The Flint Hills Observer
April 1997

Hawaii Update: Time is Running Out For Opponents of Same-Sex Marriage
from internet reports

Exciting news for proponents of same-sex marriage keeps pouring in from Hawaii.

There Will Be No Constitutional Convention!!
According to the Hawaii Gay Marriage Project, Hawaii will not be holding a constitutional convention (ConCon) in 1998 because the majority of Hawaiians did not vote on Election Day to hold one. The state Supreme Court has ruled that a majority of voters failed to choose last year to hold a constitutional convention.

The question put to Hawaii voters on Election Day 1996 received 163,869 "yes" votes, which was 3,716 more than "no" votes. But ballot boxes also contained 45,216 blank ballots. In an unanimous opinion, the five justices ruled that a majority of voters did not choose to hold a constitutional convention. Blank ballots should be included when determining the number of ballots cast, the court ruled yesterday.

The decision brought protests from legislators who wanted to hold a convention in 1998 where citizen delegates could propose changes to the state constitution. The constitution requires that a question regarding a constitutional convention be put to voters every ten years, but the Legislature may pose the question more frequently than that.

What Does This Mean For The Same-Sex Marriage Issue?
According to the Hawaii Gay Marriage Project, which bases its opinion on numerous and lengthy discussions with legislators, constitutional experts, and even public relations people, the heat will now be solely directed to legislators by those who want to slow down the final legal marriage ruling by the Hawaii State Supreme Court.

With a constitutional convention on the table, there was less directed force to legislative action because there was always the convention to deal with that. It would also mean there would be more time to help understand all the issues involved before any change of the constitution would be contemplated.

However, with the elimination of the constitutional convention as an alternative, those who want to slow down the final decision by the Hawaii State Supreme Court (where the appeal now lies) will likely push as hard as they can to get some legislative action by end of legislative session 1998. There will be a push to do that in this part of the session, but because there is the requirement that any proposed amendment be voted on at next general election in 1998 there is still another legislative issue to address it.

Where Hawaii’s Senate And House Stand On Same-Sex Marriage Legislation
State House and Senate negotiators have indicated little room for compromise as they race to meet an internal deadline for a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

If lawmakers do not reach agreement by April 11, there won't be enough time to take the necessary votes and other steps before the session ends April 29. Below is a "refresher" on where the two legislative bodies stand.

HB 117 SD 1--The House is proposing a constitutional amendment, to be ratified or rejected by voters during November 1998 general elections, that would limit marriage to one man and one woman.

The Senate is proposing a constitutional amendment to provide authority to the state to regulate marriage, including reservation of marriage to opposite-sex couples, as long as that reservation would not deprive anyone of civil rights on the basis of sex.

HB 118 HD 1 SD1--The House version wants to create a new "reciprocal beneficiaries" law allowing couples who can't marry to have four benefits: hospital visitation, joint property ownership, inheritance rights and the right to sue for wrongful death.

The Senate wants to expand the proposal to include about 200 rights and benefits, including state worker's health and death benefits accruing to a "life partner," the ability to file joint tax returns, workers' compensation benefits and criminal victims' rights, family leave and other rights.