Article in part taken from the "The Hawaii Independent"

All sides agree Bill 54 does little for Honolulu’s ‘homeless’ problem

"The Hawaiian Law of the Splintered Paddle, or Kanawai Mamalahoe, was invoked by several opponents of the measure. The law says to “Let every elderly person, woman, and child lie by the roadside in safety” and was adopted into the Hawaii State Constitution. One supporter of the bill said, however, that Kanawai Mamalahoe allows people to only rest and move on and not to take up permanent residency on public property."

The interpretation of the Law of the Splintered Paddle is a moderate one that sit's well in the palms of the legal body of a US entity.