Dear Neighbor,

On Thursday, May 1, 2014, the 2014 Legislature adjourns “sine

die.” Latin for “without day,” adjournment sine die marks the

end of the 60-day legislative session mandated by the

Hawai‘i State Constitution.

Session—always an energetic four months at the State

Capitol—was further intensified this year when the Hawai‘i

Council on Revenues downgraded its revenue projection for

2014. With this in mind, legislators redoubled their efforts to

move legislation to address the needs of the State while main-

taining a watchful eye on the State budget.

For updates on what bills made it through the legislative process,

please consider joining Senator Brian Taniguchi and me for a

“Makiki Town Hall Meeting” on Tuesday, May 20, 2014,

5:30 pm at the Parish of St. Clement.

I look forward to seeing you in the community and don’t hesitate

to contact my office at repbelatti@capitol.hawaii.gov or at (808)

586-9425 if you have specific questions or concerns about the

legislative or budgeting process.

Sincerely,

Della Au Belatti

State Representative, District 24

MAKIKI, TANTALUS, PAPAKŌLEA, MCCULLY, PĀWA‘A, MĀNOA APRIL/MAY 2014

District 24 News

The Shortlist MAKIKI NEIGHBORHOOD BOARD Thursday, May 15, 2014 7:00 PM Makiki District Park, Arts & Crafts Bldg. 1527 Ke‘eaumoku Street Be active in your community! The Makiki Neighborhood Board is a great venue to get information, raise questions and ad-dress issues that involve City or State agencies. Monthly reports are given by the Board of Water Supply, Honolulu Fire Department, Honolulu Police Department and your State and City elected officials.

MAKIKI TOWN HALL MEETING Tuesday, May 20, 2014 5:30-7:30 PM Parish of St. Clement, Parish Hall 1515 Wilder Avenue Please join Representative Belatti and Senator Brian T. Taniguchi for this post-session wrap-up. With bills already en-rolled to the Governor, this will be the perfect opportunity to discuss the fate of legislation from the 2014 legislative ses-sion. Also, there will be snacks!

MAKIKI DOG PARK MEETING Wednesday, May 7, 2014 5:00-7:00 PM Makiki District Park, Arts & Crafts Bldg. 1527 Ke‘eaumoku Street Get updated on efforts to establish an off-leash dog park in Makiki by Advo-cates for a Makiki Community Dog Park! Weigh in on the possibility of the dog park being at the corner of Punahou Street and Wilder Avenue. Volunteers and community supporters are needed to help make a dog park in Makiki a reality.

State Capitol (April 17, 2014)—Representative Belatti, Senator Roz Baker and the Easter Bunny helped collect and load baskets donated to the Institute for Human Services by legislative offices during the Women’s Legislative Caucus Annual Easter Basket Drive. Over 100 baskets of donated housewares, toiletries, cleaning products, hygiene products, toys, baby supplies and other items were donated this year.

2

House & Senate seek to

hammer out differences on

legislation during final

weeks of session

Every session, the Hawai‘i State

Legislature deals with a handful of

bills that are particularly controver-

sial. Concerned citizens show up by

the dozen, submit hundreds of page

of testimony, and do their best to

persuade lawmakers at every step

of the legislative process. In the last

three weeks of session, these bills

usually return to their originating

bodies substantially amended to go

through the grueling conference

committee process.

This session was no different. The

following is a summary of three

bills that received

significant public

attention, with an

overview of the

differences be-

tween House and

Senate versions,

and how they fared at the end of

session.

SB3122: Relating to the Hawai‘i

Community Development Au-

thority

SB3122 proposed to allow the Of-

fice of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) to

begin residential development in

Kaka‘ako makai, which encom-

passes the area south of Ala Moana

Boulevard in Kaka‘ako. This area

was transferred to OHA as part of

the 2012 ceded lands settlement.

