Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 8, 1 August 2006 — Lingle vetoes [ARTICLE]

Lingle vetoes

In July, Gov. Finda Fingle vetoed 27 measures passed by state lawmakers this past legislative session, including bills that would have banned the commercial sale of 'opihi and designated Ahu o Eaka - also known as the Kāne'ohe sandbar - as a state monument. That means that the bills are effectively dead, because state legislators decided not to reconvene for a special session to try to override the governor's vetoes. Other key bills that the go vernor killed included legislation that would have provided free healthcare for uninsured ehildren and a measure that would have increased the state's unemployment benefits. The state Fegislature had passed Senate Bill 2004 with the intent of creating a state monument at the approximately three-acre sandbar in

Kāne'ohe Bay. There have been complaints about aleohol consumption, littering and fights at concerts and other gatherings held at the site, whieh some say is a sacred plaee associated with the chief Eaka. The bill would have required the state Department of Fand and Natural Resources to adopt safety and security rules regulating gatherings at the sandbar. Fingle said that the bill provided "unnecessary regulation" because DFNR already enforces appropriate rules over the area, and that the eommunity is divided over whether it wants the sandbar to be a monument. In addition, Fingle said she rejected the prohibition on the sale of 'opihi, or limpet, a loeal delicacy, because there was no research that justified the ban. She added that the bill would have been difficult to enforce and may have created an 'opihi hlaek market. Many locals had testified in favor of the ban, saying that the population of 'opihi is getting dangerously low.