The Senate leadership plans to kill a bill backed by Gov. David Ige aimed at making it easier for state officials to enforce criminal trespass laws on state land. That’s because senators from Hawaii island expressed constituents’ concerns that the measure targeted protesters of the controversial Thirty Meter Telescope project.

The Senate also plans to kill a bill that would forbid pedestrians from entering a crosswalk after the countdown timer starts blinking, a warning that the light will soon change to the “don’t walk” signal.

It’s highly unusual for bills to fail this late in the legislative session, which ends Thursday. Both bills passed a crucial conference committee deadline last week, when representatives from the House and Senate must come to an agreement on bills.

Senate Bill 2816, Ige’s measure relating to criminal trespass, was slated for a final vote in the full Senate this week. House Bill 32, relating to crosswalks, was expected to be voted on by the full House and Senate.

Technically, the Senate plans to “recommit” both bills, which means that they are expected to be sent back to legislative committees, effectively killing them.

Trespassing on state land

SB 2816 is part of the governor’s legislative package. Ige said during a February news conference that the bill was aimed at the homeless and making sure that state officials had the tools they need to protect public spaces.

State and city officials have been conducting sweeps of public parks, areas under bridges and other public spaces where Hawaii’s growing numbers of homeless have been setting up tents and other makeshift living quarters.

Ige, during the February news conference, declined to say whether the bill was aimed at any specific public space.

The bill had sparked concerns from homeless advocates as well as the Hawaii chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, who said it unfairly targeted the homeless and was probably unnecessary given existing laws.

“Criminalizing the poor does nothing to alleviate homelessness,” Mandy Finlay, the ACLU of Hawaii’s advocacy coordinator, wrote in testimony opposing the bill. “The bill, if passed, would merely add to an existing body of law and practices that perpetuate the cycle of poverty and would result in overly harsh punishments, over-incarceration and wasted state money.”

However, some opponents of the Thirty Meter Telescope project interpreted the bill differently.

Sens. Lorraine Inouye (D, Kaupulehu-Waimea-North Hilo) and Russell Ruderman said that Hawaii island residents had contacted them out of concern that the bill was targeting TMT protesters. The embattled project made headlines last year as project opponents took to the slopes of Mauna Kea to try to stop it.

“There was a lot of concern about it. There was enough concern that we decided not to push the bill forward,” said Ruderman (D, Puna). “There wasn’t a big argument about it. Really, there was nobody championing the bill in the Senate.”

Ruderman said that he was concerned that the bill could be used to undermine other protesters as well, not just those opposing the Mauna Kea telescope.

The Senate leadership agreed to recommit the bill, said Ruderman. Senate President Ron Kouchi didn’t return a call for comment.

Cindy McMillan, a spokeswoman for the governor, declined to comment on the Senate decision. She said that Ige planned to hold a news conference later this week during which he would comment on specific bills.

Crosswalks

The Senate also plans to kill HB 32, introduced by Rep. Karl Rhoads, which sought to clarify when pedestrians can enter crosswalks and when motorists need to yield to pedestrians.

The bill stipulates that a pedestrian is legally in an intersection or crosswalk when any part of their body, wheelchair, cane, bicycle or other “extension” of themselves is beyond the curb or the edges of the roadway.

The bill would also forbid pedestrians from starting to cross a street when a countdown timer starts blinking.

“Some felt that the countdown, if it is working and there is someone who is going to start crossing the crosswalk, that they need to be given the courtesy to complete it and not get a ticket,” said Inouye.