Caldwell vetoes sit-lie expansion over legal concerns
The mayor supports expansion of the controversial policy, however, and has proposed a replacement bill instead.
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell, today, vetoed Honolulu City Council Bill 6 CD1, FD1 (2015), which city officials believe would expose Honolulu County to litigation. The bill proposed expanding the areas covered under the current “sit-lie” ordinances to include areas beyond public sidewalks and areas that are not zoned for commercial or business activities.
“I continue to wholeheartedly support the intent and purpose of Honolulu’s recently adopted Sit-Lie Laws,” Mayor Caldwell said. “The fact that the Department of the Corporation Counsel has refused to sign Bill 6 reflects that Bill 6 contains legal deficiencies, thus making it more likely that the bill will be subjected to unnecessary legal challenges and to the payment by the city’s taxpayers of costly attorneys’ fees incurred by plaintiffs. I am also gravely concerned that the passage of Bill 6 may result in a challenge to the legitimacy of the Sit-Lie Laws, which are clearly intended to maintain pedestrian access over sidewalks in business and commercial areas and which have been extremely effective in the areas in which they have been enforced.”
Mayor Caldwell offered an alternative bill that the city’s corporation counsel believes would meet constitutional muster. The mayor urged the council to pass his bill as soon as possible, and committed to sign it into law, if passed. He also urged the council not to overturn his veto.
According to the mayor’s office, the language of the proposed bill was presented to the council prior to the final passage of Bill 6. In a press release sent out today, the mayor’s office said that language could have been adopted as an amendment to Bill 6, which would have resulted in Mayor Caldwell signing the amended Bill 6 today. “Instead, the council passed the legally flawed language, necessitating the mayor’s veto today.”
According to the mayor’s office, the differences between Bill 6 and Mayor Caldwell’s proposed bill are as follows:
Bill 6 includes unpaved areas that extend 10 feet from the edge of the sidewalk farthest from the roadway as an “expanded sidewalk area as an extension of the sidewalk.” This would include areas not used for pedestrian use, such as the landscape buffers abutting sidewalks and, possibly, private property. The mayor’s proposed bill does not include that expanded sidewalk area. Only public sidewalks are covered by Mayor’s proposed bill.
Bill 6 includes the sidewalks on both sides of a street, without exceptions. Sometimes, there are areas that are zoned for apartment or residential use across the street from areas zoned for commercial and business activities. The inclusion of sidewalks on both sides of a street, without exception, results in areas that are zoned for apartment or residential use to be included in Bill 6. The mayor’s proposed bill excludes areas that are zoned for apartment or residential use.
Bill 6 includes areas that are zoned for apartment, residential or preservation use, which are not zoned for commercial or business activities. The mayor’s proposed bill excludes areas that are zoned for apartment, residential or preservation use.
