The House Democratic Majority on Friday advanced all of its substantive measures to reform public education and campaign financing laws before Friday's midnight expiration of First Lateral, the House's first important deadline of the 2002 Legislative Session, according to House Majority Leader Marcus R. Oshiro.

"Any bill with more than one committee must have passed second reading by midnight on Friday so it can be referred to its final committee, otherwise it is dead for the session," Oshiro said, adding that exceptions are single referral bills and measures introduced last year which are already sitting in final committee.

The package of bills to structurally change the way Hawaii's public schools are governed and operated was a key focus of House Democrats' 2002 legislative agenda. The centerpiece is House Bill 2037, which would decentralize the Department of Education into 15 learning complexes statewide.

"The important features of the bill is that it really allows for all important education decisions to be made at the lowest level that is closest to the affected student," Oshiro said. "The bill also establishes clear lines of accountability."

In their floor remarks, a number of legislators asked that HB 2037 to be more closely connected to HB 2033, a constitutional amendment to abolish the existing Board of Education. "I certainly think that's reasonable," Oshiro said, "because these measure were intentionally designed to complement each other."

Other education measures surviving the deadline included:

• HB 2014, which would permit the Department of Education to establish partnerships with private sector entities, such as Kamehameha Schools, to fully administer charter schools.
• HB 2848, HD 1, a constitutional amendment that would permit private schools to apply for special purpose revenue bond funding to construct educational infrastructure.

Earlier in the session, the House also agreed to extend the work of the Joint Senate-House Investigative Committee investigating the State's compliance with the federal Felix Consent Decree on Special Education.

Another cornerstone of House Democrats this session was a package of measures to reform Hawaii's campaign financing and election laws to restore a measure of public confidence in government. Bills that met Friday's deadline included:

• HB 1717, requiring all legislators to undergo mandatory ethics training.
• HB 2841, calling for the immediate removal of any elected official convicted of a crime at the time of conviction rather than at the time of sentencing.
• HB 2842, denying benefits to elected officials convicted of a crime.
• HB 2843, to require an automatic recount for all races where the difference between the winner and loser is less than one percent.
• HB 2844, banning corporations, unions and government contractors from contributing to political campaigns.

Still mindful that Hawaii is recovering from the effects of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Oshiro commended House Democrats for advancing bills to protect consumers and to provide relief to businesses. These measures included:

• HB 2834, establishing the Hawaii Rx program to use the buying power of the State to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs, primarily to assist residents who have no drug insurance or who are elderly and on fixed incomes.

• HB 1761, enabling the State Insurance Commissioner to provide oversight on rates charged by Hawaii's health insurance companies.
• HB 1770, giving the State the power to regulate oil companies to prevent exorbitant pricing of petroleum products such as gasoline and aviation fuel.
• HB 2835, which would convene a panel to review Hawaii's mandated health benefits laws in an effort to lower costs for employers.
• HB 2750, which would enable employers to cover between 60 percent and 100 percent of health insurance coverage for their employees, provided that employees contribute no more than 40 percent of the cost, and pending Congressional approval of ERISA exemptions.
• HB 1795, exempts professional employment organizations from the general excise tax on amounts disbursed for wages, salaries and other benefits to employees assigned to a client company.
• HB 2641, assists high technology companies by disallowing the use of non-compete agreements between employers and employees that effectively prevent a separated employee from accepting employment in another technology enterprise.

Also part of House Democrats' legislative agenda were measures to reform Hawaii's energy use toward renewable, alternative sources and away from expensive imported fossil fuels. Among the measures passing Friday included:

• HB 2837, HD 1, calling for a Statewide energy audit.
• HB 2838, HD 1, to apply royalties from the sale of geothermal energy to hydrogen research.
• HB 2839, HD 1, to accelerate the depreciation schedule for those who invest in more efficient combined heat and power systems.

Measures of broad public interest also passing on Friday included:

• HB 2167, HD 1, to repeal the existing traffic camera law and replace it with a new program based on a flat fee to the contractor, requiring photo identification of the driver as well as the car, and disallowing insurance companies from using speeding citations as a basis for increasing premiums.
• HB 1729, HD 1, authorizing the director of the State Department of Transportation to increase highway speeds to a maximum of 65 miles per hour, conditions permitting.
• HB 2638, which would establish a mandatory $10 per month tax to be applied to a State sponsored long-term care insurance program.

Earlier in the session, the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee effectively killed bills that would permit legalized gambling in Hawaii.

"These are only some highlights of the measures that were passed, but I believe they reflect the intent of House Democrats to implement true reform in education, government and our energy practices," Oshiro said.

"We have now stated clearly what our priorities are and the direction we believe the State should be moving on a broad range of issues. We have much work ahead of us, and the session is far from over."

All the measures meeting Friday's midnight deadline will now go to their respective final committees for action.

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