HILO — Members of the commission charged with drawing County Council district lines would have to sit out one election cycle for council, under a charter amendment advanced Thursday by the council’s Governmental Relations Committee.
HILO — Members of the commission charged with drawing County Council district lines would have to sit out one election cycle for council, under a charter amendment advanced Thursday by the council’s Governmental Relations Committee.
Kohala Councilman Pete Hoffmann, the sponsor of the bill, said he was not motivated by the announcement by two members of the county Redistricting Commission that they would seek council seats. Instead, he said, he wants to bring Hawaii County in line with state law and the City and County of Honolulu.
All six Council members in attendance approved the bill, although Hilo Councilman Donald Ikeda asked that language be added making it clear that it doesn’t pertain to the 2011 Redistricting Commission. If passed by three subsequent two-thirds votes of the full council, the amendment would go on the November ballot. It would into effect for the 2021 Redistricting Commission.
Hoffmann cited poor voter turnout and general distrust in government as reason for the amendment.
“There’s too many people who have lost faith and confidence in what we try to do,” Hoffmann said. “There can’t be too much arguing that gerrymandering or other types of activities can occur when we have these lines drawn. We don’t have to say that anything like that happened in the past redistricting effort. … It didn’t.”
South Kona Councilwoman Brenda Ford has been actively involved with redistricting issues, including drawing up new rules for the 2011 Redistricting Commission and, before she became a council member, suing the 2001 Redistricting Commission for how it counted residents. She agreed the amendment is needed.
“It has humongous political impact when you start fooling around with this thing,” Ford said. “Let’s put this on the ballot and let the people decide.”
But Tim Rees, a frequent testifier on legislative issues, said the bill is unnecessary and inappropriate. He said there’s too much “messing” with the county charter, and since the bill wouldn’t take effect for 10 years anyway, it would be better to let a future council address it, if it’s needed.
“I think we are looking at shadows and ghosts,” Rees said. “It’s about the appearance of something inappropriate. … We can deal with the realistic things.”
The commissions are created once every decade to redraw legislative boundaries equalizing the population in the districts following the decennial.