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

I've got a mail :)

Following inspirational experience of my colleague Serhiy Shtukarin I desided to apply for Legislative Fellowship Program.

Step by step I’ve been passing all stages, like application process, TOEFL exam, an interview and waiting, waiting and waiting…

And yesterday I’ve got a mail:

Dear Nadya,Congratulations! American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS is pleased to notify you that you have been selected as a finalist to participate in the Legislative Fellows cohort of Professional Fellows Program (PFP), sponsored by the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.  Should you accept, you are invited to travel to the United States this fall for a six-week professional development and cross-cultural exchange (October 1-November 9, 2013).This year in particular, selection was very competitive so you should be proud of your accomplishment.

And I really do!

I’m very excited about participation in this program. I really hope that internship in USA and living in a family will bring me a huge professional and personal experience.

It’s not clear yet where I’m going to work and live, so I’m going to share it and other relevant information connected with the Legislative Fellows cohort of Professional Fellows Program in this blog.