Democracy in action (part 1)

Especial session on legalization of the same-sex marriage in Hawaii started 28^th of October 10 a.m. Firstly bill went to Senate and already without any objection and amendments passed 3 readings with 4 NO/ 20 YES voices.

Pro same-sex marriage activity

There were organized public hearing, but there were no empty spaces in auditorium and was formed a huge queue of those who wish testify in person for or against of same-sex marriage bill. Those processes were going all the day and even not all presented people could explain their position, so next hearing is scheduled on Thursday, tomorrow when the Bill will be passed to the House representatives. Situation in the House is not as smooth as in the Senate:  it needs 26 votes to pass in the House. Hawaii News Now surveyed lawmakers last week.  27 Representatives tell them they plan to vote “YES”, 17 Representatives plan to vote “NO”, 7 Representatives are undecided.

 

Queue from active citizenz that wish to tesrify

General public can observe House and Senate meetings without any problems, so I've been present on all of them and others discussions of the House was really tense as for the Hawaiian Capitol (in Ukraine it is just a norm).

 

Public observing senate meeting

Tomorrow is house committee meeting and second reading. Can't wait to see how it will go!!!

Against same-sex marriage demonstration 

So we are here in the very special moment to observe what is American democracy,  how it is work and who benefit from this. 

Rep Gene Ward givinf a speach against the bill

Special session is coming soon...

Neil Abercrombie, Governor of Hawaii

In the beginning just brief information about the legislative process... The state legislature is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Hawaii State House of Representatives, with 51 representatives, and an upper house, the 25-member Hawaii State Senate.

House of Representatives: Legislators are elected to two-year terms and are not subject to term limits. As in many state legislatures in the United States, the Hawaii House of Representatives is a part-time body and legislators often have active careers outside of government. From 51 House of Representatives there are 44 democrats and 7 republicans.

Senate: The Hawaii State Senate is the upper chamber of the Hawaii State Legislature. The senate consists of twenty-five members elected from an equal number of constituent districts across the islands. Senators are elected to four-year terms and are not subject to term limits. There are 24 democrats and just 1 republican.

Like most state legislatures in the United States, the Hawaii State Senate and Hawaii House of Representatives are a part-time body so senators often have active careers outside of government.

The busiest time is the period from January till mid June, when bills can be introduced, readings, hearings and committee meetings conducting. The rest of the time is for implementation and preparation for the next legislation year.

The process of passing the bills is much more complicate then in our Parliament as there 2 legislative bodies that work separate, and they vote separately one by one. Briefly this process is described in the chart.  

So now is October and legislative sessions are in the past, and it kind of dead season, but we are lucky enough to have an special session proclaimed by the Governor about legalization of the same-sex marriage issue on October 28th. I don't know what the urgency was to do it wright now and take 29,000 $ from the budget, but this is such a great opportunity to observe all the process from the beginning till the end. And moreover it's also interesting because of the issue. Situation already is quite intense and all advocates, interested groups and individuals are participating so much as never because it touches everybody personally.

So, I'll keep you updated and let's observe legislative process and all advocacy efforts together!

The Senate Chamber

The House of Representatives chamber

Speaker :)

Governor's executive chamber

My workplace - couldn’t imagine a better one!

To be honest, I couldn’t imagine a better workplace… No actually I could, just on the beach near the ocean, but this one also very great and unique. 

So I work in Hawaii State Capitol in the Office of Minority Leader Representative Gene Ward.

The Capitol is open literally and figuratively: there is no security on the entrance; everybody who is interested can just come without showing an ID and no passing security check. There is also Public access room open from 8 am – 7 pm Monday – Friday, it has working places, a computer, a library and assistants which would be happy to tell you about legislative process and explain you how you can participate in it.

And the building has open architecture structure – it doesn't have a roof, so you can just go out from the office room and get some fresh air and observe a blue sky to refresh your mind. And of course it is smoke free.

Unlike other state capitols modeled after the United States Capitol, the Hawaii State Capitol's distinct architectural features symbolize various natural aspects of Hawaii. Among them:

• The building is surrounded by a reflecting pool, symbolizing the Pacific Ocean.
• The two legislative chambers are cone-shaped, symbolizing volcanoes that formed the Hawaiian Islands.
• The columns around the perimeter of the building have shapes resembling royal palm trees.
• The Capitol is built with an open-air design, allowing sun, wind, and rain to enter; the central rotunda opens to the sky.
• When standing in the center of the structure, the chandeliers from both legislative chambers, which represent the sun and moon, can be seen through the glass walls.

We had a Capitol tour last week and had an access to all places including Governor Office place, so enjoy the photos…

Next time I'll tell you more about legislative processes here.
Aloha

Volcano and palms of the Capitol

Open roof

Level of House representatives

Governor office

Executive chambers

With my supervisor and fellow from Armenia

Месяц в законодательных органах США - презентация программы стажировок

Оголошення українською мовою

Американская Программа стажировок в законодательной сфере (Legislative Fellows Program - LFP) приглашает потенциальных участников на презентацию в Донецке, которая состоится в понедельник, 14 октября 2013 г.

Если вы работаете или имеете предыдущий опыт работы в государственных учреждениях, законодательных органах или неправительственных организациях, а также свободно владеете английским языком, то Вас заинтересует эта уникальная возможность профессионального развития.

Meanwhile in Donetsk: Whistleblowers, Security and Liberty - Amclub Meeting

Members of American Club at the Center for Political Studies in Donetsk, Ukraine met with Eric A. Johnson, Counselor for Public Affairs at the US Embassy in Kyiv.

The topic of discussion was "Whistleblowers, Security and Liberty" - as suggested by the Club's participants on the previous meeting. Government Shutdown was also brought up.

Extreme beginning...

So, Fellowship started. And started it with adventures…

First we had an emergency landing in London during our flight from Munich to Washington cause there some problems with hydraulic system.

When we came here we discovered that government shut down, because they didn’t agree about budget for the next year. Of course it’s really big issue for Americans: most government establishment are not working, people stays without job, some people even go to job without confidence will they get paid later or not.  We even experience it by ourselves when we went to see some sightseeing – all museums and federal memorials were closed.

And when we just went out from sightseeing and photosession, there were a shooting, so we were really lucky to get out from there just 5 minutes before this.

So it was really extreme beginning. Let’s see what is waiting for me on my fellowship place…

And I still didn’t tell you where is my fellowship is going to be. It’s Office of Minority Leader Representative Gene Ward in Honolulu, Hawaii. And today is my first working day. And I’m very excited about that!  

So Aloha everybody! I’ll keep you updated about my experience. 

Government Shutdown has reached Ukraine - OW reception cancelled