The Ag Moratorium Bill was killed at Wednesday’s Council meeting by way of Council Member Rapozo making a motion “to receive” and Kouchi seconding immediately (vote tally below).

How the Public Testified

Every person to testify during the public comment period was IN SUPPORT of the temporary moratorium bill. A council member later stated that there were 100 testimonies received in favor of the bill and only 1 was against. I don’t think that included the additional 30 or so in-person and written testimonies submitted during the public comment portion of the meeting, but regardless, the numbers are significant.

Those that offered in-person testimony supporting the bill included:

The Mayor

Roy Oyama on behalf of the Kaua`i Farm Bureau

Diane Zachary on behalf of Kaua`i Planning & Action Alliance

Carl Imperato on behalf of the Sierra Club

Andrea Brower/Keone Kealoha on behalf of Malama Kaua`i

And at least 10 other community members representing themselves and their `ohana

Reasons Given for Opposing the Bill

There were several reasons provided as to why the majority of the Council decided not to approve this bill. However, these were the kinds of questions normally sorted out while the bill is in commitee. Based on the previous week’s commitee action to kill the bill there without hearing any real discusion set the stage for this week’s decision. Basically, some members had made up their minds before we even started and used the comment period and questions to public speakers to reaffirm their position rather then to really evaluate the points being raised by the public.

A few of the reasons to oppose by councilers included:

Not enough legal review

No “nexus” was provided

No “reasonable” end date

Needed scientific data to justify a moratorium

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(Source: SaveKauai.org)