After each session, the state Legislature releases an official record of events. But while lawmakers meet on the floors of their chambers, members can have their words stricken from that record.
The Journal is the gavel-in to gavel-out account of what happens on the floor of the state Senate and House of Representatives and acts as a record of events that can provide insight into the past, according to Colin Moore, a political scientist with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
"I still consult the Journal from decades ago, just to understand the historical context of why and how bills were passed," Moore said last week. "The judiciary sometimes uses the Journal to try to understand legislative intent, so it's tremendously important."
Members vote on the Journal, and have the authority to call for a fellow member’s words to be stricken when they’re out of order. Rep. Gene Ward of Oʻahu is a Republican in a Democratic majority Legislature. He sees his job as a vocal opposition and feels like he may be targeted by unfairly having his words stricken.
"When people don't like something because they disagree with it, they go really contrary to what the spirit of democracy is," Ward said.
Ward, who has been in office since the 1990s, said he’s never had a whole speech stricken from the Journal, until late March.
Ward was registering a no vote on a measure related to citing buildings in Kakaʻako, and while he was speaking, the majority floor leader, Democrat Nadine Nakamura of Kauaʻi, called a recess to discuss his speech.
"It was, 'Ward either take away most of the words, or you get the whole speech canceled,'" he recalled.
After that, Nakamura moved to have his speech stricken, and during an appeal, a majority of members voted to remove it.
Ward said majority members took issue with him declaring a tangential motive to the measure, connecting it to a controversial ongoing project in Kakaʻako Makai with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
"How one can say your speech is not allowed but these other guy’s speech allowable, to me is an anathema to the founding of our country and anathema to the Constitution, particularly to the First Amendment," Ward said.
But House Speaker Scott Saiki said that’s not quite the case and pointed to parliamentary procedure and rules that keep the body in check.
"One of the purposes of the House rules is to ensure that proceedings are run in a civil manner," Saiki said Monday.
The rules of the House are to not assign motive or make critical references to other members, and these are cited for why Ward’s speech was stricken. Saiki, as speaker, makes rulings on what gets stricken. He said that in his years, he hasn't judged based on party.
"The purpose for debate is to keep the discussion on the merits and to not personalize the debate," Saiki explained. "The purpose of the debate, we want to stay away from attacking one another or alleging personal motives on behalf of other members."
Moore also doesn't necessarily think this is a First Amendment issue.
"This is more an issue about preserving, allowing future generations to fully understand the debates that occurred when a piece of legislation was passed," Moore said, but noted that there are times when striking the record is the right thing to do.
"The only reason I could see that you would want to strike member statements is if they said something offensive or accused another member of some kind of impropriety," Moore said.
