Capitol.hawaii.gov

Senator Brian Taniguchi [SUPPORTS]
808-586-6460
sentaniguchi@Capitol.hawaii.gov

Senator Clarence K. Nishihara [SUPPORTS]
808-586-6970
sennishihara@Capitol.hawaii.gov

Dwight Takamine [SUPPORTS]
808-586-7335
sentakamine@capitol.hawaii.gov

URGENT ACTION ALERT: Hawaii Deadlocking on Civil Unions Bill

Story and action instructions on contacting Hawaiian Senate Judiciary Committee at Queers United.