County attorneys petitioned the Fifth Circuit Court yesterday to rule on whether the ‘Ohana Kaua‘i Charter Amendment is constitutional, officials said yesterday. In a rare joint statement, Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste, Council Chair Bill “Kaipo” Asing, and the County Council
County attorneys petitioned the Fifth Circuit Court yesterday to rule on whether the ‘Ohana Kaua‘i Charter Amendment is constitutional, officials said yesterday.
In a rare joint statement, Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste, Council Chair Bill “Kaipo” Asing, and the County Council said they filed the motion because they “recently learned of potential legal problems with the amendment” and “as public officials we have the obligation and duty to obtain a judicial determination on the constitutionality of the amendment.”
“We have serious concerns about the legality of the proposed Charter amendment,” the joint release added.
The attorney’s petition requests the court’s clarification on whether the amendment conflicts with the Hawai‘i State Constitution, Article VIII, the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes, Section 50-15, and the Charter itself, which all reserve taxing power to the legislative bodies of the state and county.
“Regardless of what happens,” the group continued, ” We are committed to implementing measure to provide tax relief.
“Today’s filing of the court petition should not discourage the electorate from voting on this important measure,” it added.
But both the Mayor and councilmembers have been loudly battling against the ‘Ohana proposal for months, with all seven councilmembers taking out an advertisement in last week’s TGI, urging voters to vote against the proposal.
As for the timing, fighting the amendment’s legality so close to the election, County Attorney Lani Nakazawa said in the statement that the Hawai‘i Supreme Court decided that the better practice in cases relating to ballot issues is to initiate action prior to the election.
“The Mayor and the Council said that whether you are for or against the adoption of the proposed amendment, the people of Kaua‘i need to know whether this amendment is legal and valid,” the statement said.
