Hello anti-crime advocates!
Thank you so much for supporting our efforts to veto HB1567! Your support has been overwhelming! We know have reached over 4,200 comments as of this update! And thank you for the continued support of sharing this petition by donating $3,181 to change.org (FYI, we do not receive any of these monies - for every $100, on average, the petition is shared with another 2000 people in our area). That is absolutely massive and shows that there are many of us out there who seriously care about this issue.
And of course, thank you again for continuing to leave powerful comments about your experiences as victims as well as members of our community and how how crime has affected you and your family and friends. Please continue to leave these comments as they are super impactful!
As a further update, I have contacted the Office of the Governor as well as a legislative coordinator to inform them that we are conducting a petition to veto HB1567 and to please hold off on signing until Governor Ige has had a chance to see our petition. I also sent an email through their contact form asking for the same.
FYI, Public Access has informed me that HB1567 has already been transmitted to Governor Ige for approval or veto. For bills that Governor Ige has not yet approved or vetoed, he will be considering public comments submitted prior to the veto deadline on July 12, 2022.
Before vetoing the bill, he must submit a notice. The Notice of Intent to Veto deadline (June 27, 2022) is the last day that the Governor can send a notice to the legislature that he is considering a veto on any bills not yet approved. However, just because a bill is on the list, it does not mean the Governor will veto it. He can also sign it or decide to let it become law without his signature.
If a bill is not on the veto list, it will become law, with or without the Governor's approval, after July 12, 2022.
In addition, I have continued to update the petition with the large amount of crime-related articles from the news. There's been a huge amount of coverage and I invite you to check them out!
Especially this one - we have a powerful testimony from retired Honolulu Police Department Deputy Chief John McCarthy on why this bill will cause an increase in crime and have a negative impact on law enforcement morale. Thank you for telling it straight, Chief!
Critics call bail reform measure approved by lawmakers a "get out of jail" free card.
Also, this morning I had a 2 hour, in-depth discussion of HB1567 as well as many topics covering crime in our community, the impact on us as well as law enforcement and a lot more. It's really just a chance for me to let off some steam and talk about crime topics that may be important to you. I invite you to watch the SSH Live on Facebok here:
Morning Hangout with SSH: Discussing HB1567 and more.
Lastly, let's get this petition to 10,000 signatures! Let's have a true impact! We can do this! Mahalo to all of our Stolen Stuff Hawaii members, our supporters in the community and of course, our law enforcement and supporting legislators for doing a great job for all of us!
I wish all of you a wonderful weekend full of fun, family and friends. Be safe and vigilant as always.
Mahalo,
Michael Kitchens
Stolen Stuff Hawaii