House Floor

Will the house come to order? Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

Mr. Alkos, Ms. Amato, Ms. Bellotti, Mr. Chun, Ms. Cochran, Mr. Evslin, Mr. Garcia, Mr. Garrett, Mr. Gideon, Ms. Grandinetti, Ms. Hartsfield, Mr. Hashem, Mr. Holt, Mr. Hussey, Mr. Ilagong. Ms. Iwamoto. Ms. Kahaloa. Ms. Capella. Ms. Kohokapu liloy. Mr. Keela. Ms. Kitagawa.

Not present.

Mr. Kong, Mr. Kush, Ms. Lachika, Mr. Lee. Ms. Lohan. Ms. Martin. Mr. Matayoshi, Ms. Matsumoto, Mr. Miyake, Ms. Morikawa, Mr. Moraoka, Ms. Nakamura, Mr. Olds, Ms. Puruso, Mr. Pyrrick, Ms. Poipoe, Mr. Quinlan, Ms. Reyes, oda.

Mr. Sayama, Mr. Shimizu, Ms. Souza, Mr. Takayama, Ms. Take no uchi, Mr. Tam, Mr. Tarnas, Ms. Templo, Mr. Todd, Mr. Woodson, Mr. Yamashita. Madam speaker.

Here.

Madam speaker, 50 Members are present. One is not present.

Item number two, reading of the journal. Representative morikawa. So ordered. Recess. Will the House come to order? Item number three, messages from the Governor. Mr. Clerk, are there any messages from the Governor?

Madam speaker, there are none.

Item number four, Senate Communications. Mr. Clerk, are there any Senate communications?

Madam speaker, there are none.

Members, any introductions? Representative Templo.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today in the gallery, we are joined by Hawaii homeschools of Hawaii. And today the homeschoolers are visiting their Senators and reps to learn more about the legislative process and wanting to share their concerns with us all. When I call your names, please stand. We have from the Christian homeschoolers of Hawaii, the.

The Stu Reisma family. Please stand and be recognized. The Cortrell family, Akiona family, Cayaban family, Ikeda family, Anderson family, and Sereno family. And if I missed any family, please stand as well. Speaker may request to include their name, additional names into the journal. So ordered. Thank you.

Members, please welcome our guests and welcome to your State House of Representatives.

Representative Martin. Thank you, Speaker. Today I'm very honored to welcome to the gallery some of our Hana and Kumu from Malama Honua Public Charter School in Waimanalo. And with us today, we have Kumu Jaz, Kaya, Clemens, Kahone Kamai Opili, Kolu Po, Quinn, Joseph.

And above, attending their booth, which was showing off their papakui eye and their pohaku that they were making. Kalo with. For all of us to sample each other is Kumule Colomana, Perry and Juliet Noachit. I'll give the spelling for that one. Please. Please stand to be recognized. And welcome to Your House of Representatives.

Representative Garcia.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'd like to introduce two of my session staffers. That's here. We got Hunter Harris and Erica. Thank you for being here. We welcome to your House of House of Representatives.

Representative Pierick

Thank you. In the gallery, we also have Laura Burbarg, a homeschool expert for many years. As having been homeschooled my whole life, I appreciate all that you do for our state.

Representative Ilagon.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. At the gallery we have Dave Elder Erdman, who is the President for the Retail Merchants of Hawaii. Thank you for your service and for your advocacy. Let's welcome him to the House of Representatives. Madam speaker, may I just do one more introduction?

Please proceed.

Of course. In the gallery we have our most popular testifier, Angela Melody Young, who has done a lot of work here and is a local resident here at our Capitol. I just want to say welcome to our House of Representatives.

Members. Any further introductions? Seeing no further, Representative Masayoshi.

Thank you, Speaker. This is a little awkward because I think another person already introduced them, but the Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii. Could you please stand? All of them. They were established in 1988 with a mission to promote, protect and provide and support for homeschooling families across websites, seminars and other activities.

They also act as the liaison with the Department of Education. And I visited with them today and talked with them about our great house and all the great work we do. They're looking forward to coming by and visiting more of you today. So welcome to your House of Representatives.

Representative Garcia.

Thank you, Madam speaker. I see Dr. Amy Bosler and her family who is joining us here with the Christian homeschooler. She's also a Member of the Kapolei Neighborhood Board. Thank you for being here and welcome to your House.

Representative Matsumoto. I also see a friend in the gallery, Leilani Soon. Please stand up and welcome to your House of Representatives.

Okay. Seeing no further introductions, we'll turn now to the order of the day. Item number five, reports of standing Committees. Representative Kahaloa.

Madam Speaker, I move to adopt Standing Committee report numbers 126 through 326 as listed on pages 1 and 2, and that the accompanying House bills as may be amended past second reading and be referred to their designated committees.

Representative Morikawa. Madam Speaker, I second the motion. Is there any discussion on these items beginning with House Standing Committee Report number 126? Report number 226. Report number 326? Representative Garcia in opposition. Please proceed.

I'd just like to note that all the Testimony submitted on this Bill and Committee was in opposition. I want to thank the retail merchants for being here as well as this would give a huge burden to our local retailers which I don't believe should be placed upon them.

