Gov. Neil Abercrombie says he is likely to complete his list of potential vetoes ahead of Monday’s deadline to notify the state Legislature and that the list will probably be a short one.
“I don’t think there’s too many bills that are coming under the veto side of things,” Abercrombie said Monday in his office.
“It’ll be done early,” he added. “I’m not going to wait till the last minute. I’m working as fast I can on all that stuff. I’m not trying to create drama — we’ll move as quick as we can.”
The veto deadline is July 10, but the governor by law must notify the Legislature 10 working days beforehand of which bills he might potentially veto. Any bills not signed or vetoed by July 10 will become law without the governor’s signature.
About 200 bills remain pending before the governor.
Abercrombie vetoed 19 measures last year and 17 the year before. None was overridden.
Among the proposals still awaiting action are a pair of campaign spending disclosure bills unexpectedly killed, then revived in the final days of the 2013 legislative session. Lawmakers blamed poor communication that led to the premature demise of Senate Bill 31, imposing new reporting requirements on campaign super PACs, and House Bill 1147, requiring super PACs to disclose top donors in political advertisements.
Both appeared dead after a last-minute disagreement on whether two similar measures should be passed and sent to the governor. The Senate had recommended that both be approved and that the attorney general advise the governor on which would be more beneficial. House leaders felt the Legislature should decide on a single measure and deferred the Senate proposal, prompting Senate leaders to return the action a few hours later.
Lawmakers settled their differences behind closed doors and brought the bills back for passage on the session’s closing day.
“It’ll be interesting to see which one he vetoes,” Rep. Scott Saiki (D, Downtown-Kakaako-McCully), the House majority leader, said Monday.
Also pending before the administration are two medical marijuana bills that advocates say would put Hawaii in line with other states that regulate such programs through a health oversight agency rather than a law enforcement department.
House Bill 668 would transfer administration of the medical marijuana program to the Department of Health from the Department of Public Safety on Jan. 1, 2015. Senate Bill 642 would make substantive amendments to the program, such as changing the amounts of the plant patients may possess. The measure would allow patients to have an “adequate supply” of four ounces and a total of seven plants, regardless of the plants’ maturity.
Abercrombie said there has not been much lobbying on any particular bill that and he is working with departments to vet all proposals.
“The principal thing in all of this is to try to show respect for the legislative process and not substitute myself for that,” he said. “Obviously, any governor has the duty then to do a check-and-balance kind of thing, but my predisposition is to try and respect what the Legislature does.”
Other measures pending before the governor include:
» SB 2, amending the offenses of first-degree terroristic threatening and first-degree robbery to include the use of simulated firearms.
» SB 192, making soliciting someone under the age of 18 for prostitution a Class C felony with a minimum fine of $2,000; adds other offenses and penalties for coercing or soliciting a minor for prostitution.
» SB 1214, making it illegal for any person, business or county police department to clamp a boot onto any vehicle — on any public or private road, street or highway.
» SB 1340, increases the age minors can stay in the foster system to 21.
» HB 430, removing limits on itemized deductions for charitable donations by wealthy donors.
» HB 1068, requiring certain employers to display a poster with information on human trafficking and the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline.
» HB 1187, which applies the Child Protective Act and state child abuse laws to minors who are victims of sex and labor trafficking.