 Marcia Joyner and we are navigating the journey. Navigating the journey is dedicated to exploring the options and choices for end-of-life care and to assist people to talk about their wishes. It's time to transform our culture so that we shift from not talking about dying to talking about it. It's time to share the way we want to live our lives at the end of our lives and it's time to communicate about the kind of care we want and don't want for ourselves. We believe that the place for this to begin is not in the intensive care unit. So together we can explore the various paths to life's ending. Together we can make these difficult conversations easier. Together we can make sure that our own wishes and those of our loved ones are expressed and respected. If you're ready to join us we ask, navigate the journey. As you know we cannot talk about the end-of-life options without exploring the legislative actions of medical aid and dying. Today's guest is Hawaii Senator Lorraine Innoi, not related to the deceased senator. She is an experienced legislator of 40 years, a 40-year commitment to public service as member of Hawaii's County Planning Commission, Big Island Mayor, member of the County Council and twice state senator. The senator introduced the Senate bill on medical aid and dying. She introduced this measure last year in 2016 but it never heard in the consumer protection and health committees chaired by Ross Baker and the judiciary committee. Senator Innoi was one of several senators that voted for this bill in 2002 but it failed by three votes, just three votes. So therefore we have asked my dear, dear friend for 40 years to come back to talk to us about the bill and all that she's done over these last 40 years. So Senator Baker, oh my, what a mistake that is and we don't get to edit. Let's start, let's talk about you and all that you have done over these years as public service and then your flowers. All right, thank you Marsha. It's my pleasure to be here with you. It's just an honor actually, we go way back but we also thank you for your contributions to our society in the state and you have been a very, very great model for many of us women in particular. However, I have dedicated my life to do the people's work particularly concentrating on the Hawaii island but having had the honor of coming to Oahu and be a member of the state senate. Having said that I'm happy to be back here to return in the 2014 election as my constituents did say they wanted me back and not to retire from politics and so again where we are doing as far as I'm concerned my lifelong dedication is doing the people's work. Well now as mayor of the big island that's really a big island and just to drive from one end to the other is a day's so how do you reach all of your constituents? Well during my mayor's term as you did mention the geography of the big island is so expensive however that's a dedication that us politicians are committed to do whether you're going to drive over it takes two hours so 200 miles to reach the other side of the island in West Hawaii however I did make that commitment that I will do my best for West Hawaii as well. There were times that I did travel by helicopter as you know the county of Hawaii had a emergency helicopter but during times that I needed to be there on the other side of the island at a certain point of in time as well as to meet my obligations for my schedule in East Hawaii and so there were times that I did have to do that however in case that there was an emergency that I pledged that the helicopter is to make that commitment first so if they have to drop me off somewhere on the highway or in the sugar plantations and I'd like to talk about that because there was an there was a point in time that we ended up in the sugar plantation yes because we had a warning getting back into Hilo there was a warning light on the helicopter so our the pilot was just uh did his duty and he says mayor um there is uh we're traveling over Waipio Valley and into Hanukkah and god bless and thanks for the sugar plantations with areas that they kept like the roadways and those roads in Limbo was there for us so says we're gonna land there's a spot right there and I says okay uh I'm in your hands and I just prayed a lot to the dear lord well and the that island is so interesting because it's so different well so many what is it 11 different uh weather zones on one island and you can quarter the island and then you'll have all the different climates let me share with you the difference when I was mayor 1990 to 92 as we are here in um in 2000 um that as senator the district of course is much less than the the entire island as mayor however my district is from right outside of Hilo so if you look at the map and there's Kona my district includes Saddle Road the Daniel K. Noe Highway, Mauna Kea Mountain North so we have North Kohala we have parts of Kona past the airport so it takes me uh two hours Madam Pelle no no no I have not in your not in my district that is in Puna well okay yes yes but I have Mauna Kea okay and astronomy as well and so uh and the Pohakaloa training area the military camp uh PTA as we call it and so having said that it's rather interesting because now that we talk about energy in our my role as chair of transportation and energy is that um we're talking about electric vehicles and uh as far as I'm concerned I can't take advantage of it because we're not suited on the Hawaii island with uh with charging stations um to the point where we may need it in different areas so I would think with the tourism and Kona area and now the tourism because of Madam Pelle that you would have someone would be interested in the stations the charging stations oh yes eventually it'll come in that's what we've been we're working this year as well in our energy committee uh moving forward with with many many proposals before us and how we're going to place chargers and who's going to pay for it as well however uh having having said that it's um it's interesting to note that uh you did mention I was on the planning commission back in the 70s and that's how I did I started my political career as a young kid I would say and uh however I just wanted to share with the the audience out there that as a planning commissioner then we did not have the resorts so it started and and God bless the foresight of Governor Burns he created the Queen Kaahumano Highway to make it passable for all of us uh to to have a good highway system between Kona