HONOLULU — Gov. Linda Lingle will decide whether to sign or veto a contentious proposal to allow same-gender couples to form civil unions after returning from a two-week-long working trip to China and Japan, she said Tuesday. Speaking at a
HONOLULU — Gov. Linda Lingle will decide whether to sign or veto a contentious proposal to allow same-gender couples to form civil unions after returning from a two-week-long working trip to China and Japan, she said Tuesday.
Speaking at a state Capital press conference, Lingle said she likely will take until June 21, the deadline by which she must tell the Legislature which bills she may veto. She then has until July 6 to veto those measures if that is the action she chooses.
Measures not on the June 21 list would become law, either with or without her signature.
Lingle’s trip to Asia begins Friday, and she is due to return June 19.
Recent meetings with advocates and foes of the civil-unions legislation, HB 444, reinforced for her just how deeply the emotions are on both sides, Lingle said.
“Each meeting would begin with some analytical approach and a legal approach … but eventually, it would come down to just deeply-, deeply-held feelings that both sides had,” the governor said.
As an example of the split in Hawai‘i on the issue, Lingle said two rabbis with whom she is close are taking opposite positions on the measure.
“That shows you just how divided the community is, even within smaller parts of the community,” said Lingle, who is Jewish. She said she has talked to both rabbis about the bill.
The civil-unions measure may be the last, most-controversial decision the Republican governor makes before her second and final term ends in December.
Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona, with whom she has won two statewide elections, adamantly opposes the bill. Lingle hopes she can hand off the governor’s office to Aiona, who is seeking the GOP gubernatorial nomination.
Further, the state Republican Party recently passed a resolution strongly criticizing the measure.
But two of the eight Republican state legislators backed it, as did most of the Legislature’s Democrats. The state Democratic Party supports HB 444.
Lingle said she has reviewed a confidential memo from Attorney General Mark Bennett detailing the impacts the measure could have on state and local governments, as well as two studies by other authors that reached opposing conclusions about its economic effects.
“It’s a difficult decision but I think it’s made much more difficult because of how it’s going to affect people on both sides,” the governor said. “I want to be able to take my time and communicate in what I hope will be an effective way, while realizing one side or the other is not going to be very happy.”
