HONOLULU (AP) - Lying down and obstructing a bus stop would become a form of disorderly conduct under a bill passed by the Hawaii House of Representatives.
The misdemeanor could result in a $50 fine.
The measure, HB 2409, is aimed at keeping bus stops clear for travelers. But in debate on the House floor Thursday, lawmakers argued that it could punish people who are just scrounging for shelter.
Democratic Rep. James Tokioka, of Wailua Homesteads and Hanamaulu, called the measure “kind of draconian.” Rep. Marcus Oshiro, a Democrat representing Wahiawa and Whitmore Village, said it was “hypocritical” to pass the measure while the House is also advancing a Homeless Bill of Rights, HB1889, that would define and protect the civil rights of homeless people.
“We should stop harassing the homeless,” said Rep. Gene Ward, a Republican for Hawaii Kai and Kalama Valley.
Forty-five of every 10,000 people in Hawaii are homeless, the highest rate of any state, according to a 2012 report by the Homelessness Research Institute.
Rep. Jo Jordan, a Democrat representing Waianae and Makaha, told her colleagues the measure could be self-defeating if enforced, as unpaid fines could keep a person from qualifying for public housing assistance.
In support of the bill, Rep. Karl Rhoads, a Democrat of Kalihi and Palama, said the needs of people without homes must be balanced against the needs of people who use transit.
“If you can’t use a bus stop, it does pose a problem,” he said on the House floor. “There are many, many people who are intimidated by people lying down at the bus stop.”
The House debate was a pointed moment of give-and-take on the floor, where business often ranges between ceremony and rote procedure. The House ultimately passed the bill 39-11 Thursday, sending it to the Senate for a vote.
But it clearly struck a nerve along the way. The most personal argument came from Rep. Romy Cachola, a Democrat representing Sand Island and Mokauea. He drew upon his experience fleeing to the United States from the Philippines in 1971, and the uncertainty that came when he, his wife and his baby daughter arrived in San Francisco. They stayed in one home where they were made to feel unwelcome, Cachola said in an interview later, and in winter had to scramble to find other housing as he looked for work.
“I have a lot of aloha to the homeless,” he said. “It’s nerve-wracking just to go walk and look for a place to stay. If I recall all that, it’s tough. I get emotional when I remember the hard days.”
Ultimately they found a place that cost $70 a month. Cachola got a job as a messenger for Southern Pacific Railroad. His wife, Erlinda, was accepted to a medical residency in Honolulu, and the family moved to Hawaii. Cachola worked his way up in finance and was elected to the House in 1984.
His time on the verge of homelessness, he told his colleagues on the House floor, gave him a kinship with the unhoused.
“Let us be compassionate to people who are in need and don’t have a place to stay,” he said.
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Sam Eifling can be reached at https://twitter.com/sameifling .
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