and the west east side and so there was no development however um there were there were proposals to rezone the entire region from near where the Manakea beach hotel is to the Kona area south Kona so I was on the commission of nine maybe seven at that time that rezoned the entire area into what we see today and I call it the diamond in the rough it is it it really is and of course with the marimona are coming up soon the whole world gets to see it exactly exactly so we have um during my lifetime uh serving as an elected official on Hawaii island um there were things that we did before that I can look back and say I did that exactly after that big rezoning on the planning commission we did another thing that is today very beneficial to the employment and the shopping opportunities for East Hawaii we did the rezoning so that what we have uh at the Prince Kohio Mall uh we have Walmart and those rezonings happened during my time so it's uh I'm I'm glad as I mentioned earlier my role is to do the people's work to make sure that we have job opportunities as well as the education system because we do have the East we do have the University of Hawaii at Hilo the Hilo campus uh we have now correct me if I'm wrong about the Hilo campus I was told it's the only one that has the pharmacy program is that correct correct and our first Hawaiian language program that it was implemented in our state and you can receive your master's degree in Hawaiian language at our campus when I was at the university uh Hawaiian was taught in the foreign language department now that's been a long time but that was in the foreign language department that was and at Manoa yes yes so so we've come a long way and I invite all of those out there please come to see that building it's just a beautiful building by itself not connected to the Hilo campus and it was designed by one of our architects who is from Hilo but has his office on Oahu oh okay yes we're proud of now I remember what was the storm oh the hurricane and hurricane I sell in 2000 two years ago two years ago 2014 and your plantation your your flowers your yes we do have my husband owns floral resources Hawaii he has several acres about 40 acres I personally own I I have no financial obligations to my husband's farms but I do have a 10 acre and theorem farm as well that I call Aloha Blooms and my husband is my partner I'm the president though oh good however I it's a joint joint venture joint venture however during I sell our farms experience the 80 percent damages by I sell and we're still looking for our inventory to market the flowers it's a slow process but you know farming is very challenging yeah so how often do you get back there I'm here and committed to be here as senator for the week however as we move towards our process before crossover time in in late February and March I sometimes stay here Saturdays go home the weekends and at times may not be able to go home and but my commitment is here I have a wonderful husband who's committed to be my who has been very supportive in the years that we've been married oh that's great and the name of your farm again my farm is Aloha Blooms okay now we have to take a break and when we come back we want to talk about the legislation okay we'll be happy to thank you Aloha my name is Josh Green I serve a senator from the big island on the Kona side and I'm also an emergency room physician my program here on think tech is called health care in Hawaii I'll have guests that should be interesting to you twice a month we'll talk about issues that range from mental health care to drug addiction to our health care system and any challenges that we face here in Hawaii we hope you'll join us again thanks for supporting think tech okay I'm here with Brett Obergaard of the faculty of school of journalism in the department of communications at UH Minoa we've had a number of shows we have a movable feast going on and we talk about journalism we talk about language we talk about communication in general and we talk about the effect of that on the country and on individual people Brett it's so good to be able to discuss this with you in our movable feast oh it's my pleasure this is a great opportunity you'll have to come back again and again okay deal that's the deal Brett Obergaard I'm Jay Fiedel we care about everything thanks hi we're back with Senator Inouye and we are going to she's taken us on this wonderful tour of the big island and I must say if you haven't been you must be I have enjoyed it so much now we're going to talk about your legislation and it is let me get the correct title here what is the correct title okay it's relating to aid in dying okay and for all of you that may not know it is about medical aid in dying for a terminally ill patient who has been certified that they have less than six months to live and that this is their choice that they get to choose and the doctor would write a prescription and they have to take it themselves the doctor does not administer this this is not getting rid of grandma kind of thing and so I'd like for you to tell us more about the bill what it says what it does not say and where are we in the process okay I do want to add Marsha recognizing that my bill senate bill 357 also has another measure that's authored and introduced by senator Rhodes and his bill is senate bill 1129 and as you did mention I've had been involved with this legislation as you mentioned and my interest in legislation when I first started in the early 2000 I was a senator elected in 1998 and 1999 was my first session however having noticed that we did there were there was a bill with regards to the same issue and I was very active that time to ensure that the my colleagues and those at that time had an opportunity to discuss that issue however the chair of health refused to hear the bill and so we needed to somehow force the chair which we rarely want to do but because of the issue and those in the communities that wanted us and our constituents to address something that they would like to make personal decisions for their end of life and so there were 13 of us and maybe even more had signed a petition to make sure that we can pull that bill out of the chairs committee so that we can all make sure that we want the bill heard and that's the challenging times we had and of course once it went on the floor we lost by three votes however over time I've I've had taken care of family and personal friends who had you know not an opportunity but as their