Gov. Linda Lingle has signed a bill to make taro the state plant, while noting that someone forgot to change the effective date to 2007.

House Bill 659 uses the Hawaiian word for taro, kalo, and so did the governor in announcing Tuesday that she would sign the bill.

“I agree that kalo should be designated as Hawaii’s state plant and to preclude the necessity of having those who gave their time and effort to assure this bill’s passage return next year to testify on a brand new bill, I am approving this measure,” Lingle said. “I urge the Legislature to send me a bill next session correcting the effective date.”

It is a routine practice in the Hawaii Legislature to put distant future effective dates in bill, changing them to the current year at the end of the legislative process. In this case no one did it and the law says taro will become the state plant in 2025.

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(Source: Pacific Business News)