Green plans to veto 3 bills aimed at emergency powers

Among the 17 bills that Gov. Josh Green intends to veto are three that would put new rules on his emergency powers as the Legislature continues to try to define how Hawaii governors should operate during crises.

One of the bills that Green intends to veto—the latest version of House Bill 2581—would prevent the governor or a mayor from suspending electronic media transmissions during a statewide or local state of emergency.

Green’s intended veto drew opposition from the Big Island Press Club, which expressed “grave concerns ” on Monday.

“It should be noted that this version of the bill passed unanimously through all its committees and both houses of the Legislature with strong public support, ” the Big Island Press Club said in voicing its opposition to a potential veto, saying it had worked with the Legislature for several years on the bill that Green intends to veto.

“The governor, in his potential veto message, notes unspecified ‘alternative language’ that the administration thinks would make the bill better. However, during hearings on the bill as it made its way through the Legislature, the Green Administration failed to make any alternative language public so that the stakeholders and public could help vet it through the legislative process, ” the press club said.

In a statement, press club President Tiffany Edwards Hunt, said “The hunger for fact-based information is never more intense than during an emergency, and when that information is hard to come by, people often resort to rumors and speculation. One would think that’s the last thing the government would want in a declared emergency.”

The press club said, “Journalists fear the current law could be interpreted by some leaders as a ‘kill switch’ of sorts that would prevent journalists from reporting news during an emergency.”

In announcing the list of bills he intends to veto, Green’s office said in a statement on Friday that, “The governor is a strong proponent of the First Amendment, and understands that during an emergency, communication must be timely, accurate, and well-coordinated. However, we must still guard against acts of extreme violence or acts of terrorism which can use social media or other electronic media to communicate and activate crowds or destructive devices. This power to suspend electronic media transmissions is subject to federal law and the governor and the mayors of every county in the state of Hawai ‘i carefully weigh the power to suspend electronic media transmissions. As this bill has had prior versions last session with alternative language that more properly balances the needs for communication balanced against the need for protection, the governor would prefer that a bill be worked on again looking at that more balanced approach.”

The three bills on Green’s veto list aimed at the governor’s emergency powers are part of the ongoing push-pull between legislative and executive branches around the country that, in Hawaii, was highlighted under then-Gov. David Ige during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Colin Moore, who teaches public policy at the University of Hawaii and serves as an associate professor at the University of Hawaii Economic Resource Organization.

One of three bills—the latest version of Senate Bill 572—“Authorizes and specifies conditions under which the Department of Agriculture may declare a biosecurity emergency, during which the department and governor may take certain actions to prevent the establishment or spread of pests and prohibited or restricted organisms.”

The other—the latest version of SB 2512—“Esta ­blishes notice and reporting requirements for the expenditure or use of public resources by the governor, pursuant to the governor’s emergency powers.”

Both the Big Island Press Club’s opposition to Green’s plans to allow him and county mayors to suspend electronic media transmission during an emergency—and broader efforts by the Legislature to define what’s allowed during emergencies—are to be expected, along with Green’s powers to veto limits, Moore said.

“These are standard positions that you would see in any Legislature in the country, ” Moore said. “Governors want to keep their emergency powers and the Legislature pushes back. This push-pull is the constitutional system working. (In Hawaii ), this isn’t representative of some larger, deeper disagreement between the Legislature and the governor. When it comes to limiting electronic communications during an emergency, the media believes that no one should ever have these powers. How you see these thing depends on where you sit.”

In the early days of his administration, Green drew widespread criticism, and a lawsuit, for his effort to suspend traditional laws to more quickly develop housing through a series of emergency proclamations, along with emergency proclamations following the Aug. 8 Maui wildfires.

State Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, (D, Mililani-Wahiawa-­Whitmore Village ), acknowledged that, “some members of the Legislature would prefer a better outline of facts to determine when the governor should be able to call an emergency. Right now it seems only too flexible to call an emergency even when the Legislature doesn’t agree to waive all those laws.”

But Dela Cruz, who helped introduce SB 2512, said the bill merely requires an accounting of how state funds are spent during an emergency and does not restrict the governor’s abilities.

“It doesn’t say your powers are limited, ” Dela Cruz said. “He’s starting to spend on things that did not go through the budget process and the Legislature is mainly unaware of the expenditures. I don’t think it adds additional steps for him to spend money. It only requires him to report how he spent it after the fact for transparency.”

In his intent to veto message, Green said that “notice and reporting requirements ” under SB 2512 “impede the Governor’s responsiveness and the Department of Defense’s flexibility during states of emergency and disaster situations, which impact the state of Hawai ‘i’s ability to provide support for impacted residents. Furthermore, the administrative procedures that necessarily follow such notice and reporting requirements will delay the Governor’s decision-making authority, and potentially the ability to respond in times of emergency.”

Green has until July 10 to veto bills on the list or they become law. The Legislature can override any vetoes with a two-thirds majority vote in a special session.

In its opposition to Green’s intent to veto HB 2581, the Big Island Press Club on Monday encouraged the public to send comments in support of the bill to.