Honolulu Council looks to expand bill targeting homelessness

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HONOLULU — The Honolulu City Council is one step closer to expanding the areas where people cannot sit or lie on sidewalks, despite warnings that it may make the existing law vulnerable to legal action.

HONOLULU — The Honolulu City Council is one step closer to expanding the areas where people cannot sit or lie on sidewalks, despite warnings that it may make the existing law vulnerable to legal action.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports the Council voted 7-2 on the second of three approval votes needed to make the measure eligible to become an ordinance.

The ordinance adds portions of three neighborhoods and the Kapalama Canal to areas where sitting and lying are prohibited. The existing law, Bill 48, stops loitering in commercial-business areas.

Some, including the mayor, have said the sit-lie ban is most legally defensible when the act of sitting hurts a business’s ability to operate.

Since the vote, the measure will go back to the Council Zoning and Planning Committee for more work.