Vote count for special session may lean higher in favor than reports suggest
Initial reports after Wednesday's meeting between Speaker of the House Joseph Souki and the minority caucus indicated that there were only 26 votes in favor of a Special Session. Our own sources put that number closer to 30.
Correction: Speaker Souki clarrified that it was not Rep. Ryan Yamane that executed the vote count. It was former Rep. Brian Yamane who did.
On Wednesday, House Speaker Joseph Souki met with the minority caucus to talk about calling a special session to pass gay-marriage legislation—something Governor Abercrombie has been pushing for. Initial reports put Souki’s vote count (which was actually handled by former Rep. Brian Yamane) at 26. Our own sources say that the vote count could actually be as high as 30 or 31, depending largely on members of Calvin Say’s more conservative faction.
So what does this mean? It means that there are four or five representatives who are telling advocates that they would vote yes to calling a special session, but are telling Yamane not to include them in the yes column.
Below is a link to a chart we’ve created based on our understanding of which way each representative would vote on a same-sex marriage bill itself (not on whether to hold a special session). The chart is broken up in to several factions including Souki’s majority coalition and what’s left of Say’s former majority. We suspect that the four or five representatives that are playing the fence right now are from the latter faction.
Our question is, if these representatives would vote yes on the bill itself, why are any of them unsure about a vote on the special session? Leaving this matter until next session (what’s 4 months, right?) may not seem like a big deal, but tell that to the same-sex couples who will face another year of taxes without the Supreme Court-confirmed federal benefits.