THIS TUESDAY, AT THE KIHEI LIBRARY, YOU CAN MAKE OUR STATE GOVERNMENT BETTER

Unlike our County Legislation, in the State your regional designated Representative and Senator are determined by the guys who live in your region. Only the registered voters in South Maui can vote for their District’s candidates, so residents determine who speaks for them in the state Legislature.

Not so in the County where all voters vote for all nine council members, so a region rep may (& has) been voted down by residents of area he represents , and still wins the election.

So how can you effectively be involved in the HI legislature process? The answer is PAR. What is that? “Public Access Workshops”

This years workshop is at 6:00 PM, Oct 6, at the Kihei Library for South Maui guys. In recent years, PAR came in December, and met at the KCC with dismal turnouts in single digits, so with earlier meeting and change 0f location, hopefully results will be more positive.

“When people speak up, the legislators do listen,” said PAR Coordinator Virginia Beck. “October is an ideal time to learn more about how the law-making process works and to let State legislators know what you’d like them to focus on when the next session begins in January.”

Beck said PAR and the Legislature’s website provide some great tools and resources to follow the legislative process.

Topics covered by the workshop include:

• Tips and techniques on effective lobbying, testimony, and communicating with senators and representatives
• Understanding the legislative process, deadlines and power dynamics
• Easy to use tools available on the Legislature’s website
• Helpful handouts, guides and resources

Beck said the 90-minute workshop is open to the public and provides a useful start for newcomers, as well as new information and inspiration for veterans of the legislative process.

For more information, call (808) 587-0478 (toll free 984-2400, extension 7-0478), email par@capitol.hawaii.gov, or visit PAR’s website at LRBHawaii.org/PAR.

PAR is a division of the State of Hawaii’s non-partisan Legislative Reference Bureau, which offers free assistance to constituents as they engage with State legislative government.

See  https://gokihei.org/education-2/par-came-to-kihei-last-evening   and      https://gokihei.org/government/par-coming-to-kihei-on-december-10-at-600-pm