Bill Text: HI HR48 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii House Resolution 48 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Constitutional Convention.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-03-11 - Referred to JUD, FIN, referral sheet 27 [HR48 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2016-HR48-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	48
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

urging the legislature to consider placing on the 2018 general election ballot the question of whether a state constitutional convention shall be held.

WHEREAS, the last time a convention was held in Hawaii to propose a revision of or amendments to the Constitution of the State of Hawaii was in 1978; and

WHEREAS, article XVII, section 2, of the State of Hawaii Constitution provides that the Legislature may submit to the electorate at any general or special election the question, "Shall there be a convention to propose a revision of or amendments to the Constitution?"; and

WHEREAS, article XVII, section 2, of the State of Hawaii Constitution further provides that "[i]f any nine-year period shall elapse during which the question shall not have been submitted, the lieutenant governor shall certify the question, to be voted on at the first general election following the expiration of such period"; and

WHEREAS, in 1998, the Legislature passed House Bill No. 3130, which the Governor signed into law as Act 131, Session Laws of Hawaii 1998, and which caused to be placed on the 1998 general election ballot the question of whether a constitutional convention should be held; and

WHEREAS, a majority of voters in 1998 voted against holding a constitutional convention and thus a convention was not held; and

WHEREAS, in 2008, the question of whether a constitutional convention should be held was automatically placed on the ballot since more than nine years had elapsed since the question was last placed on the ballot; and

WHEREAS, a majority of voters in 2008 voted against holding a constitutional convention and thus a convention was not held; and

WHEREAS, pursuant to article XVII, section 2, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii, the Legislature may again submit to the electorate at any general or special election the question of whether a constitutional convention shall be held; and

WHEREAS, article XVII, section 2, of the State of Hawaii Constitution requires that the question of whether a constitutional convention shall be held shall automatically be submitted to the electorate in 2018 since by then more than nine years shall have by then elapsed since the question was last submitted to voters in 2008; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2016, that the Legislature is urged to consider, during the 2017 Regular Session, submitting to the electorate in the 2018 general election the question, "Shall there be a convention to propose a revision of or amendments to the Constitution?"; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the presiding officers of each house of the Legislature, Governor, and Lieutenant Governor.