IGE-GREEN ADMINISTRATION VETOES EMERGENCY-POWER LEGISLATION AND REJECTS RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

View this email in your browser ([link removed])


ONE PARTY RULE BREEDS ABSOLUTE POWER
Ige-Green Administration Vetoes Emergency-Power Legislation, Rejects Accountability

(Honolulu, HI) – “Responsibility and accountability are two operative keywords critical to maintaining a balanced system in government,” said Hawai‘i Republican Party State Chair Lynn Finnegan. “These past two years have shown the people of Hawai‘i what happens when State leadership operates void of critical systems that allow for appropriate checks and balances.”

Chair Finnegan continued, “The Ige-Green administration’s actions these last two years forced hundreds of local businesses to shut down causing thousands of workers to lose their jobs hurting local families across the economic spectrum. This important law would have ensured that future State leaders would be required to work transparently with the Legislature and the people of Hawai‘i. It would prohibit our State from experiencing what we endured with the Ige-Green administration’s authoritarian style leadership that was void of any support of Hawai’i‘s families, keiki, and small business community.”

SB3089 would have restored the balance of power by requiring a justification from the Governor for the suspension of laws by emergency proclamation. This new law would have required the Legislature to review the Governor’s plans and terminate an emergency in whole or in part by a two-thirds vote of the body if they deemed the extension unnecessary. The legislation also clarified the 60-day termination clause to better outline the limited scope of authority the Governor has when using emergency proclamations.

In the past two years, Governor Ige abused his authority and maneuvered around the State Constitution’s emergency-powers intent by extending the COVID-19 emergency order 21 times since his original proclamation in March 2020. He also issued four additional proclamations relating to the state’s COVID response, a total of 24 orders over two years.

The consequences to these actions were devastating. Locally owned small businesses closed down never to reopen, people lost jobs, economic recovery stalled, students fell behind in school, suicide rates increased dramatically, and the cost of living skyrocketed. Scenarios where individual rights were trampled upon were justified without an opportunity for citizens who were subject to these powers to be heard and seriously considered.

“Hawai‘i’s people cannot forget that during the pandemic workers were told to vaccinate or lose their jobs, local people were ticketed for not wearing masks on mountain hikes or on the beaches, and families who had more than five members couldn’t ride in the same vehicle or eat at a restaurant together. The last minute changes, lack of communication from leadership, and nonsensical rules impossible to interpret, shut down our islands, our family celebrations, our traditions. This bill would have stopped the nightmare of the last two years from ever happening again. Yet the Governor chose to keep this unchecked power for the next Governor,” said Chair Finnegan.

The State House and State Senate will not return for a special session to conduct any veto overrides. “No surprise here. Hawai‘i will continue to get the same results if we remain a State with one party rule. We will never see an end to the corruption brought by the absolute power of the Democrats,” said Finnegan.

“Democrats do not hold themselves accountable nor can they be trusted to do the right thing and preserve our State Constitution. Hawai‘i’s people need public servants not politicians, people who speak up and fight for our freedoms, families, and our keiki. It’s time to elect Republicans to office and bring a true system of checks and balances back to our State,” Finnegan asserted.

# # #

============================================================
** Instagram ([link removed])
** HRP FB Page ([link removed])
** HRP Website ([link removed])
Copyright © 2022 Hawaii Republican Party, All rights reserved.
Paid for by the Hawaii Republican Party. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee. www.gophawaii.com

Our mailing address is:
Hawaii Republican Party
725 Kapiolani Boulevard, Honolulu, HI
Suite C-105
Honolulu, HI 96813
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.
Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp
[link removed]