Constitutional Amendments to be Decided by Voters
Voters will be deciding on changes to the Hawaii State Constitution at the November 2 general election.One amendment changes the current elected State Board of Education (BOE) (HB2376 CD1) to an appointed Board. If passed‚ “the Governor shall nominate and, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, appoint the member so of the board of education, as provided by law.”
The change will change Article XVIII of the Hawaii Constitution and will effect an amendment to the document.
The proposed amendment to go to an appointed BOE passed the Senate 25-0 and the House 44-7.
SBH supports this amendment and urges a “yes” vote. Remember, blank ballots in Hawaii on constitutional questions count as a “no” vote. This amendment will more clearly fix responsibility with the executive for public education. Ideally, the executive should also choose the State schools superintendent.
The second proposal will amend the Hawaii Constitution “to authorize the Legislature to determine whether excess funds should be used as tax refunds or tax credits to taxpayers of the State or diverted to one or more funds to serve as temporary supplemental sources of funding for the State in times of an emergency, economic down-turn, or unforeseen reduction in revenue” (SB 2807 CD1). The measure passed the Senate 23-2 and House 50-1.
SBH opposes this amendment, as it will allow the state to keep more taxpayer money instead of giving it back.
The complete text of each amendment can be found online at http://capitol.hawaii.gov. Once there look for the link on the bottom left hand side labeled “2010 Proposed Constitutional Amendments.”
From Small Business News, October 2010 edition