2004-04 Council Term Limits Article III, Section 3-2, Hawaii County Charter

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Honorable Bob Jacobson July 29, 2004 Page 3 As I expressed to you during a recent informal discussion, at first blush, it did appear the "effective date" of the Charter's "term limits law"was 1996. However, after considering the cases cited in our Opinion 2004-03, we were compelled to conclude any ambiguity must be resolved in favor of allowing a candidate to seek elective office, as such is a fundamental right that may only be curtailed if expressly provided by law. Woo, supra, 100 Cal.Rptr.2d at 162-164. In the case of Hawaii County's 1996 charter amendment, no such "express language" appeared on the ballot, in the ordinance, nor in the legislative history of the measure. This problem was recognized by Mr. Hong, who recommended in the 1998 letter that Mr. Ray clarify and rewrite an entire section of his proposed ordinance (seeking to provide for two consecutive four-year terms). In Mr. Hong's words, 'The ordinance must be as clear as possible in terms of what years of service will be counted towards the eight (8)year term limit." We hope this communication has assisted you and your fellow Council members in analyzing this controversial issue. We are glad this matter will be litigated in the courts, as that is the proper forum to hopefully provide closure for all parties involved, including our citizens we all serve. As expressed in our Opinion 2004-03, our task was to independently research pertinent caselaw and other documents, in an effort to predict what a Hawaii court would do, if confronted with this issue. Although the issue is controversial, we do appreciate the opportunity to research it, hear and consider different points of view, and present our respective positions to the court in the upcoming litigation. Very truly yours, J?!:=- LINCOLN S. T. ASHIDA Corporation Counsel Encls. cc: Honorable Harry Kim, Mayor (w/encls.) Honorable James Y. Arakaki (w/encls.) Honorable J. Curtis Tyler (w/encls.) Honorable Aaron S. Y. Chung (w/encls.) Honorable Leningrad Elarianoff(w/encls.) Honorable Gary Safarik (w/encls.) Honorable Fred Holschuh (w/encls.) Honorable Honorable Joe Reynolds (w/encls.) Honorable Michael Tulang (w/encls.) S: Departments/Corp Counsel/Opinion 2004-04 7-29-04/LSAmr