ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com
BY NANCY COOK LAUER | WEST HAWAII TODAY
HILO — A bill banning plastic bags at the retail checkout stand will become law today if Mayor Billy Kenoi doesn’t execute a last-minute veto.
Bill 17 passed the County Council on a 5-3 vote, with Council Chairman Dominic Yagong abstaining because he works in the retail industry. That means the council, unless a member changes his vote, doesn’t have the six votes needed to override a veto.
The charter gives the mayor 10 working days to veto or sign a bill or it becomes law as if he had signed it. The bill was presented to the mayor Dec. 30, according to the County Clerk’s website.
Hilo Councilmen Donald Ikeda, J Yoshimoto and Dennis Onishi voted against the measure.
Kenoi didn’t return telephone calls Monday, but he said last week he’s been getting lots of telephone calls, letters and emails on the bag bill.
“The community is very passionate about this issue on both sides of it,” Kenoi said.
The council passed the measure after months of delays and a round of public hearings throughout the island. The long delay and multiple hearings contributed to the community’s passion, said Kohala Councilman Pete Hoffmann, the bill sponsor.
“It keeps coming back and it gives people more opportunity to weigh in on the subject,” Hoffmann said. “It’s been kept in the public eye.”
Opponents include many retailers who worry about the cost of providing paper bags as an alternative, and some residents who want to reuse plastic bags to line trash cans and pick up doggie do. Proponents say the bags contribute to pollution and are a hazard to wildlife, especially to sea turtles when the bags drift into the ocean.
Hoffmann said he’s hopeful Kenoi will sign the bill, because he has changed it significantly to address problems expressed by administrative staff. All of the penalty clauses have been struck from the revised bill, leaving enforcement up to the Department of Environmental Management instead. The bill also has a year before it goes into effect, and it allows retailers to sell plastic bags at checkout for a year after that.
Hoffmann said Monday he hadn’t heard whether Kenoi plans to allow the bill to become law.
“We have not discussed the status of the bill,” Hoffmann said. “I don’t know what he’s going to do.”
ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com