2014 Constitutional and County Charter Amendment Questions

Photo by Wendy Osher.

By Maui Now Staff

The state Office of Elections has released an overview of ballot questions that will appear on the 2014 General Election ballot.

The November ballot will include five proposed constitutional amendments adopted during the Legislature’s Regular Sessions of 2013 and 2014.  The ballot will also include three proposed charter amendment questions for the County of Maui.

The proposed charter amendment questions for Maui relate to the affordable housing fund, penalties for charter violations, and an initiative that seeks to ban the cultivation of genetically engineered organisms in the county.

The Maui questions are as follows:

• Affordable Housing Fund: Shall the Charter be amended to extend through fiscal year 2021 the requirement that 2% of the certified real property tax revenues be appropriated into an affordable housing fund to be used for the provision, protection, and expansion of affordable housing and suitable living environments for persons of very low to gap income?
• Penalties: Shall Section 13-10 of the Charter be amended to increase the current maximum penalty that may be imposed for violations of any provisions of the Charter and violations of ordinances and rules having the force and effect of law from $1,000 or one year’s imprisonment, or both, to $25,000 or one year’s imprisonment, or both?
• Voter Initiative, Genetically Engineered Organisms: Should the proposed initiative prohibiting the cultivation or reproduction of genetically engineered organisms within the County of Maui, which may be amended or repealed as to a specific person or entity when required environmental and public health impact studies, public hearings, a two thirds vote and a determination by the County Council that such operation or practice meets certain standards, and which establishes civil and criminal penalties, be adopted for Maui County?

The five proposed constitutional amendments will appear in the same order as listed below on all ballots, statewide; followed by the respective county proposed amendments.

• H.B. 420, H.D. 1, CON AMEND Relating to Disclosure of Judicial Nominees:  “Shall the judicial selection commission, when presenting a list of nominees to the governor or the chief justice to fill a vacancy in the office of the chief justice, supreme court, intermediate appellate court, circuit courts or district courts, be required, at the same time, to disclose that list to the public?”
• H.B. 748, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, C.D. 1, CON AMEND Relating to Agricultural Enterprises: “Shall the State be authorized to issue special purpose revenue bonds and use the proceeds from the bonds to assist agricultural enterprises on any type of land, rather than only important agricultural lands?”
• S.B. 886, CON AMEND Relating to State Justices and Judges: “Shall the mandatory retirement age for all state court justices and judges be increased from seventy to eighty years of age?”
• S.B. 1084, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, C.D. 1, CON AMEND Relating to Early Childhood Education: “Shall the appropriation of public funds be permitted for the support or benefit of private early childhood education programs that shall not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex or ancestry, as provided by law?”
• S.B 2876, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, CON AMEND Relating to Dams and Reservoirs: “Shall the State be authorized to issue special purpose revenue bonds and use the proceeds from the bonds to offer loans to qualifying dam and reservoir owners to improve their facilities to protect public safety and provide significant benefits to the general public as important water sources?”