The lands are valued at $200 mil-

lion, but are subject to a 2006 ban

on residential development in the

area that was enacted in response to

Bills in the Spotlight: Conference

concerns about overdevelopment

and access to nearby beaches.

OHA argues that they will be una-

ble to recoup the full value of the

land unless residential construc-

tion is allowed. Others have ex-

pressed concerns about access to

beaches and obstruction of views.

Nearly 800 pieces of testimony

were submitted on SB3122 and

bill hearings extended well into

the afternoons and early evenings.

Some of the major changes made

to the bill by the House included:

Proposal of a 400-foot height

limit for residential construc-

tion; and

Amendments to the purpose

section to add language speci-

fying the State's constitutional

responsibility to improve the

conditions of Native Hawai-

ians.

In committee, conferees met seven

times over two days. Dramatic

proposals emerged in the waning

hours of conference including the

proposal that development be per-

mitted on a parcel of Kaka‘ako

makai that included both OHA and

KSBE lands. Despite these efforts,

agreement was not reached and

SB3122 did not make it through

conference.

SB2054: Relating to Health

SB2054 proposed to

mandate insurance

coverage of treat-

ment for children

with autism spectrum

disorders (ASD),

providing access to diagnostic ser-

vices and allowing for earlier detec-

tion of these disorders. Earlier de-

tection of ASD allows for earlier

treatment and, consequently, great-

ly reduced lifetime care costs and

enhanced quality of life for children

and their families.

Most of the concerns regarding the

bill centered on the potential costs

to the State. An estimate from the

(Continued on page 3)

In 2011, a stalemate between the House Finance and Senate Ways & Means committees made it necessary for members of the House & Senate conference committees to gather in one conference room to complete conference hearings.

3

Department of Human Services

placed the figure at $135 million to

serve children up to nineteen years

of age. There were additional con-

cerns about the potential impact

that mandating coverage would

have on insurance premiums gener-

ally.

This measure received almost 500

pieces of testimony and many fami-

lies with affected children attended

hearings to offer their passionate

testimony.

Some of the major changes made to

the Senate bill as it crossed over

from the House and back to the

Senate included:

An unspecified age of individu-

als for whom coverage would be

mandated from the Senate’s po-

sition of coverage for individuals

up to twenty-one years of age;

A delayed implementation date

for the insurance to be covered

beginning January 1, 2016; and

Inclusion of an

actuarial analysis

to be conducted

by the University

of Hawai‘i Eco-

nomic Research

Organization prior

to implementation of the man-

date to determine the costs, with

a focus on determining the cost

of coverage to the State’s Medi-

caid program.

The conferees for this bill met near-

ly a dozen times over the course of

two weeks reaching agreement on

insurance coverage that included

tighter language on the prescribing

of autism therapies and monetary

caps on annual and lifetime use of

autism benefits. Despite the con-

ferees best efforts, cost concerns

led to passage of a bill providing

for an actuarial analysis that exam-

ines the potential impact of man-

dated coverage. As reported from

the conference committee, this bill

no longer mandates ASD treat-

ment coverage.

HB1866: Relat-

ing to the Ha-

wai‘i Community

Development

Authority

Some bills are

lucky to avoid the conference

committee process when the origi-

nating body for a bill agrees to the

changes made to the bill by the

other chamber. HB1866, relating

to the Hawai‘i Community Devel-

opment Authority (HCDA), was

one such bill.

HCDA was established in 1976 to

redevelop Kaka‘ako. Since that

time, the HCDA's authority has

expanded to cover development of

He‘eia and Kalaeloa.

HB1866, as amended by the Senate,

proposed a number of reforms, in-

cluding:

Setting at 418-foot height limit

for buildings in the Kaka‘ako

mauka area;

Adjusting HCDA board mem-

bership composition; and

Requiring the HCDA to consid-

er requests for variances at pub-

lic hearings that are separate

and subsequent to the initial

presentation of the proposal.