time went by we're experiencing ill health and so I've personally watched them including my father-in-law who supported the bill measure in 2002 and said if I have cancer or something I would just want the family to know that I don't want to live through you know the pain and suffering and so he says my daughter-in-law will you please make sure that this you continue to do your work and so hence we also and I was more encouraged when Governor Brown last year or the year before decided he's going to join the other states like Oregon Washington Montana and Vermont that and he did not support the measure and he would clarify that when he signed it he says however we need to make sure that the people have a choice and it's not my choice to make decisions for them and so I was very encouraged and again that's why I introduced last year's bill however we're here today and I'm so happy in my discussions just to bring up and up to date as to what's happening at the legislature and the discussions on SB 357 and SB 1129. Senator Baker has told me she did take a poll amongst all of us and to also honor the polls that all of you out there did take recently that there are 80 percent of our Hawaii residents support the measure and so she did take a poll and she will be hearing this measure and she's looking at putting on the agenda SB 1129 on Senator Rhodes bill however the discussions that I hope that the community and people who want to see us make decisions this year please come and support Senator Baker's bills that she is going to introduce and on her agenda and Marsha I know you're going to be the charge with our dear friend Scott Foster who I've been so blessed to know for many years and we want participation we want people to come out and please send in your testimonies in support give the senator and her committee an opportunity to hear from your experiences out there and to ensure that something passes for the first time and make sure that we have good discussions and that it passes the senate make sure that there's something that goes over to the House and have their discussions now this is not a guarantee because we know what we know that we need two houses to pass a measure so we we request that all of you out there in the listening audience and those viewing this wonderful program and Marsha with your encouragement and the group out there please send in your testimonies support the bills now I'm the governor Igay was a member of the senate and you knew him well what do you think I know you don't know where he is but what do you think I can't remember how his vote was maybe you don't you know but they were okay all right however I think the governor at this point in time will address if there's any bills that will come before him I know he probably would think the same as we all do and I would encourage and we'll have some discussions with him I'm sure senator Baker will and many of us who want to see a measure at least supported by the governor having said that in the event that he vetoes I am sure if it goes on his desk that we will be able to override oh wow we've got that much support exactly so there is an opportunity that the legislature jointly we'll go back in session in case the governor vetoes which I I have a personal feeling that he would support the legislation that would be before him well I talked we did think tech yesterday live from the Capitol and we talked to the speaker of the house because he introduced the bill on the house side and he feels really confident about it I feel confident as well oh great yes and I'm so happy that our local newspaper on the Hawaii island did a great article and I've had numerous emails and phone calls and people who's I have not heard of for years or people throughout the island not only my district just thanking us for bringing this matter up and it's just an opportunity matter of fact one a couple my friend Sandy in my district from Waimea and she was the first to email me and she sent me an email yesterday saying my husband and I are going to Oahu yesterday we'll be here till Friday and for doctor's appointments however if there's anything that I can do or come in lobby please we want to help and so but I did tell her it's not on the agenda yet so don't reschedule your appointments with doctors what how long does it take before it's on the agenda okay it has to be heard before Thursday that's tomorrow Thursday next week yes so she has time so if it hasn't been posted now they are measures that probably she could have put a put a posting yesterday for Friday if it's not on the Friday calendar then it'll be probably heard uh anytime from Monday to Thursday the least Thursday morning I'm sure she would want to do it sooner like Monday Tuesday or Wednesday so she has hearings for three days okay four days actually before we deck the bills I think of course I'm a romantic a hopeless romantic so I would like to see it on Valentine's Day so we could say this is a gift to you know that you're a loving gift I have chicken skins for sure when you say that from the legislature but I'm like I said I'm a hopeless romantic so exactly but I needed to share with you that and I think Scott remembers the gentleman and that's why in 2002 I remember there was an elderly person who lived here on Oahu that lobbied us to hear that bill in 2002 and I'm getting kind of teary because when we did the vote in the chamber the old elderly man who was ill stood up and he was looking at us in the gallery for all of us to take the vote and I remember one of us did I could have been the person but I can't remember who did mention him in the gallery he was by himself and he knew his time was coming and he was introduced and he stood up and it was such an emotional time so we were trying to encourage our vote our colleagues to please give us at least three more votes it failed but I he must be looking at us today and saying thank you and I I just feel for him today so if it happens on Valentine's Day I want to have someone give me the gentleman's name so we can make a dedication to him when we pass the bill thank you thank you we will find his name okay thank you so much for spending this time with us and hope you'll come back I will when the bill passes yes I I and I'll bring senator Baker is that okay yes tell her I'm so sorry and and senator agaron because yes the judiciary chair okay because there are two key people okay thank you so much it's been a pleasure spending this time with you I love it's my pleasure