LEGISLATIVE UPDATE The 2023 Hawaii state legislative session is well underway and as usual, we are busy tackling issues relating to abortion access, suicide prevention, keiki, affordable housing, economic justice, immigration, mental health, and the safety and well-being of our kupuna. All these issues are major priorities for the Hawaii Catholic Conference, the public policy […]
Eva Andrade: The Hawaii Catholic Church stepped up
LEGISLATIVE REPORT What would Jesus do? In this summary report for the closing of the State of Hawaii legislative session, there aren’t enough words to convey the impact Hawaii’s faith-based community had over the past year. The church did what it does best — it rose to the challenge of helping those less fortunate. Catholic […]
Eva Andrade: Finding funds in all the wrong places
LEGISLATIVE REPORT The nation is dreadfully divided and families are struggling to get back to a more normal life. While local leadership begins cautiously to reopen the economy, the discussion continues on how best to help Hawaii’s residents. Therein lies the crux of where Hawaii’s legislators are focusing their attention and action this legislative session […]
Eva Andrade: Diocese tracking housing, minimum wage, mental health bills
Note: The Hawaii state legislature is temporarily closed due to COVID-19. LEGISLATIVE REPORT The Hawaii Catholic Conference, the public policy voice for the Diocese of Honolulu, has been tracking bills addressing homelessness, the minimum wage, mental health and other issues of concern now making their way through the Hawaii State Legislature. The positions and priorities […]
Eva Andrade: Session ends with a surprise
LEGISLATIVE REPORT The 30th Hawaii state legislature ended May 2. The biggest surprise was the failure of the bill that would permanently remove the window on the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse — HB 18 SD1. At the last hour, the bill ended up not leaving the conference committee. We understand that some […]
Eva Andrade: Bills, good and bad, take shape
LEGISLATIVE REPORT The last month of the legislative session has a lot of action but not much public discussion. At this point, the public can only participate in shaping legislation if they are granted facetime with a legislator. Most deals on bills at this juncture are made behind closed doors in conference committee where legislators […]
Eva Andrade: Many issues and an odd resolution or two
LEGISLATIVE REPORT The frenzied action on the bills reported in my last column is beginning to wind down now that we are moving toward final decking — the legislative point-in-time where bills are finalized in the opposite chamber and are returned to the originating one. Bills that have changed since they crossed over will either […]
Commentary: The call for a living wage
By Dawn Morais Webster Special to the Herald “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, […]
Eva Andrade: Crossover crunch time at the Capitol
LEGISLATIVE REPORT The last week in February, when I am writing this, is normally the first crunch time for bills at the Hawaii State Legislature. Committees are fast and furiously getting bills ready for a final vote in the originating chamber so they can pass them over to the other one. By the time you […]
Eva Andrade: A thousand cuts
HAWAII CATHOLIC CONFERENCE LEGISLATIVE REPORT Many people asked me what to expect for this year’s session of the State Legislature. I told them that after holding back physician-assisted suicide for 20 years, there wasn’t any equivalent big “moral” issue on the horizon. However, I warned them that I expected the outlook to be “death […]
