Today’s special session of the state House of Representatives will be televised live on Oceanic Cable’s ‘Olelo Channel 54 and over the Internet on ‘Olelo’s website starting at 10 a.m.
The website, which is available to anyone in the world with access to the Internet and a device able to show live streaming video, is www.olelo.org.
The Capitol TV feed will also be shown live on Akaku: Maui Community Television’s cable channel 55 and Hawaii island’s Na Leo ‘o Hawai‘i Channel 55. Kauai’s Ho‘ike Community Television has not shown legislative hearings live in recent years.
The main item on today’s House agenda is the third and final reading vote on the closely watched Senate Bill 1, legalizing same-sex marriage in Hawaii.
House leaders were criticized after Wednesday’s lengthy session, which featured a series of impassioned speeches by representatives voting on both sides of the issue, was not televised.
Hawaii residents not at the state Capitol but who wanted to monitor Wednesday’s proceedings, which concluded with a vote just before 10 p.m., were left to follow the Twitter and Facebook postings of Hawaii news outlets.
Capitol TV is a production of the Legislature’s Public Access Room, which is part of the Legislative Reference Bureau that serves the public and is funded by both houses of the Legislature. Capitol TV had broadcast the daylong sessions of the Senate and House proceedings in previous days of the special session.
Carolyn Tanaka, House spokeswoman, said logistical hang-ups are to blame for the lack of television coverage Wednesday.
Despite some conjecture by disgruntled parties about why Wednesday’s House floor session wasn’t televised, "nobody blocked it," she said.
After the days-long joint hearing of the House Judiciary and Finance committees concluded Tuesday, there was still a question of whether the full House would meet that evening, Tanaka said.
"The whole thing had been kind of fluid," she said. "It was a case of logistics and manpower."
