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Hawaii Senate adopts committee reports, grants waivers for hearings and decision meetings
Summary
The Hawaii State Senate adopted multiple standing committee reports, recorded consent-calendar vote tallies on a small number of measures, granted Rule 21 waivers to schedule hearings and decision meetings for several bills, and adjourned until 11:30 a.m. the following day.
The Hawaii State Senate on Feb. 27 adopted a set of standing committee reports, approved consent-calendar measures with a small number of recorded no votes, granted waivers under Senate Rule 21 to allow hearings and decision meetings on several bills, and adjourned until 11:30 a.m. the next day.
Senators voted to adopt standing committee reports numbered 711 through 721 and 793 through 804 after a motion to adopt was offered on the floor. Senator DeCorte moved for adoption; the motion was seconded and adopted with no recorded objections in the excerpt of the transcript.
The adoption advances the listed committee recommendations to the next steps in the Senate process. On the consent calendar, the clerk reported that 25 senators voted aye for most measures. The clerk recorded exceptions: standing committee report number 704 (related in the transcript to Senate Bill 222, Senate Draft 1) and report number 705 each drew 23 ayes and 2 noes; the third-reading entry for House Bill 1440, House Draft 1 was also reported as 23 ayes and 2 noes. The transcript excerpt did not list the names attached to those two no votes in the consent-calendar summary, although reservations and individual no votes were noted earlier in the session for certain items (see provenance and clarifying details).
Several Rule 21 waiver requests were made and granted on the floor to permit hearings or decision meetings before standard public-notice timeframes. Senator Keohokalole requested and the presiding officer granted a waiver to allow a public hearing on Senate Bill 1365 (listed in the transcript as “Senate bill 13 65”) to be held the same day; the clerk’s notice indicated the hearing will be conducted at 1 p.m. on Feb. 27 in Conference Room 211 (the transcript records an earlier reference to room 221 that was corrected on the floor).
Senator Rhoads requested a waiver to hold a decision-making meeting on Senate Bill 242, SD1; the waiver was granted, and the committee scheduling was announced for Feb. 28 at 10:14 a.m. in Conference Room 211. Senator Dela Cruz requested a waiver to hold decision-making meetings on several measures (the transcript lists multiple bill numbers: 26, 14202 SD1, 1434 SD1, 1443 SD1, 1502 SD1, and 1612 SD1); that waiver was granted, and the Ways and Means Committee was scheduled to meet Feb. 28 at 10:05 a.m. in Conference Room 211. Notices for some of those measures were filed in the clerk’s office as described on the floor.
On the consent-calendar report, a senator (on the record as addressing the chamber) stated: “On the consent calendar, we have 25 eyes for all bills except for 704 on Senate bill 222 Senate draft 1, 23 ayes, 2 noes, on Senate standing committee report 705, and on page 18, third reading of House Bill 1440 House draft 1, 23 eyes, and 2 noes.” The presiding officer repeatedly announced that the waivers were granted and closed routine business. The clerk also announced that the deadline for filing standing committee reports on Senate bills for second reading is 6 p.m. that day.
The session opened with roll call and member introductions: Senator Awa and Senator DeCoite introduced visiting students from Kahuku High School and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, respectively, who were visiting the capitol on field trips.
Senator Wakai moved to adjourn; Senator Descartes seconded the motion. With no objections recorded in the transcript excerpt, the Senate adjourned until 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 28.
Because the transcript excerpt is primarily procedural, it contains scheduling actions and vote tallies but limited floor debate on the merits of specific bills. The transcript excerpt did record reservations and individual no-vote notations at points earlier in the third-reading sequence, but the excerpt does not clearly map each named reservation to a single bill in all cases. Where a specific room, time, bill number, or vote tally is mentioned in the excerpt, this article reports it; where the excerpt omits names or other details, this article notes that those specifics were not specified in the provided transcript excerpt.
