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• <br /> acts which are harmful to our society, including being <br /> intoxicated in public or driving while intoxicated can be <br /> adequately controlled through necessary laws that are designed <br /> to prohibit specific conduct and that there is just not enough <br /> good to justify the cost. <br /> CHAIRMAN SAKATA: Mr. Kornberg, the commission <br /> here has nothing to do with criminal law. We are not going to <br /> draft any law pertaining to marijuana whether it can be <br /> legalized or not. We have not been empowered with any of that <br /> authority at all. What you are talking about are things <br /> pertaining to criminal law, court cases and we have no <br /> jurisdiction whats�oeve:r 'i..n changing any of these things in the <br /> charter. <br /> MR. KORNBERG: I appreciate your concern. <br /> However, I do believe that the commission could recommend a <br /> charter revision, an amendment to the charter which would simply <br /> prohibit the expenditure of county money for this purpose. <br /> It has been adopted in some cities on the mainland and it is <br /> certainly, I believe, within the purview of the charter to <br /> control how our tax money is spent. If you choose not to take <br /> that responsibility, that ' s fine. <br /> CHAIRMAN SAKATA: The commission isn ' t empowered <br /> to do that. Probably we can. be discussing things • like this but <br /> I don ' t think we have any legal right, whatsoever, to be talking <br /> about criminal law and use of tax dollars in this type of <br /> busin'sss. Let , me ask our legal counsel. Mr. Oda, do you have <br /> anything to refer on this? <br /> MR. ODA: So far as what Mr. Sakata has said <br /> regarding the jurisdiction of this commission , that is entirely <br /> correct. The commission has no jurisdiction, whatsoever, <br /> regarding prosecution, nonprosecution , or whatever, for <br /> marijuana or anything else. That is preempted by state law. <br /> Now, with regard to the question of whether the Charter <br /> Commission can have a provision in its charter as to how public <br /> moneys are -to be spent, that ' s a discretionary matter with the <br /> commission;.as to whether they want to put anything in the <br /> charter itself. <br /> MR. KORNBERG: I appreciate your comments. <br /> I think I would state, though, that there has not been a <br /> definitive statement by the Supreme Court of the United States <br /> about the apparent conflict of authority in this area of <br /> controlling expenditures and I think the direction of the <br /> supreme court, in the last five years , has been leaning toward <br /> permitting local governments to do things that maybe historically <br /> wouldn ' t have been permitted because of the inherent growing <br /> need to make government responsive and control spending. So I <br /> don ' t think it is a definite statement of law to say that it is <br /> flatly you couldn ' t do it. I believe it can be done and I <br /> think an amendment could be drafted that would stand a <br /> constitutional attack. I think that during the period of that <br /> =,attack , we would save an awful lot of money. <br /> • <br /> -20- <br />