It would be hard to come up with a better example of why the Sunshine Law should apply to the Legislature than what unfolded on the House floor Feb. 6.

Just two days after a couple of committees heard hours of testimony and then approved a bill to legalize recreational marijuana use, the measure was suddenly killed with no public explanation from House leaders and no roll call vote of members.

What had been a very public process of hearing impassioned arguments on both sides of a decades-old debate was short-circuited behind closed doors.

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Hawaiʻi’s Sunshine Law prohibits conducting the public’s business in private, but when legislators passed the law, they exempted themselves.

Even opponents of legalizing pot — and there were many — should be concerned about the secret maneuvering that led to the premature demise of House Bill 1246.

It certainly didn’t sit well with several representatives who voiced their objections during the floor session. “I would like to know the reasons why,” said Rep. Kanani Souza, and when she pressed the point House Speaker Nadine Nakamura responded, “There will be no response.”

Oh, okay.

‘An Important Piece Of Legislation’

There have been many efforts over the years to legalize adult marijuana use in Hawaiʻi, but perhaps none as comprehensive as what House Judiciary chair David Tarnas rolled out this session.

HB 1246 would establish the Hawaiʻi Cannabis and Hemp Office “to regulate all aspects of the cannabis plant.”

Beginning Jan. 1, 2026, it would legalize the personal adult use of cannabis and establish taxes on its retail sale while overseeing medical marijuana and hemp products.

The bill also would add new traffic offenses relating to driving under the influence of marijuana.

Tarnas even held a Jan. 29 informational briefing to, as he put, learn from experts “about the current regulatory framework and industry trends in Hawaiʻi for medical cannabis and hemp, as well as best practices from other states managing legalized cannabis for adult use.”

Before those experts weighed in at the hearing, Tarnas got a little personal, noting the bill was only his latest attempt to bring order to cannabis consumption in the islands.

“I first got into the Legislature 30 years ago,” said the Big Island lawmaker. “I proposed legalization of cannabis back then. We weren’t ready. We’re getting closer to being ready and I’m hopeful this session we can make real progress.

“This bill is an important piece of legislation.”

It did seem like “real progress” when the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs and Agriculture and Food Services committees approved the bill Feb. 4.

Then it got run off the road by hit-and-run drivers in House leadership.

Things Change Quickly In The House

Perhaps the strangest aspect of the sudden move to kill HB 1246 is that it was ramrodded on the House floor by two representatives who had voted in favor of the bill two days earlier during the committee hearing.

Rep. Chris Todd, the majority caucus leader, introduced the motion to “recommit” the measure — effectively killing it on the spot. When some representatives balked at what one called the “rare” action, Rep. Sean Quinlan, the majority leader, came to Todd’s defense.

“Point of order,” Quinlan said three times to interrupt Rep. Kim Coco Iwamoto for questioning the motion a little too broadly for Quinlan’s taste. “Please confine discussion to the motion at hand.”

After the third “point of order,” Speaker Nakamura called a recess. She did so again when Rep. Souza pushed for an explanation.

That explanation never came, although Quinlan did offer this by way of dismissal:

“Just like last session, we were unable to build consensus and I think it is now time for us to focus on areas where we can build consensus.”

The deal was sealed with a voice vote, making it hard to say exactly who all voted “no.” Those who went on the record with their opposition included Reps. Iwamoto, Souza, Amy Perruso, Della Au Belatti, Terez Amato and Elle Cochran.

Todd told Civil Beat on Friday that he actually still supports legalizing recreational marijuana, but that “one of my assigned roles in leadership is to make floor motions, which is why it came from me and not another member who may be opposed to legalization.”

“Support for legalization has hovered around 50% in the House over the past few years, and there is less support for legalization this year in the House than there was last year,” Todd said.

Quinlan said Friday that the House Democrats had caucused before the floor session and “we recognized there wasn’t enough support to pass the bill. Regardless of my personal stance on any particular legislation, I’m not going to pressure members to change their position.”

Not So Fast, Says The Senate

Thursday brought another plot twist. The victim, you see, had an identical twin, what’s known as a companion measure.

As long as the House bill remained ambulatory, Senate Bill 1613 was kept on ice. Why go through the time-consuming process of taking duplicative testimony from hundreds of people?

But when the House opted to shut down the public discourse with no real explanation, the Senate sprang into action very late in the legislative process.

On the final day before the measure would have died from lack of action, a rushed hearing was held on SB 1613 by the Judiciary and Health and Human Services committees.

Adopting the rapid-fire cadence of an auctioneer, Health and Human Services chair Joy San Buenaventura imposed a 1-minute limit on testifiers and in less than two hours the bill was approved, keeping alive what she admitted was still “a work in progress.”

Afterward, she acknowledged the rush job was in response to the House killing its version of the bill.

“We are giving the House another opportunity to amend the bill to address major concerns and pass a compromise bill that hopefully will regulate small amounts of non-medicinal marijuana, which are now being sold on the black market,” San Buenaventura said in an email.

One bit of new information that came out at the Senate hearing was the Taxation Department’s estimate of annual tax revenue the bill would produce: about $3 million.

That’s only part of the high financial stakes at play here. Tarnas said he crafted his bill to open up the recreational marijuana industry to local rather than mainland businesses.

But on Thursday, Sen. Brenton Awa said that even though “there’s probably not a lawmaker in this building who wants to legalize marijuana as much as I do,” he was voting no because he felt the bill favors corporations over “local sellers.”

Clearly, there are still a lot of issues to be hashed out. That’s what makes the move by House leaders to shut down the debate so egregious.