Sunshine laws, which require government to make important information available to the public, are crucial to enhancing transparency in the legislative process and enabling citizens to remain informed of critical issues. Although the Legislature complies with the technical letter of the sunshine law, it often fails to act in accordance with the spirit of the law. For example, the House procedures for amending the state budget are not conducive to the aim of the sunshine law as the public is only given approximately 48 hours (the period between the first two floor votes on the budget bill) during which they can review the 200-page budget bill and the 600-page detailed budget worksheets. Rep Finnegan and Rep. Moses point out that the budget:

"is important to the people - because it affects everybody. The public should have been given more warning and notice that the budget bill was going to be online and there should have been a longer window for people to view it."

Click here to read the full Honolulu Advertiser article.

House Republicans - Strong Supporters of Public Notice

House Republicans demonstrated their opposition to any attempts to eliminate the 48-hour public hearing notice requirement. The Caucus also suggested increasing the notice period from 48 hours to 72 hours so that the public could have more time to prepare testimony to submit regarding the bills on the hearing agenda. In a floor speech, Rep. Meyer noted that adequate public access to information was a cornerstone of a fair and sound democratic process. Click here to read the Honolulu Advertiser article.

Women of the GOP

The March 8, 2006 edition of Midweek features the coverstory: "Women of the GOP". Representatives Corinne Ching, Lynn Finnegan, Barbara Marumoto, Colleen Meyer, Kymberly Pine, Anne Stevens, and Cynthia Thielen share the perspectives and insights they have developed over the course of their political careers. The representatives cite their mutual respect for one another's differing opinions as one of the keys to the minority caucus' ability to collaborate and cooperate on legislation. Click here to read the full Midweek article.

House Republicans Make Tax Relief One of the Top Priorities

At the top of the House Republican Caucus' legislative priorities is working to ensure that a significant portion of the multi-million budget surplus gets back to Hawaii citizens in the form of tax relief measures. Hawaii taxpayers have borne the weight of an immense and unfair tax burden. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (www.itepnet.org) Hawaii's richest taxpayers with average incomes of $458,000 pay only 8.0% of their income in state and local taxes while Hawaii's middle and low income taxpayers with average incomes of $42,000 and lower pay between 11.2% to 12.6% of their income in state and local taxes. Click here to read the full Star Bulletin article.