Kukailimoku, I do not claim that it was fair or unfair. Clearly it was within the Speaker of the House Souki's purview not to bring the bill up for a vote. It was, however, surprising and disappointing, since the bill had a wide support among legislators and the public. If the bill moved out of conference, we, the public, would still need to vote on it to amend the constitution. 

As far as taxes go – this bill would have not affected the vast majority of Hawaii residents who do not own several rental properties. It would have, however, asked rich inventors to contribute their fair share to fund our public schools. 

The fact is thousands of students go years without a teacher because our schools cannot attract them. We do not have a shortage of firefighters, doctors, or police. We have a teacher shortage of catastrophic proportions. This needs to change.