Democrats in the state House could give gymnast Simone Biles some lessons in how to do a backflip as last week, they once again managed to not pass a bill to legalize recreational marijuana.
The bill, which has cleared two committees, would set up a new complete system to protect folks while at the same time allow the legal use of marijuana. House Bill 1246 had just been approved in two House committees when it was recommitted, sent back to committee instead of passed.
You are right — it does appear to be a glaringly inefficient way of conducting people’s business. If you like it, pass it, if you don’t like it don’t pass it.
The bill would have legalized the recreational use of marijuana for those age 21 and over.
The bill’s sponsor, Big Island Democrat David Tarnas, did a good job of downplaying his disappointment and pointed to the state Senate as the next place for any possible action in the Hawaii marijuana legalization debate.
The Waimea planner said that he still has hopes for the legalization issue.
“Apparently, there were some representatives who were going to vote yes, but changed their minds and decided to vote no on the floor for second reading,” Tarnas said in an interview on Friday.
“I don’t know what persuaded them to change their minds. Nonetheless, the unfortunate result was there were not going to be enough votes to approve the bill.”
Research shows that 24 states, three U.S. territories and D.C. have legalized recreational marijuana in some form, medical marijuana use is allowed in 39 states — but just seven states have simply said that marijuana can be purchased and used.
In 2000, then-Gov. Ben Cayetano signed into law Act 228, allowing medical marijuana cardholders to grow their own cannabis or appoint a caretaker to do so. In signing the law, Hawaii became the 8th state to legalize medical cannabis and the first to do so through an act of the state Legislature.
Even former President and Punahou student Barack Obama acknowledged using marijuana in Honolulu. Obama revealed in his memoir, “Dreams for My Father,” using marijuana while growing up here.
In Hawaii, legislators do not single out pieces of legislation out of the hundreds they have under consideration, only to wave them around, pass them out of two committees and then kill them on the floor. Public execution is not the usual path for unpopular legislation.
“I thought I had included all the provisions in the bill necessary to address the concerns of opponents, but apparently not,” a clearly disappointed Tarnas said.
The bill still can move if the Senate acts on its version of it, and Tarnas has his hopes.
“We’ll see what the Senate does with their bill,” Tarnas said, adding he plans “to address the concerns of the legislators who are still not ready to support the bill. We’ll see what the Senate does with their bill. Otherwise, this will be a project I will work on for the next session.”
Allowing Hawaii citizens to consume marijuana without penalty has been up for discussion for decades. Hawaii historians can track the issue back to before statehood. And this is two years in a row that the idea has been aired, voted on and then vaporized.
The state House’s new leader, Kauai Rep. Nadine Nakamura, the former Kauai county managing director, is now facing her first major public leadership test as speaker.
Both her performance and that of the state House Democrats are now a public issue.
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.