More than 500 pieces of testimony

were received on this measure. Be-

cause the House agreed to Senate’s

proposed changes, HB1866 Senate

Draft 2 was enrolled to the Gover-

nor for either his signature or veto

before adjournment sine die.

(Continued from page 2)

signed, a bill may be scheduled for

conference hearing. During these

hearings, House and Senate confer-

ees deliberate differences between

different versions of the same meas-

ure.

Once the two chambers come to a

consensus on a particular version,

conference members can then vote

on the final recommended version

of the bill. After passing through

the conference committee, the

measure is sent to the entire House

and Senate for final reading.

While conference can be a grueling

and stressful time in the legislative

session, measures that sustain the

process are typically sent to the

Governor for his consideration.

Conference Committees: Disagreement,

Deliberation, Compromise & Agreement

Conference is a phase of the legisla-

tive session in which disagreements

between Senate and House drafts of

bills and resolutions are discussed

and deliberated. When the two cham-

bers amend the same bill in different

ways, a final version of the measure

must be agreed upon before the bill

can be sent to the Governor for con-

sideration.

The House and Senate use confer-

ence as a time to either agree to the

non-originating chamber's amend-

ments, disagree to the non-

originating chamber's amendments,

or create a conference draft for the

purpose of compromise between two

different versions of the bill.

Conferees from both chambers are

appointed by the Senate President

and the House Speaker based on sub-

ject matter. Once conferees are as-

Punahou Square Park (above), on the corner of Punahou and Wilder Streets, is the new proposed

location of the off leash dog park in Makiki. Thoughts? Input? Join the Advocates at the All Ad-

vocates Dog Park Meeting on Wednesday, May 7th, 5:00 pm at the Makiki District Park.

4

For the past two years, members of

Advocates for a Makiki Community

Dog Park have advocated for the cre-

ation of an off-leash dog park in

Makiki. The Advocates have worked

with the neighborhood board, state

and city officials, and Toni Robin-

son, the former Director of the City’s

Department of Parks and Recreation

to take steps to achieve this goal.

An off-leash dog park would benefit

the neighborhood by providing a

safe, clean, and enclosed venue for

dog and dog owners to enjoy playing

and exercising. A dog park would

also enable citizens to encourage dog

socialization and training within the

local community, and provide a rec-

reational space for dog-owners in the

Makiki community.

Although the process continues to be

long and involved, the Advocates for

a Makiki Community Dog Park have

taken small steps forward. Most re-

cently, in September 2013, the Advo-

cates met with Department of Parks

and Recreation staff members to dis-

cuss potential locations for an off-

leash dog park in Makiki. At this

meeting, DPR suggested Punahou

Square Park at the corner of Punahou

Street and Wilder Avenue as a poten-

tial location for the dog park, which

is a change from the original pro-

posed location at the Makiki District

Park area.

This new location offers more open

space than the original proposed

Makiki District Park area. The loca-

tion is central, within walking dis-

tance of many homes, and is already

a bustling hub of activity. The Puna-

hou Square Park site also offers two

important components to a dog park -

ample shade and a water supply. The

community now needs to weigh in on

this proposal.

With the support of the Makiki

Neighborhood Board, several elected

officials, and the Department of

Parks and Recreation, the prospect

for an enclosed, off-leash dog park in

Makiki looks promising! However,

there is a critical need for ongoing

community input and support to

make this dog park a reality.

In order to create and establish a

Makiki dog park, members from the

community need to become even

more involved and help move this

project forward. If you think a desig-

nated off-leash dog park would bene-

fit Makiki and you would like to help

the Advocates establish a dog park in

Makiki, please join us for an All-

Advocates Meeting on Wednesday,

May 7, 2014 at 5:00 PM at the Arts

and Crafts Building at the Makiki

District Park.

For any questions about efforts to

establish a dog park in Makiki,

please call (808) 586-9425. We hope

to see you all on May 7th!

Advocates seek input & support from community

on new proposed location for Makiki dog park Makiki residents continue

to push for an off-leash

dog park in a sea of build-

ings.