NEWS RELEASE
Hawaii Voters Get New Transparency Tool
Powerful, free website empowers citizens to track
activity of state legislature and individual lawmakers
March 24, 2009 --- Citizens now have a powerful, online tool to track the
actions of Hawaii’s state legislature and individual legislators.
HawaiiVotes.org is a free website that provides concise, non-partisan,
plain-English descriptions of every bill, amendment and vote in the Hawaii
House and Senate. These are all sortable by legislator, issue category, keyword
and more, allowing a citizen to quickly create a custom “voting record guide”
for any legislator on any issue.
How did a state representative or senator vote on an issue
or bill that you care about? What bills and amendments did each legislator
sponsor? What legislation actually became law this year – and what did not?
What would all these bills actually do (vs. what their sponsors intend)? Which
legislators have missed the most votes, and how many did yours miss? The
answers to all those questions and more are at citizens’ fingertips 24 hours a
day on HawaiiVotes.org.
HawaiiVotes.org is a free public service from the Grassroot
Institute of Hawaii (GRIH), a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and educational
institution. The purpose of the new site is to inform citizens, media and
public officials about legislation that affects their families, schools, jobs
and communities.
Grassroot Institute President Jamie Story says it's a great
tool for anyone who is either frustrated with the performance of elected
officials or is just plain curious about the process. “The new website empowers
citizens to actually participate in the democratic process,” she said.
“HawaiiVotes.org will shed great light on our state legislature and
government.”
The site also provides other features, including a comments
section/forum where citizens can share their views about particular bills or
other state public policy issues. A blog aggregator displays the most recent
post of the state’s leading political blogs both left and right, and
“LegislatorPedia” and “JudgePedia” shed additional sunlight on the Aloha
state’s elected officials and judiciary.
“State government is involved in so many areas of our lives
and economy; HawaiiVotes.org has never been needed more,” said GRIH Communications
Director Tom McAuliffe. “It’s free, easy to use, fast and informative. Think of
it as a giant spyglass on the Hawaii State Legislature!”
For more information please visit www.grassrootinstitute.org
-GRIH-
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
1314 S. King St.
Honolulu, Hawaii
Office: (808) 591-9193
eMail: info@grassrootinstitute.org
www.grassrootinstitute.org
Grassroot TV
www.youtube.com/user/GrassrootHawaii
The mission of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii is to promote individual liberty, free market economic principles and limited, more accountable government.