REPORT TITLE:
Recall of OHA Trustees


DESCRIPTION:
Establishes procedures for recall of OHA trustees.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.1231       
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Chapter 10, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
 2 by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
 3 read as follows:
 
 4      "§10-    Recall of trustees; procedure.  (a)  Any trustee
 
 5 serving a four-year term may be removed from office by the voter
 
 6 beneficiaries in accordance with this section.  A petition
 
 7 demanding that the question of removing a trustee be submitted to
 
 8 the beneficiary voters shall be filed with the chief election
 
 9 officer.  The petition shall be signed by currently registered
 
10 voter beneficiaries numbering not less than five per cent of the
 
11 beneficiary voters registered in the last election.
 
12      (b)  Petition papers shall be procured only from the chief
 
13 election officer, who shall keep a sufficient number of blank
 
14 petition papers on file for distribution as provided in this
 
15 section.  Prior to the issuance of the petition papers, an
 
16 affidavit shall be made by one or more beneficiary voters and
 
17 filed with the chief election officer, stating the name of the
 
18 trustee to be removed.
 

 
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 1      (c)  Each signer of a recall petition shall print and sign
 
 2 the person's name and shall place after the name the person's
 
 3 social security number, place of residence, and voting precinct.
 
 4 To each petition paper there shall be attached an affidavit of
 
 5 the circulator thereof, stating the number of signers to that
 
 6 part of the petition, that each signature appended to the paper
 
 7 was made in the circulator's presence and is believed to be the
 
 8 genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be, and
 
 9 that each signer understood it to be a recall petition of a
 
10 specific elected trustee.
 
11      (d)  All papers comprising a recall petition shall be
 
12 assembled and filed with the chief election officer as one
 
13 instrument within thirty days after the filing with the chief
 
14 election officer of the affidavit pursuant to subsection (b),
 
15 stating the name of the trustee sought to be removed.  Within ten
 
16 days from the date of the filing of a petition, the chief
 
17 election officer shall examine the petition to determine the
 
18 sufficiency thereof and attach thereto a certificate showing the
 
19 result of the examination.  If the chief election officer
 
20 certifies that the petition is insufficient, the chief election
 
21 officer shall set forth in the certificate the particulars in
 

 
 
 
 
 
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 1 which the petition is defective, and shall return a copy of the
 
 2 certificate to the person designated in the petition to receive
 
 3 it.
 
 4      (e)  In the event the initial petition contained
 
 5 insufficient signatures, the recall petition may be supported by
 
 6 supplemental signatures of voters signed in the manner required
 
 7 in subsection (c), appended to petitions issued, signed, and
 
 8 filed as required for the original petition at any time within
 
 9 ten days after the date of insufficiency noted by the chief
 
10 election officer.  The chief election officer, within five days
 
11 after such supplemental petitions are filed, shall make a like
 
12 examination of them, and if the chief election officer's
 
13 certificate shows the petition to still be insufficient, it shall
 
14 be returned in the manner described in subsection (d) to the
 
15 person designated in the petition to receive the same, and no new
 
16 petition for the recall of the trustee sought to be removed shall
 
17 be filed within one year thereafter.
 
18      (f)  If a recall petition or supplemental petition is
 
19 certified by the chief election officer to be sufficient, the
 
20 chief of election officer shall promptly notify in writing the
 
21 trustee sought to be recalled of such action.  If the trustee
 
22 whose removal is sought does not resign within five days after
 

 
 
 
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 1 the mailing of the notice, the chief election officer shall
 
 2 thereupon order and fix a day for holding a recall election.  Any
 
 3 such election shall be held not less than seventy-five nor more
 
 4 than ninety days after the petition was presented to the chief
 
 5 election officer at the same time as any other special election
 
 6 held within that period, but if no such election is to be held
 
 7 within such period, the chief election officer shall call a
 
 8 special recall election to be held within that time period.  If
 
 9 less than fifty per cent of the total number of voters registered
 
10 in the last trustee election voted at the recall election, the
 
11 trustee sought to be recalled shall not be deemed recalled
 
12 regardless of the outcome of the election.
 
13      (g)  The ballots at the recall election, with respect to
 
14 each trustee whose removal is sought, shall submit the following
 
15 question:  "Shall (name of trustee) be removed from trusteeship
 
16 by recall?"
 
17      Immediately to the right of the proposition there shall be
 
18 designated spaces in which to mark the ballot "Yes" or "No" to
 
19 recall.  A majority vote shall be sufficient to recall the
 
20 trustee, subject to subsection (f).
 
21      (h)  The incumbent, if not recalled in the election, shall
 
22 continue as trustee for the remainder of the unexpired term
 

 
 
 
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 1 subject to the recall as before, except as provided in
 
 2 subsections (e) and (i).  If recalled in the recall election, the
 
 3 trustee shall be deemed removed from office and ineligible to
 
 4 serve as trustee for the remainder of the unexpired term upon the
 
 5 chief election officer's certification of the results of that
 
 6 election, and the trustee seat shall be filled as provided by law
 
 7 for the filling of trustee vacancies.  The successor of any
 
 8 trustee so removed shall hold office during the unexpired term of
 
 9 the recalled trustee.
 
10      (i)  The question of the removal of any trustee shall not be
 
11 submitted to the beneficiary voters until the trustee has served
 
12 six months of the term during which the trustee is sought to be
 
13 recalled, nor in the case of a trustee retained in a recall
 
14 election, until one year after that election."
 
15      SECTION 2.  New statutory material is underscored.
 
16      SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
17 
 
18                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________