But on April 1st, I was a visitor at the State Capitol.
While I have spent some time just chilling by the artificial pond surrounding the State Capitol, I haven't visited the chambers or the office until that day.
That day was the Student Lobbying Day which was sponsored by UH-Manoa's Graduate Student Organization (GSO).
Here's a picture from the GSO's newsletter (http://gso.hawaii.edu/gso2/files/newsletter/2015/Mar_2015_GSO_Newsletter.pdf)
screenshot from the GSO newsletter
Senator Brian Taniguchi and Representative Isaac Choy both represent the area UH-Manoa is located so they were obvious "targets" of our Lobbying.
We visited Taniguchi's office first, then we visited both chambers of the State Capitol.
my photo
State Senate chamer
my photo
State House of Representatives
Afterwards, we had lunch courtesy of HGEA (Hawaii Government Employees Association), then we visited the office of State Senator Ron Kouichi (nice guy with a nice couch in the office) and then, we visited Isaac Choy.
Choy had some controversy earlier this year over his proposed bill to eliminate several departments within UH-Manoa. The reaction was swift and Choy backed down from that idea. He then proposed a bill giving a lump sum to the UH system, no-strings attached, saying that this way, UH can't complain about "the legislature didn't give us money to fix facilities, etc" and "it's on UH to spend it wisely" The House approved the bill. However, the Senate wants a bill stating the ways the UH system will use that money. Choy said if the Senate gets their way, he will become a "micro-manager" (he actually said that) and will cut funding for the Cancer Center, suggest academic departments to shut down, cut executive salaries and use the savings to cut the Athletics deficit.
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Anyways, the main purpose of the Lobbying Day was to advocate for the unionization of the Graduate Assistants(GA). Also discussed to a lesser extent was the re-establishment of the Ombuds Office (which was used to handle student grievances). Both are still being considered by the legislature.
For the GA unionization bill, it will discussed within both the labor
and higher education committees. Some legislators wanted a "study" on
the GA proposals, the GSO members responded by saying "we don't need
another study on this issue" and "why should we wait, this problem has
been going on for 35 years."
As for the Ombuds Office, it was proposed into HB96, but now has been put in a "Christmas Tree bill" (meaning a bill combining many proposals, some of them unrelated to each other). Choy also said that if his earlier lump sum bill passes, he will still mandate an Ombuds Office without dictating how much will be spent on it.
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I'm usually not a big fan of most politicians, but I still thought visiting the State Capitol's chambers and offices was an interesting experience. You get to to the system at work. Isaac Choy was upfront about how messy this process is, and how slow it can be.
Whether I would run for office in the future......................................... only if I had money so I could run without joining a major political party.
I'm usually not a big fan of most politicians, but I still thought visiting the State Capitol's chambers and offices was an interesting experience. You get to to the system at work. Isaac Choy was upfront about how messy this process is, and how slow it can be.
Whether I would run for office in the future......................................... only if I had money so I could run without joining a major political party.
