OFFICE OF THE MAYOR CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU ree cwwe. vA AMA April 24, 2020, SENT VIA EMAIL ‘The Honorable David Y. Ige Email: david.y.ige@hawaii.gov Michael P. Victorino Email: Mayors. Office @mauicounty.gov Derek §.X. Kawakami Email: mayor@kauai.gov Harry Kim Email henry kim @hawaiicounty.gov Dear Governor Ige and County Mayors: Re: Concems and suggestions relating o the State's proposed Sixth ‘Supplemental Proclamation {As the Mayor ofthe City and County of Honolulu, State of Hawaii, | am writing to you to express and explain my concems regarding the proposed language of the Govemor's Sixth Supplemental Prociamation concerning GOVID-18: |. Statewide Coordination hereby invoke section 127A-19(a)(5), Hawall Revised Statutes (HRS), as itis my opinion that itis necessary to coordinate ‘emergency management functions. Accordingly, | direct all counties to obtain my approval, or the approval of the Director of Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HIEMA), prior to issuing any ‘emergency order, rule, directive, or proclamation. | further suspend sections 127A-14(b) and 127A-25, HRS, to the limited extent necessary to ensure statewide coordinationApril 24, 2020 Governor Ige and County Mayors Page 2 ‘My concerns regarding the above provision (“Review/Approval Provision”) are as summatized in the following bullet points: {twill hamstring each county's ability to react swiftly and nimbly to changing conditions. For example, as the counties begin re-opening their ‘economies, there will be flare ups in cases that will require re-inplementing prior, or implementing new, county-specific restrictions to address those flare ups, Decisions will need to be made faster, not slower. A mandatory review period by the State would make the re-opening process less safe, Each county is different and has its own unique issues. As discussed and agreed during numerous VTC calls, each county has specific concems due to its ‘own population demographics, geography, and economy. Honolulu is the business epicenter of the Stato of Hawa and has a population of nearly 1,000,000 pecple. While consistency is desired to the degree possible, it cannot reasonably be achieved through state-wide orders without negatively impacting ‘one or more counties (due to their unique concerns). Marginal consistency improvement at the expense of effectiveness. Consistency is a good thing but itis not as important as the need to act. The Review/Application Provision will increase bureaucracy for marginal consistency ‘concems that can be addressed by less intrusive and informal means (proposed below) at the expense of effectiveness and potentially lives. Undermining the mayors’ ability to lead. The Review/Application Provision will undermine the mayors’ authority and ability to lead because ppeoplebusinesses that are unhappy with orders/rules/restrictions (in place or planned) will increasingly attempt to sidestep the Mayors through the Governor. This is already a concem. For exampla, it happened recently vith regards to the florists’ request for an exemption, which it appears has or wll be granted by the State. This wil occur even more — increasing contusion — ifthe Review/Application Provision is included in the Sixth Supplemental Proclamation. No guaranteed turnaround time or approval. As drafted, there is no {Quaranteed time frame for review and approval. There is nothing to prevent the State from requesting changes to address “statewide” concerns and application ‘of county-speciic proclamation, orders, rules, and directive, and sending back the proposed county proclamation, order, rules, and directives, only to tigger another review by the State. Moreover, based on the proposed language of the Sixth Supplerrental Proclamation, the State may simply reject and never approve: ‘the county proposal, no matter how important the county has deemed it to be.‘April 24, 2020 Governor Ige and County Mayors Page 3 ‘+ Enforcement. The local county police have been tasked, almost exclusively, with the enforcement of the State's and the counties’ emergency proclamations/orders. As such, itis both fair and prudent to continue to allow the ‘counties maximum flexibility in with regards to their COVID-19 related orders, {and not subject them to review and approval. Notably, the Honolulu Police Department is represented on daily phone calls with miy office, our call center, and Corporation Counsel to discuss the enforcement of existing proclamations/orders and to discuss potential changes and additions. The Review/Approval Provision would add an unnecessary layer of review to our tested and functional process, with litle perceived benefit * Overbroad. The Review/Application Provision would apply to emergency orders, rules, directives, and proclamations. As such, it would apply intra-county directives that apply to the county's workforce that has its own personnel rules and regulations, which must be flexible during the state of emergency. For ‘example, the proposed Sixth Supplemental Proclamation will require State approval of intemal City and County of Honolulu directives, orders, and rules that it has implemented that allows impacted City departments to seek mayoral approval ofthe suspension of City ordinances, Charter provisions, rules, or regulations that impair or impede the departments from addressing COVID-19- related emergencies This is a very streamlined process that the City and County ‘of Honolulu has implemented that should not be slowed down by a review process that is being proposed by the Sixth Supplemental Proclamation, Based on these concems, | request that the Review/Application Provision in the proposed Sixth Supplemental Proclamation not be included. The City and County of Honolulu must retain its abilty to make county-specific decisions quickly and efficiently Furthermore, to begin those discussions, and address your primary concer of consisteney, | propose thal the County Mayors and the Governor agree, in wring, 10 share emergency orders, rules, directives, and proclamations prior to publishing or announcing ther. In doing 50, we could set a 24 or 48 hour time frame to allow each ‘county and the State to provide comments or suggests changes. No county nar tho State may “veto” anther County Mayor's executive decision or judgment, but can certainly provide suggested revisions or altematives to ensure consistency. | believe this would address most consistency issues while stil ensuring each county's “home- rule" and allow counties to move forward reasonably quickly in response to their particular COVID-19 and economic issues. For example, the recent inconsistancy regarding permissible activities atthe beach likely would have been avoided had the Counties been informed ahead of time of the State's decision to close beaches ‘completelyApril 24, 2020 Governor Ige and County Mayors Page 4 ‘As Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, | object to the inclusion of the eview/Application Provision in the Sixth Supplemental Proclamation The concerns raised by the State related to “consistency” need to be discussed and vetted with all of the relevant stakeholders before the promulgation of a draconian, unilateral order that prevents county-speciic executive decision-making. Thank you for your time and Consideration ofthis request. Yours sincerely, es KIRK W. CALDWELL Mayor ity ana Geunty of Honoluu Ce: Moana Lutey Maui County Corporation Counsel Email: moana lutey@co.maui hi. us Matthew M. Bracken Kauai County Corporation Counsel Email: mbracken@ kauai.gov Joseph K. Kamelamela Hawaii County Corporation Counsel Email: joe.kamelemela @hawalicounty.gov Clare E. Connors Attorney General State of Haw Email: clare.e.connors@hawali gov Kenneth S. Hara ‘Adjutant General ‘State of Hawai, Department of Defensa Email: kenneth.s.nara@hawali gov