KAUA`I COUNCIL WATCH-
WHO, WHAT AND WHY!
Kaua’i Council Watch is a project developed by members, of the Community Coalition of Kaua`i, which successfully delivered County Council Candidates Forums during the 2018 and 2020 election periods.
We are committed to seeing a County Council that exemplifies integrity and works collaboratively, both internally and with branches of Kauai’s administration. Most importantly, we want to support a County Council that is dedicated to serving the community’s interests as the basis for its decision making.
The Council is the County’s legislative body. It formulates and passes laws proposed by the executive branch – the Mayor and his Cabinet. Bills/laws can also come from the Council members directly and/or from the public, as in the case of the styrofoam ban.
The intention of this site is to assist the voters of Kauai County in understanding how the Council members vote on key issues. It also will provide some background on each Councilmember, such as the bills and/or resolutions they have introduced.
In using the site, it is important to understand that, ‘Resolutions’ are a statement of what the Council favors but are not legislative tools to empower legal action. ‘Bills’ are the first step in creating a law. After a reading in Council, if passed, a bill then becomes an ‘Ordinance’, which is ‘Codified’ in the County Codes or Charter and becomes law within 30 days, so long as it is not vetoed by the Mayor. There is an excellent explanation of the Legislative Process on the Kauai.gov website:
https://www.kauai.gov/council/legislativeprocess
Clearly, it would be very difficult to report on every legislative item that comes before the Council, so at present, we have focused on two crucial issues for our Island community: Affordable Housing and Climate Change.
We’d love to hear from you if you’d care to leave us a comment below (or contact us)…after all, it’s here for YOU!
To learn more about Community Coalition of Kaua’i (CCK), Follow us on Facebook @CommunityCoalitionKauai