Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat, sounded confident
that his state would be next to legalize gay marriage.
Abercrombie told the Honolulu
Star-Advertiseer that a special fall session on the issue of
marriage equality is “very likely.”
“I think we can put together something that can achieve a solid
majority, that will give us the opportunity to establish marriage
equality in the state of Hawaii commensurate with the recent Supreme
Court decisions, and will satisfy and resolve the issues that are
presently before the appeals court on the mainland,” Abercrombie
told a gathering of state Democrats, according to The
Washington Post.
House Democrats will gather this week to gauge support for the
measure. Senate leaders say they have the votes.
Abercrombie's chef of staff, Blake Oshiro, is in the process of
drafting the legislation. As a House member, Oshiro authored and
championed Hawaii's 2011 civil unions law.
A two-thirds majority of lawmakers is needed to call a special
session. Despite holding overwhelming majorities in both
legislative chambers, Democrats cannot meet the threshold by
themselves and are therefore relying on Abercrombie to call a special
session.
(Related: Majority
support for gay marriage in Hawaii.)