On a Saturday afternoon in June, I helped load up a van with canned goods, bread, rice, tortillas, and other shelf-stable foods to be delivered to our Hawaiʻi island immigrant neighbors. Many of them have been afraid to leave their homes because of President Donald Trump’s authoritarian raids and inhumane deportations.

This was why, at that afternoon’s “No Kings” protest, where thousands of people lined Hilo’s Kamehameha Avenue, we’d decided to hold a food drive for Aloha Latinos, a group assisting immigrants. It’s also why I carried a sign emblazoned in block print, “ALOHA = RESISTANCE.” Sometimes showing love for our neighbors means standing up to people and policies who would do them harm.

That which would harm our neighbors doesn’t always come heavily armed. Sometimes it shows up as a hastily passed policy that hasn’t received enough public input, or as the unintended consequences of a seemingly unrelated bill. 

Recently a bill passed our County Council that would have outlawed the food drive at this protest. Bill 59 states: “No person may enter or remain within fifteen feet of a roadway for the purpose of: Receiving or soliciting a ride, employment, business, or any other good or service from the occupant of any vehicle, unless the vehicle is legally parked.”

Under this policy any participant holding a sign or appealing for donations to the food drive at cars passing by or stopped in traffic would’ve been in violation of this proposed law.

Additionally, sports teams standing on the sidewalks to advertise car washes would be illegal. It also means that people in need asking for direct assistance within 15 feet of a road, would be criminalized, whether they use a sign or their voice.

At a time when federal assistance programs are being gutted to provide huge tax cuts for the uber-wealthy, we shouldn’t be passing more laws that punish our residents for being poor. Civil rights organizations agree that Bill 59 is unconstitutional and it seems designed to simply push poverty out of view, which makes it easier to ignore people in dire need. 

It gets even worse. Under the proposed bill, it would also be illegal to follow the Hele-On website directions under “How to Board the Bus,” which instructs people to “Flag the bus” unless you are back at least 15 feet of the roadway. This would be impossible in many neighborhoods in District 2 and around the island where there are no sidewalks, very small setbacks and/or drainage ditches that line the roads.

The bill makes no exception for Hele-On bus stops or school bus stops within 15 feet of the road, so even keiki would be considered lawbreakers under this bill. 

‘Free Speech Is Our Right’

This doesn’t just fly in the face of common sense, it flies in the face of the Constitution. Free speech is our right. Whether you are holding a sign that says “Honk if you love Trump,” “Save Our Democracy” or “Will Work for Food,” our right to freedom of speech is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. These are the reasons that I voted “No” on Bill 59.

Despite these concerns, the bill passed our council, and the last step before it became law was to get a signature from Mayor Kimo Alameda. 

But Mayor Alameda did the right thing — he vetoed the bill. And he deserves a big mahalo for upholding our county’s integrity in doing so. 

By vetoing this bill, Mayor Alameda:

• supported free speech as a primary right;
• avoided penalizing our poorest and most marginalized residents;
• allowed folks to continue to access our buses; and
• showed aloha by standing against the erosion of our rights.

Mahalo, Mayor Alameda. 

Bill 59, which passed the Hawaiʻi County Council with a 7-2 vote, may be brought back to council, which would need six votes to override the mayor’s veto.