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