HomeMy WebLinkAboutCA-0020 - General Procedures & Protocols for the Charter Commission - formattedCHARTER AMENDMENT NO. CA -20
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII:
Section 1. Article XV, Section 15-3, of the Hawai`i County Charter (2018
Edition), is amended to read as follows:
"Section 15-3. Mandatory Charter Reviews.
The charter shall be reviewed in 1989 and every tenth year thereafter. Not later
than the [first] fifteenth day of [July prior to] January of the charter review year, the
mayor with the confirmation of the council, shall appoint a charter commission composed
of eleven members to study and review the operation of the government of the county
under this charter. Commission members[, no more than a majority of whom shall belong
to the same political party,] shall be representative of the various geographical areas of
Puna, Ka`u, Kona, Kohala, Hamakua, and Hilo. The council shall appropriate funds to
enable the commission to carry out its duties, including the hiring of necessary staff.
No later than fifteen days after its members have been appointed and confirmed,
the charter commission shall hold its first meeting. The commission shall hold at least
one public hearing in each of the geographical areas. The commission may propose
amendments to the existing charter or a draft of a new charter [which shall be submitted
to the county clerk]. Within a year of its appointment, the commission shall submit a
written report of its activities, findings and recommendations along with proposed
amendments or a draft of a proposed charter to the council. Within thirty days after
receipt of the commission's report and proposed amendments or draft of proposed
charter, the council shall return the proposed amendments or proposed charter with any
proposed alternatives. If no alternative is proposed by the council, the commission shall
submit the proposed amendments or proposed charter to the county clerk within thirty
days of receipt from the council. If any alternatives are proposed by the council, the
commission shall accept or reject proposed alternatives and shall report any rejections to
the council within thirty days of receipt of the alternatives from the council. The council
may recall any alternative within ten days of rejection. When the time of recall for
alternatives has lapsed, the commission shall submit to the clerk the draft of proposed
amendments or of a proposed charter together with any proposed alternatives from the
council which the commission did not incorporate into its draft. Upon receipt of the
amendments or charter in the form as proposed by the commission, the county clerk shall
provide for the submission of such amendments or charter, with any council alternatives,
to the electors of the county at either a special election as determined by the commission
or at the first general election following the charter review year. The commission shall
prepare the language of the question to be submitted to the voters for each of the
amendments it proposes.
The commission shall publish not less than forty-five days before any election, at
least once in at least two daily newspapers of general circulation within the county, as
well as via an electronic medium, such as the Internet, a brief digest of the proposed
amendments or charter, with any council alternatives, and the purpose thereof and a
notice to the electorate that copies of the proposed amendments or charter are available at
the office of the county clerk.
Members of the commission shall hold office until the day after the election at
which the amendments or charter is ratified or rejected.
If the majority of the voters voting upon a charter amendment votes in favor of it or a
new charter, if a new charter is proposed, the amendment or new charter shall become
effective at the time fixed in the amendment or charter."
Section 2. Charter material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken through.
New charter material is underscored. When revising, compiling, or printing these charter
provisions for inclusion in the Charter of the County of Hawai`i (2020), the revisor need
not include the brackets, bracketed and stricken material, or underscoring.
Section 3. The revisor of the charter shall renumber charter article, chapter,
and section numbers and any cross references thereto pursuant to amendments approved
by the electorate.
Section 4. Severability. If any provision 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
invalid provision or application, and to this end, the provisions of this ordinance are
declared to be severable.
Section 5. This amendment shall take effect upon approval by the electorate.
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