BLOG: Hawaii List of Laws Increased by 238

The state of Hawaii has 238 new laws, the combined product of the 2014 legislative session and the pen of Gov. Neil Abercrombie.

Abercrombie has signed into law 229 bills from the session that wrapped up May 1, his office said in a press release on Tuesday, which was the state Constitution-mandated deadline for final actions.

In addition to three bills during the legislative session, he allowed another six measures to become law without his signature this week. Of the latter, the one with the highest profile – and carrying the most controversy – was a bill making public the financial disclosure forms for members of 15 state boards and commissions.

The governor this week also vetoed seven bills out of a list of 10 he had previously given to lawmakers as required by state law. (A list of the bills and reasons for the vetoes can be found in the press release here.)

There were actually eight vetoes, if one counts the line-item veto of the state budget.

Lawmakers passed a total of 245 bills this year, out of a total of 2,312 that were introduced in the past biennium. The Legislature also introduced a total of 704 resolutions, 188 of which were approved.

This year’s bill total was the lowest in the past three years, but 10 more than the number passed in 2011, Abercrombie’s first year in office.

The largest number of bills passed during his tenure was 329 in 2012. Abercrombie vetoed 14 of those.

The largest number of vetoes he has issued in a single year was 17 in 2011.

Counting the budget line-item veto, during Abercrombie’s four years in office he has vetoed a total of 43 of the 1,101 bills that made it to his desk.

But that falls short of just the final year of the administration of former governor Linda Lingle, who wielded a heavy veto pen.

In 2010, the Democrat-dominated Legislature approved 212 bills, of which Lingle — the first Republican governor of Hawaii in 40 years – vetoed 47.

Lawmakers then called a special session during which they overrode 11 of the vetoes.