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Honolulu City Council continues meeting to 10:30 a.m. tomorrow; remote testimony and Hawaiian-language rules reiterated
Summary
The presiding council member postponed the session until 10:30 a.m. tomorrow after a prolonged executive session and outlined procedures for in-person and remote public testimony, including a one-minute limit and allowance for Hawaiian-language testimony under state law.
The presiding council member of the Honolulu City Council postponed the council’s meeting at about 3:30 a.m. today and announced the session will continue tomorrow at 10:30 a.m., following the close of the zoning committee.
The decision matters because it sets the next opportunity for the council to take up the agenda and reiterates how members of the public may participate: in person or remotely, limited to one minute per speaker, and with accommodations for testimony offered in Hawaiian under state law.
The presiding council member said the meeting had been delayed because the council was “in executive session for a prolonged period of time” and that the intention was “to simply continue this till tomorrow at 10:30 following or following the close of the zoning committee tomorrow.” The presiding member added procedural language into the record, saying, “Although remote oral testimony is being permitted, this is a regular in person meeting and not a remote meeting by Interactive Conference Technology under HRS section 92-3.7.”
The presiding member explained that the meeting would continue “notwithstanding the loss of audio visual communication with remote testifiers or loss of the public broadcast of the meeting,” and reiterated that public testimony on each agenda item will be allowed both remotely (via video conference or phone) and in person in the council chamber. He said, “Before testifying, each person shall state their name. For the record, each speaker will be limited to 1 minute presentation.”
On language accommodations, the presiding member said both English and Hawaiian are official languages of the State of Hawaii and referenced the constitution and state statute when inviting Hawaiian-language testimony, noting that additional time would be allowed for an English translation when necessary: “As both English and Hawaiian are official languages of the State of Hawaii, pursuant to article 15, section 4 of the Hawaii State Constitution, section 1 dash 13 of the Hawaii revised statutes, members of the public may testify in either language.”
Council members present were Weier, Cordero, Dos Santos Tam and Tupelo; Councilmember Nishimoto was excused. When asked for comments on whether to proceed today, the presiding member noted Councilmember Weier’s preference to meet that day but concluded the better course was to continue to the following day, saying, “I know council member Weier, you wanna do it today. Appreciate that. But given the time requirement that I believe this will take, I think it's better to continue to tomorrow.”
The presiding member closed the session by ordering the continuation: “Having said that, so ordered. Thank you. See you all tomorrow in zoning committee at 09:00. We're in a adjourned.”
The council’s procedural statements make explicit that (1) the meeting is a regular in-person meeting rather than an ICT meeting under HRS section 92-3.7; (2) testimony may be offered remotely or in person; (3) speakers must state their names and are limited to one minute; and (4) Hawaiian-language testimony will be accommodated with time for English translation as described on the agenda and under the cited constitutional and statutory provisions.
No formal motion or roll-call vote was recorded in the transcript excerpt provided; the continuation was ordered by the presiding member and the session was adjourned to the stated times.
