Senate Committee to hear civil unions bill

HONOLULU—The Hawaii State Senate’s Committee on Judiciary and Labor will hear Senate Bill 232, relating to civil unions, this Tuesday, January 25 at 10:00 a.m. in State Capitol conference room 016.

The bill is substantially the same as the final version of last year’s bill, with a few technical changes. It extends the same rights, benefits, protections, and responsibilities of spouses in a marriage to partners in a civil union, includes opposite-sex couples as well as same-sex couples and would take effect 1/1/2012.

To see the text of SB 232, click here

All testimony must be submitted by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, January 24. Testimony may be submitted in the following ways:

·      By Email:  Testimony may be emailed if less than 5 pages in length, to the Committee at [email protected]. Indicate the measure, date, and time of the hearing. Email sent to individual offices or any other Senate office will not be accepted.
·      By Web: Testimony may be submitted online if less than 4MB in size, at http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/emailtestimony.
·      In person:  1 copy of their testimony to the committee clerk, Room 002, State Capitol.
·      By fax:  Testimony may be faxed if less than 5 pages in length, to the Senate Sergeant-At-Arms Office at 586-6659 or 1-800-586-6659 (toll free for neighbor islands), at least 24 hours prior to the hearing.  When faxing, please indicate to which committee the testimony is being submitted and the date and time of the hearing.

Testimony should include in the heading “In Support of SB 232,” and should be addressed to the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee and Chair Clayton Hee. 

You can also attend the hearing and give testimony in person (it is recommended that you do not read the entire testimony you submitted in writing in advance, but give a shorter version). The hearing agenda can be found here: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2011/hearingnotices/HEARING_JDL_01-25-11_.HTM.