The Hawaii County Council defied Mayor Mitch Roth — and its own legal advisers — in overturning a veto on Wednesday.
The council on July 10 voted to approve Bill 140, which required that all county solid waste facilities be open to the public at least two days per week. Puna Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz introduced the bill to address shortcomings at the Kalapana Transfer Station, which at the time was only open one day a week.
But on July 24, Roth vetoed the bill.
In his veto letter, Roth argued that the measure overstepped the separation of powers between the county’s executive and legislative branches.
The Department of Environmental Management, which oversees the solid waste facilities, is an executive branch department, but by passing Bill 140, the legislative body of the council was mandating DEM policy without any consideration of its financial or operational requirements, according to Roth.
Furthermore, without any budget allocations for the cost increase associated with keeping all waste facilities open longer, Roth wrote in his letter that the bill constituted an unfunded mandate and was therefore fiscally irresponsible.
Kierkiewicz brought up the issue again at Wednesday’s council meeting and made a motion to overturn Roth’s veto and pass the bill into law anyway.
“(Bill 140) was a necessary action to correct an inequity that the executive branch has unfortunately failed to address for years,” Kierkiewicz said, before adding sardonically that she was happy the issue finally has gotten the mayor’s attention “and it’s now such a big priority.”
On July 9, before the council even passed the bill on second reading, DEM already had expanded the hours of use at Kalapana Transfer Station to include a second day per week. Nonetheless, Kierkiewicz said setting those standards into the County Code will ensure that access to vital county services doesn’t slip away without warning in the future.
Some fellow council members agreed. Kona Councilman Holeka Inaba argued that the council has been able to dictate elsewhere in the County Code the hours of operation for other county facilities without controversy.
Inaba also drew attention to two prominent absences in the room: Neither Roth nor DEM Administrator Ramzi Mansour attended the meeting, something Inaba called “shameful.”
“It’s disrespectful that (Roth) isn’t here himself,” Inaba said. “If you’re going to issue a veto, come here in person and stand by it.”
County Managing Director Deanna Sako appeared in Roth’s stead and echoed the arguments in Roth’s veto letter.
Kohala Councilwoman Cindy Evans agreed that she believes the council has legal authority to set certain operational standards for county facilities, but also questioned what the executive branch’s legal recourse could be if the council overrode the veto.
“What are they going to do, sue us?” she asked.
County Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Strance pushed back on that line of questioning, saying that pitting the two branches against each other is counterproductive.
Strance said that she fundamentally disagrees that the council can decide, after a county budget has already been passed, how a department can spend its money or change its program policies.
The fact that DEM was able to find the resources to increase hours at Kalapana Transfer Station is irrelevant to that legal issue, she said.
Other council members sided with Strance and the mayor.
Puna Councilman Matt Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder, calling himself a “results-oriented” politician, said that the bill already has done its job by getting DEM to improve availability at Kalapana Transfer Station, and added that he doesn’t want to act against the advice of the corporation counsel.
And Ka‘u Councilwoman Michelle Galimba was uneasy about the whole matter, saying that she felt overriding the veto crosses a line somehow.
Council Chair and Hamakua Councilwoman Heather Kimball lamented the communication breakdown between the council and DEM that caused this to happen, and urged for greater transparency among the county departments to prevent such conflicts in the future.
Ultimately, the council voted 6-3 in favor of overriding the mayor’s veto, with Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder, Galimba and Kimball voting against. Because a veto override requires at least six votes in favor, it passed, and the bill is now law.
