Communication 07 Supreme Court Opinion

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120 P.3d 217 Page 19 108 Hawai'i 318, 120 P.3d 217 (Cite as: 108 Hawai'i 318, 120 P.3d 217) County of Hawaii 2001 Reapportionment Com-Hilo, Puna, Ka‘u, South Kona, North Kona, South mission used (¶¶ 12.g to 12.i and 12.o to 12.p). Kohala, North Kohala and Hamakua[.] As a result, the Order for Summary Judgment 12.l. Furthermore, distinct communities of inter- **234 *335 entered herein on the population base that the est have developed and exist within CountyHawaiiReapportionment of 2001 Com-these traditional land districts, or judicial districts. mission used disposes of all issues herein leaving no other issues left for decision. 12.m. Although the reapportionment principles in Articl IV, Section 6 of the Hawaii State Consti- (Emphasis added.) Specifically, the stipulation tution state that a reapportioning body shall avoid “[w]here practicable, submergence of an area in a withdrew, inter alia, the following allegations: No Rational or Objective Methodology larger district wherein substantially different socio- economic interests predominate,” the Commission did not identify or consider the socio-economic in- 12.e. When the public provided information and terests of communities that could be determined recommendations on the assignment of communi- from public sources available to the Commission ties of interest to specific Council Districts that dif- on subjects such as education, employment and fered from the 1991 Council District boundaries poverty levels, or the effect of including communi- and the Commission's fixed geographical “starting ties of differing socio-economic interest into desig- points,” the Commission rejected the public's input nated Council Districts. and recommendations, continued to rely upon the existing 1991 Council District boundaries and its arbitrar[il]y fixed geographical “starting points” 12.n. As a consequence, even though reasonable and justified its adoption of the 2001 Reapportion-and practicable alternatives existed and even ment Plan by using arbitrary and inconsistent crite-though the public had provided the Commission ria.with background information on the differing socio-economic interest of communities, the Commission rejected such alternatives and infor- 12.f. As a consequence, the Commission's 2001 mation and, using its arbitrary geographical “start- Reapportionment Plan (1) keeps incumbents in ing points” and 1991 Council District boundaries, Council Districts based on the 1991 Council Dis- submerged communities of interest in certain areas trict boundaries, despite changes in the population into a larger district wherein substantially different for the County of Hawaii since 1991, (2) fractures socio-economic interest predominate. This conse- existing communities of interest, and (3) dilutes the quence is reflected in the Commission's action that: representative power of some communities of in- terest while inflating the representative power of (1) divided communities in the upper (or other communities of interest. northern) portion of the Puna judicial district and assigned those divided communities to two .... (2) separate Council Districts where substan- tially different socio-economic interest predomi- Submergence of Communities of Interests into nate [.] Larger Districts Where Different Socio- Economic Interests Predominate (Some emphases added and some in original.) As observed in the opinion, “[t]he effect of the parties' 12.j. For more than 100 years, governmental stipulation ... was ‘to withdraw Appellants' allega- units in Hawaii have used the traditional land dis- tions that the ... Commission failed to use a ‘rational tricts of the Island of Hawaii, now known as the or objective methodology’ ... and wrongfully sub- judicial districts, to organize government agencies merged communities of interest into larger districts and to administer government programs.... but not Appellants' allegations as to the population base that the ... Commission used.” Op. at 321 n. 3, 12.k. These traditional land districts, or judicial 120 P.3d at 220 n. 3 (brackets omitted) (emphasis districts, are the Districts of North Hilo, South added). © 2011 Thomson Reuters. No Claim to Orig. US Gov. Works.