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<br /> <br /> <br />STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS <br /> <br />KOSSOW: We’re going to move over to statements from the public. Staff, can you <br />confirm the amount of testifiers we currently have for today? <br /> <br />KAUKA: Thank you, Chair. We currently have two testifiers signed up. One has <br />requested to provide her testimony at the end of the agenda. So, at this time I’d like to <br />call upon Mr. Jacob Aki from Common Cause Hawaiʻi. Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Chair, if you <br />wanted to make an announcement first. <br /> <br />KOSSOW: Testifiers, please note, you will have three minutes for each item on the <br />agenda to provide your statement. If you are speaking on multiple items, please indicate <br />when you’re transitioning. We kindly ask that you wait to be unmuted and called upon. If <br />there are issues when you are called, after trying for some time, we may have moved on <br />while staff tries to work with you offline and we’ll try to get back to you. When there are <br />thirty seconds remaining, we may indicate this to you and ask that you summarize. <br />Before you speak, please state your name for the record and the item you are testifying <br />on. Mr. Kauka? <br /> <br />KAUKA: Thank you, Mr. Chair. The first testifier is Mr. Jacob Aki from Common Cause <br />Hawaiʻi. Mr. Aki, you may unmute yourself and you have three mintues. <br /> <br />JACOB AKI <br /> <br />AKI: Thank you. Aloha, Chair, Vice-Chair, and members of the Hawaiʻi County <br />Commission. My name is Jacob Aki on behalf of Common Cause. Common Cause is a <br />non-partisan, non-profit, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values <br />of Amercian democracy and ensuring a fair and transparent reapportionment and <br />redistricting process. Common Cause would like to thank this Commission for taking our <br />requests from the last meeting into consideration. We are glad to see that the Commission <br />meeting is being streamed live on YouTube. And we also commend the Commission for <br />honoring the intent of the Sunshine Law and allowing public testimony not just at the <br />beginning, but at the end of the meeting as well. We have one item that we would like to <br />continue to urge the Commission to do, which is to count incarcerated people according <br />to their home addresses as of April 1, 2020, for the purposes of drawing council district <br />lines. Including incarcerated persons in the population count for the district in which their <br />facility is located alters representational preportions and as a result, the voting power of <br />residents. Counting Hawai’iʻs incarcerated population according to their home addresses <br />will eliminate this particular issue and ensure an accurate and true reapportionment <br />process. We have attached information on how to do this but we would like to again, <br />thank the Commission for your hard work and for your dedication to this process. Thank <br />you. <br /> <br />KOSSOW: Thank you, Mr. Aki. Mr. Kauka, is there any more testifers for today? <br /> <br /> 3 <br /> <br />