2004-03 Council Member Term Limits Article III, Section 3-2, Hawaii County Charter

Home

office of the President or acting as President during the remainder of such term. " (underlining added) 5 It should be noted that the presidential restriction is on election, not on service. As discussed below, this is another way that the 1996 Council deviated from the Federal and State models and which has already resulted in questions which are noted here but not addressed in this review. 6 Because of the ratification process, Congress could not know when the amendment would become effective, if ever. The restriction relating to the Governor is contained in Section 1, Article V, and the restriction relating to the Lieutenant Governor is contained in Section 2, Article V. 8 "The amendments to Sections 1 and 2 of Article V shall limit the term of any person elected to the office of governor or lieutenant governor in the 1978 general election to two consecutive full terms commencing from noon on the first Monday in December, 1978. " This provision demonstrates that it is not impermissible to apply a term limit to persons elected simultaneously with approval of the limit if said limit is imposed in a manner which respects the due process, equal protection and other constitutionally protected rights of candidates. 9 Prior to the expiration of the term of Mayor Stephen Yamashiro in 2000, he publicly questioned whether he could be elected to a third consecutive term and serve, if he resigned shortly before serving "two full consecutive" terms. Since the County Charter term limit provisions relating to Mayor and the Council are worded to prohibit the serving of terms (as opposed to being elected to a number of terms) the vague wording could provide -a popular officeholder and a sympathetic court the opportunity to arrive at such a result although it would not seem to be consistent with the clear intent of the Charter. If the drafters of the subject County Charter amendment had followed the model of the 22nd Amendment, the present questions and Mayor Yamashiro' s hypothetical question would have been avoided. The drafters of the Council term limit also created another source of speculation because rather than place the service limit in Section 3-3, Article III, 'entitled, "Qualifications, " (as it is in the case of the Mayor) the new language was inserted into the section entitled, "Composition and Terms. " It seems like an inconsequential difference but it could be another potential issue if the provision is challenged. R- 12