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COUNT'S OF HAWA[ = . STATE
ORDINANCE NO. 98 78
0
OF HAWAII
BILL NO. 2 2 9
Draft 2
AN ORDINANCE TO INITIATE A CHARTER AMENDMENT TO SECTION 3-2, ARTICLE
III OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CHARTER RELATING TO COMPOSITION AND TERMS
OF THE HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Purpose. Section 3-1, Article III of the Hawaii County Charter states, the
legislative powers of the county shall be vested in the county council. Its primary function shall
be legislation and public policy formulation. These responsibilities include dedicated research,
continual public input, institutional knowledge of county government and its budget, and careful
policy determination; as a result, the decision-making process or legislative oversight for certain
measures may take months and, sometimes, years. During election years, measures may be
neglected or deferred and only subsequently resurface among newly elected council members.
To ensure continuity and stability in the legislative branch, terms of council members should be
longer. Therefore, the Hawaii County Council finds it necessary to change the current limit of
four consecutive two-year terms to two consecutive four-year terms.
In the 1996 general election, the voters of Hawaii County enacted an amendment to the
Hawaii County Charter establishing term limitations of council members not to exceed four
consecutive two-year terms. The effective date of the 1996 Hawaii County Charter amendment
establishing term limitations not to exceed eight consecutive years in county council office is
twelve o'clock meridian on the first Monday of December, 1996. A provision for incorporating
existing term limitations within a conversion to four-year terms of office is provided in Section
3 below.
SECTION 2. Section 3-2, Article III of the Hawaii County Charter relating to the
composition and terms of the County Council is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 3-2. Composition and Terms. There shall be a county council composed of
nine members. One member shall be elected from each of nine districts. The terms of the
council members shall be [two] fours years and shall begin at twelve o'clock meridian on the
first Monday of December after the election. The terms of the council members shall not
exceed [four] two consecutive [two] fQmr year terms. Candidates shall be nominated and elected
in accordance with the election laws of the State."
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SECTION 3. Four-year terms of office for council members shall commence in the year
2000.
To honor the spirit and intent of the 1996 term limitation Charter amendment, this
ordinance establishing conversion to four-year terms of office beginning in the year 2000
determines that any council members elected in 1996 and re-elected to office in the 1998 and
2000 general elections shall be eligible to serve consecutive terms of office until 2004. This
ordinance finds that incumbent council members elected in 1996 may serve two (2) two-year
terms until the year 2000, and one (1) four-year term until the year 2004.
Any candidate(s) newly elected to the County Council in the 1998 general election,
upon serving one (1) two-year term until the year 2000, shall be eligible to serve two additional
four-year terms of office until the year 2008. This will allow council members first elected in
1998 to serve three consecutive terms of office, thereby achieving parity with any incumbent
council members elected in 1996 and who are thereby eligible to serve a total of three
consecutive terms until the year 2004.
SECTION 4. Material to be repealed is bracketed. New material is underscored.
SECTION 5. If any portion of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any person or
circumstance, is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of
the ordinance which can be given effect without the provision or the application, and to this end,
the provisions of this ordinance are declared to be severable.
SECTION 6. Upon adoption of this ordinance, this council, by appropriate resolution,
shall provide that this amendment be submitted to the electorate of Hawaii County for approval
at the next 1998 general election.
SECTION 7. Upon approval of the Charter amendment proposed in this ordinance by a
majority of voters voting thereon, as duly certified, the provisions of Section 3 of this ordinance
shall take effect at twelve o'clock meridian on the first Monday of December after the 1998
election.
INTRODUCED BY:
02,
COUN L MEMBER, TY OF HAWAII
JR/rf
Hilo, Hawaii
Date of Introduction:
June
1,
1998
Date of 1st Reading:
June
1,
1998
Date of 2nd Reading:
June
16,
1998
Date of 3rd Reading:
July
1,
1998
Effective Date:
July
22,
1998
REFERENCE: Comm:
816