CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION:
Isle delegates’ bills
vary from ‘global’
to ‘arcane’
Hawaii's four lawmakers
By Pete Pichaske
sponsored 89 bills and resolutions;
about a third deal with Pacific issues
Star-BulletinWASHINGTON -- One proposal calls for Memorial Day to be observed on its traditional day again. Another reprimands China for its treatment of prisoners in Tibet. Another proposal would allow some divorced spouses to use military hospitals and commissaries, while another would ban "soft money" from election campaigns.
Still others order a study of the possibility of establishing new national parks in Hawaii, make it illegal for stockyard owners to sell "nonambulatory livestock," and crack down on labor abuses in the Northern Mariana Islands.
These are among the 89 bills and resolutions sponsored this year by the four members of Hawaii's congressional delegation. Together, they represent a potpourri of concerns ranging from global and timely to parochial and downright arcane. About one-third deal specifically with Hawaii or a nearby Pacific island.
An analysis of bills and resolutions filed by Hawaii's four lawmakers through last week found that Sen. Daniel Inouye, dean of the congressional delegation, leads the pack with 38 proposals.
Inouye, in fact, is tied with New York Sen. Daniel Moynihan as the busiest bill-writer in the Senate. In the House, that title belongs to Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-N.Y., with 76 proposals.
Rep. Patsy Mink, D-rural Oahu/neighbor islands, has 28 measures to her credit, Sen. Daniel Akaka 15 and Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Honolulu, 10.
Only a few of the 89 proposals have been passed and signed into law, including Akaka's proposal to replenish the nation's emergency supply of oil and Inouye's call to add a statue of President Roosevelt in a wheelchair to the FDR Memorial.
In fact, if congressional history is any indication, few of the measures will ever become law. In 1995 and 1996, only about four percent of the 8,001 measures introduced in Congress became law, according to a study by Congressional Quarterly.
But that doesn't stop members from trying. Before the August recess, slightly more than 4,100 bills and resolutions were introduced in the House and Senate.
Hawaii's members contributed their share to the paper flow, weighing in on everything from stockyard animals and invasive plants to tax write-offs and funeral trusts.
Some of their proposals are hardy perennials, such as attempts by Akaka and Mink to limit air tours over national parks.
Others are more timely, such as Mink's resolution recognizing the achievements of Title IX on its 25th anniversary, or Abercrombie's proposal to extend the visa waiver program to Korea.
The bills also reflect the lawmakers' style and interests: Akaka's focus on local matters; Mink's passionate concern for women's issues; Abercrombie's wide-ranging and eclectic tastes.
"They come in different categories," said Inouye, whose own proposals range from a bill aimed at resolving one woman's immigration problem to a far-reaching plan to restructure the nation's Amtrak system. Many of his proposals also deal with either military or Native American issues.
"It's very difficult to say which is a priority or not," said Inouye, although he singled out a bill that would increase federal housing assistance to Native Hawaiians as particularly important to him.
Even the lost causes, said Inouye, have a purpose, whether it's staking out a position, standing up for a principle, or beginning a long campaign to raise consciousness on a little-understood issue.
His own bill calling for Memorial Day to be celebrated on the day it falls rather than the last Monday in May has no chance of passing, he conceded.
"But that doesn't make me wrong," said Inouye. "I think you demean Memorial Day by just setting it up as a long weekend. .. And this will come up again."
Similarly, said Inouye, his proposal to extend benefits to some World War II Filipino veterans has little support now, but bringing it up each year is a way of gradually building support.
Abercrombie agreed, explaining that it's important to get issues "on the screen" and then build toward a "critical mass of legislative attention," a process that often takes years.
Abercrombie also said that only looking at the bills written by lawmakers does not reveal the full range of their priorities. Many proposals don't exist as stand-alone bills, he noted, but as part of larger bills.
For example, he said, funding for Honolulu's East-West Center and for military housing and barracks on Oahu, which he listed among his top priorities, are folded into appropriations bills.
"Legislation is not always simple," said Abercrombie. "You have to do your homework, you have to know what other people's problems and difficulties are if you want attention for your own legislation."
