http://www.disappearednews.com/2012/02/help-kill-zombie-bill-save-public.html
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Help kill “zombie” bill, save public access television in Hawaii
by Larry Geller
Can you testify on an amendment you haven’t seen? Rep. Bob Herkes, Chair of the House Corporate Consumer Protection Committee believes you can. To prove it, he has resurrected a dead bill over this Super Bowl weekend. Your action is needed to drive a stake into this bad bill.
Can you testify when the posted bill status says “decision making?” No, you can’t, but the text of the hearing notice says you can. Of course, since the status message says “decision making,” there is no reason to look at the hearing notice. Gotcha!
Since there may be little testimony against the bill, the Chair will direct his committee members to pass it.
Whatever it says, we, the people, haven’t seen it. We’re being swindled.
Why should you testify? There are some emails circulating. A snip:
Your Free Speech is at Risk! As many of you know, Public Access Television is under a huge threat! For Oahu, Olelo Community Media will have to shut down its community media centers and suffer a 67% funding cut. The public's ability to have an alternative voice will be shut down and Hawaii's corporate media dominated airwaves will prevail. Of course, this may be because we have been so successful in using public access TV to call attention to important issues.
Public access television must be very effective to warrant this devious action to shut it down. Help protect Free Speech in Hawaii! Oppose HB2652!
This is a dirty trick, folks, and the public is the loser if CPC committee members don’t stand up to their powerful chair. See the end of this article for talking points and contact info for committee members.
Zombie bills at the Hawaii State Legislature
Strange things can happen at the Hawaii State Legislature when no one is looking. This Super Bowl weekend was a great opportunity for shenanigans since the public attention would be on the game, not on the heist.
There are several bills this session that threaten public access television. One was HB2652 that would have cut the funding to `Olelo, Akaku and all public access television by two thirds. The bill was introduced by Big Island Representative Herkes and scheduled for a hearing without much time to get much testimony organized. Despite that, testimony appeared, most in strong opposition to this bad bill.
So the Chair deferred the bill.Yay! Dead so soon, no need to follow it though the Legislature.
There’s more to this article. To read the rest of it, click here:
http://www.disappearednews.com/2012/02/help-kill-zombie-bill-save-public.html
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