NAWILIWILI — The Kaua‘i County Council has again deferred a bill that would allow farmers who meet certain criteria to build up to three farm-worker houses on their properties. Bill 2318 was up for discussion and action before the full
NAWILIWILI — The Kaua‘i County Council has again deferred a bill that would allow farmers who meet certain criteria to build up to three farm-worker houses on their properties.
Bill 2318 was up for discussion and action before the full council at the June 23 meeting. But Councilman Derek Kawakami could not attend because he had to be on O‘ahu to set up the Hawai‘i State Association of Counties annual conference.
All Kaua‘i council members attended the statewide conference, but since Kawakami is the current HSAC president, he had to leave a day earlier to set it up.
“Instead of taking the vote without my input, the chair and the vice chair decided to defer the decision because they knew how important the issue is for me,” he said.
The farm-worker housing bill went through three years of collaborative crafting between county Planning Committee members and local farmers. The proposed legislation made it to the second and final reading for a full council decision, but the bill bounced back to committee to be tightened up further against possible abuse.
Two weeks later, after making it out of committee again, the full council took almost 12 hours to call for a vote. By then, bill supporter Councilwoman Lani Kawahara had to catch a plane to the Mainland and could not stay for the vote. Council Chair Kaipo Asing, against his will, deferred the bill once again.
Kawahara’s presence wouldn’t have made a difference in the decision. Alleging conflict of interest, Councilman Daryl Kaneshiro had already recused himself. With six voting council members left, the bill still needed a majority to pass. A draw would kill it on the spot.
Kawahara, along with council members Tim Bynum and Jay Furfaro supported the bill, while Asing and Kawakami were against it. The swing vote belonged to Councilman Dickie Chang, who revealed two weeks later he was set to vote against the bill.
When the bill resurfaced again two weeks later, Kawakami stole the spotlight — and Chang’s swing vote — with a compelling story on how he had a change of heart and decided to support the bill. The decision, however, was deferred for another two weeks to tighten up, again, the provisions against abuse.
On June 23, when it seemed that nothing else would stall a final decision, Kawakami’s empty seat prompted another deferall. Farmers, who attended in significant numbers each meeting at the Council Chambers, were nowhere to be seen at the meeting.
“We called all the farmers,” Kawakami said. “They already waited three years, so they were OK with waiting a little longer.”
The bill will resurface for a decision again at full council on July 14.
Go to www.kauai.gov for more information.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@kauaipubco.com.