So for those reasons and all the testimony opposing it, no vote.

Representative Alcos.

No vote.

So ordered. Representative Matsumoto, same request. So ordered. Representative Reyes Oda.

No vote.

So ordered. Representative Moraoka, raising opposition. Please proceed.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Excuse me, Speaker. You know this. This is just crazy. In my. In my community, I witness one of the two supermarkets out there hire an additional individual buy a box truck to go out in a community to go pick up their own carts. Now we want to punish them for that.

They're not leaving their carts out. Why are they got to bear the brunt or why do they have to get more financial hardship in a time like this? You know, secondly, these trickle down costs go right to our working families. You know, they took bags away for some other reason.

Now you got to go to the store, you got to pay for a bag. With a Bill like this, it'll almost seem like they're going to force you to rent a cart when you go to shop. This is crazy. And for that reasons I. I oppose it.

Representative Shimizu.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I rise with reservations. I totally agree with my colleagues in opposing the Bill. But I understand that there are concerns and I would look forward to further discussions in my Walla and JHA committees.

So I'm willing to approve with reservations for continued discussion on this matter how we can come to a better equitable solution.

Thank you Representative Pyrrhick.

Thank you. No vote.

So ordered. Representative Ilagon.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Speaker. I rise in support. And additional comments, Please proceed. Thank you. Madam Speaker. I want to state that we don't have any intention to make it harder for these food establishment especially regulating their shopping carts. And what your ECD Committee did was amend this Bill to minimize those costs.

And I'm just going to read this statement in the Bill, it's on section F, that no county shall assess an impound storage or disposal fee or any fine to a business establishment if a shopping cart is removed from the business establishments premises without its consent.

That means if a shopping cart were stolen, Madam speaker, that food establishment would not be assessed at cost. Because we understand that a shopping cart will somehow magically leave the premise and we don't want that on our food establishments.

So we passed this Bill to make sure that there are enabling language for the counties to Be able to take these shopping carts that's all across our roads, but also ensure that our counties do not make it burdensome for these food establishments.

Thank you, Representative Matayoshi.

Thank you. In support.

Please proceed.

Shopping carts are a blight in our community, quite frankly. If you go to the windward side where it rains all the time, the shopping carts end up in drainage ditches. They can collect debris. They can clog drainage channels, streams, but more than that, they're just kind of everywhere.

I think all of our communities are experiencing a similar hardship. The cost for removal of them falls upon usually the city and county or private landowners to remove them and deal with these fairly expensive shopping carts.

What this Bill does, speaker, is it gives the counties, again like the previous speaker said, an option to remove them and tries to Fund it. We're not trying to do an unfunded mandate here. We're trying to hold the people responsible for allowing these shopping carts to leave the premises, even if they were stolen.

I would argue the fine should be. The same measures need to be put in place by the businesses to secure their own property. Otherwise, we've.

We're going to continue to see what we've been seeing the last 4050 years, where shopping carts get taken off the property, abandoned, sometimes destroyed, and then the taxpayer has to bear the burden. We all have to bear the burden of that. So I strongly support this Bill.

I hope that small businesses will put countermeasures in place to prevent their shopping carts from leaving the premises. But if they do, I do believe that the businesses should be responsible for bearing some of the cost of the removal, and it should not fall upon all the taxpayers to do so. Thank you.

Representative Martin.

Thank you, Speaker. Irise in support, please proceed. So in Kailua town, there is a stream called Hamakua Stream. And as part of my nonprofit work in collaboration with the state, we do cleanups twice a year.

And in each of those cleanups, we fish out probably about eight shopping carts from that state wildlife sanctuary and return them to the respective businesses in not very good shape. But that is work we are doing, right? Right. As a nonprofit, we should not be bearing that cost.

As our previous speakers has mentioned, the businesses should play a role as well. Thank you.

Representative Kong.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Wish reservations.

So ordered. Representative Gideon.

Madam Speaker, I'm a no vote.

So ordered. Okay. If there's no further discussion, Members will be taking a voice vote. All those in favor say aye. All those opposed say no. The motion is carried. Item number six, introduction of resolutions. Mr. Clerk, are there any resolutions for action?

Madam speaker, there are no resolutions for action. May all others be referred to print.

So ordered. Item number seven. Announcements. Members, are there any announcements? Representative Quinlan.

You may know him as the finance chair, but my dog thinks he's a cuddly bear. Today is the day that he was born. To celebrate, he left his beard unshorn. Happy birthday, Chris.

Representative Kila.

Madam speaker, and just out of respect to her, because I know she is watching, I would like to wish a sincere happy birthday to my mom.

And just in case I don't get to see her when I get home tonight, I am very thankful for all the mothers in the Legislature and our colleagues who are mothers as well. Happy birthday, Mom.

Members, if there's no further announcements. Regardless. Representative Morikawa. Madam Speaker, I move that this House stand adjourned until 12 o' clock noon tomorrow. Representative Garcia.

Madam Speaker, I second the motion.

All those in favor say aye. All those opposed say no. The motion is carried. The House stands adjourned until 12 o' clock noon tomorrow.

It.