There’s a strange procedural gap in the rules of the Hawai’i House of Representatives. Normally, representatives have the right to demand a roll call vote after a voice vote. But, in Hawai’i, the Vice Speaker of the House was able to erroneously rule that ‘the noes have it,’ and kill off an effort to pass a civil unions bill.
No roll call was taken on the decision to postpone the vote, which shielded representatives from having their positions on the record. Instead, lawmakers shouted “aye” or “no,” and Vice Speaker of the House Michael Magaoay then ruled that the motion to delay a vote had passed.
The voice vote defers further action on the bill unless two-thirds of lawmakers vote to reconsider it; otherwise, Hawaii’s debate on the issue is over for this year.
“You can call me a coward, but we are all not cowards. We’ll make our tough decisions as we go ahead,” Democratic Speaker of the House Calvin Say said he told civil union backers. “But members were concerned, and that was my role as the speaker to make that determination and decision to do what we did today.”
Republican Gov. Linda Lingle had refused to say whether she would have vetoed a civil unions bill if lawmakers had approved it.
“Something so divisive at the beginning of session wouldn’t be a good thing, so I’m glad they made that decision,” Lingle said.
It might have been divisive, but they had the votes to pass it. The Senate had already passed the bill last week, and the House approved civil unions by a 33-18 margin in 2009. The Republican governor had made no commitment to veto. So, basically, the Democratic leadership decided not to extend rights to the LGBT community because a minority of their own members were uncomfortable or afraid. I think ‘cowardice’ is clearly the correct word to describe this.
It’s also dishonest to deliberately mischaracterize the result of a voice vote. That’s something you’d expect in Stalin’s Russia, not the United States of America.
