Article 18
SCHEDULE
DISTRICTING AND APPORTIONMENT
Section 1. [Omitted as obsolete. For current plan, see the 1991 Report and Reapportionment Plan submitted to the lieutenant governor.]
1978 SENATORIAL ELECTIONS
Section 2. Article III, Section 4, to the contrary notwithstanding, the terms of office of the members of the senate elected in the 1978 general election shall be as follows: members of the senate shall be divided into two classes. The first class shall consist of the following number elected with the highest number of votes from their respective senatorial districts: first district, one; second district, one; third district, one; fourth district, two; fifth district, two; sixth district, two; seventh district, two; eighth district, one. Members of the first class shall hold office for a term of four years beginning with their election and ending on the day of the second general election held thereafter. The remaining members elected shall constitute the second class and shall hold office for a term of two years beginning with their election and ending on the day of the next general election held thereafter. [Add Const Con 1978 and election Nov 7, 1978]
SALARIES OF LEGISLATORS
Section 3. Until otherwise provided by law in accordance with Section 9 of Article III, the salary of each member of the legislature shall be twelve thousand dollars a year. [Ren and am Const Con 1968 and election Nov 5, 1968; ren and am Const Con 1978 and election Nov 7, 1978]
EFFECTIVE DATE FOR TERM LIMITATIONS FOR GOVERNOR AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
Section 4. The amendments to Sections 1 and 2 of Article V shall limit the term of any person elected to the office of governor or lieutenant governor in the 1978 general election to two consecutive full terms commencing from noon on the first Monday in December, 1978. [Add Const Con 1978 and election Nov 7, 1978]
JUDICIARY: TRANSITION; EFFECTIVE DATE
Section 5. The three members initially appointed to the judicial selection commission by the governor shall serve for terms of two, four and six years respectively. The members initially appointed to the commission by the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives shall serve for two years. The two members initially appointed to the commission by the chief justice of the supreme court shall serve terms of four and six years respectively. The two members initially elected to the commission by the members of the bar of the State shall serve for terms of four and six years respectively. The current terms of justices and judges in office shall terminate as heretofore provided by law, subject to earlier termination and removal as provided in Article VI. The amendments to Article VI shall take effect upon ratification. The judicial selection commission shall be created no later than April 1, 1979. [Add Const Con 1978 and election Nov 7, 1978]
EFFECTIVE DATE AND APPLICATION OF REAL
PROPERTY TAX TRANSFER
Section 6. The amendment to Section 3 of Article VIII shall take effect on the first day of July after two full calendar years have elapsed following the ratification of such amendment [November 7, 1978]; provided that for a period of eleven years following such ratification, the policies and methods of assessing real property taxes shall be uniform throughout the State and shall be established by agreement of a majority of the political subdivisions. Each political subdivision shall enact such uniform policies and methods of assessment by ordinance before the effective date of this amendment [July 1, 1981], and in the event the political subdivisions fail to enact such ordinances, the uniform policies and methods of assessment shall be established by general law. Any amendments to the uniform policies and methods of assessment established by the political subdivisions may only be made by agreement of a majority of the political subdivisions and enactment thereof by ordinance in each political subdivision
Real property tax exemptions and dedications of land for specific use for assessment at its value in such use as provided by law and in effect upon ratification of the amendment to Section 3 of Article VIII [November 7, 1978] shall be enacted by ordinance and shall not be eliminated or diminished for a period of eleven years following such ratification; provided that increases in such exemptions, or the additions of new and further exemptions or dedications of lands, may be established or granted only by agreement of a majority of the political subdivisions, and such increases or additions shall be enacted by ordinance in each political subdivision. [Add Const Con 1978 and election Nov 7, 1978]
1978 BOARD OF EDUCATION ELECTIONS
Section 7. Members elected to the board of education in the 1978 general election shall serve for two-year terms. [Add Const Con 1978 and election Nov 7, 1978]
EFFECTIVE DATE FOR OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS
Section 8. The legislature shall provide for the implementation of the amendments to Article XII in Sections 5 and 6 on or before the first general election following ratification of the amendments to Article XII in Sections 5 and 6. [Add Const Con 1978 and election Nov 7, 1978]
CONTINUITY OF LAWS
Section 9. All laws in force at the time amendments to this constitution take effect that are not inconsistent with the constitution as amended shall remain in force, mutatis mutandis, until they expire by their own limitations or are amended or repealed by the legislature.
Except as otherwise provided by amendments to this constitution, all existing writs, actions, suits, proceedings, civil or criminal liabilities, prosecutions, judgments, sentences, orders, decrees, appeals, causes of action, contracts, claims, demands, titles and rights shall continue unaffected notwithstanding the taking effect of the amendments and may be maintained, enforced or prosecuted, as the case may be, before the appropriate or corresponding tribunals or agencies of or under the State or of the United States, in all respects as fully as could have been done prior to the taking effect of the amendments. [Ren and am Const Con 1968 and election Nov 5, 1968; ren Const Con 1978 and election Nov 7, 1978]
DEBTS
Section 10. The debts and liabilities of the Territory shall be assumed and paid by the State, and all debts owed to the Territory shall be collected by the State. [Ren Const Con 1968 and election Nov 5, 1968; ren Const Con 1978 and election Nov 7, 1978]
RESIDENCE, OTHER QUALIFICATIONS
Section 11. Requirements as to residence, citizenship or other status or qualifications in or under the State prescribed by this constitution shall be satisfied pro tanto by corresponding residence, citizenship or other status or qualifications in or under the Territory. [Ren Const Con 1968 and election Nov 5, 1968; ren Const Con 1978 and election Nov 7, 1978]
EFFECTIVE DATE
This constitution shall take effect and be in full force immediately upon the admission of Hawaii into the Union as a State. Done in Convention, at Iolani Palace, Honolulu, Hawaii, on the twenty-second day of July, in the year one thousand nine hundred fifty and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventy-fifth.
