On November 4, 2014, Maui voters made history by approving a bill calling for a moratorium on cultivation of genetically engineered crops until an environmental impact study can be conducted to prove such practices are not harming the environment or Maui citizens. The SHAKA Movement – along with the five citizens named in the petition drive – filed a legal action in Hawaii state court (see State Legal Case) in order to defend the ordinance approved for implementation as law. The action anticipated the resistance of Maui County officials to certify and implement the ordinance (which they had aggressively campaigned against).
The SHAKA Movement’s legal council asked the State judge to order Maui County officials to proceed forward in properly implementing the GMO Moratorium Bill. The following day, the industry opponents to the citizen’s initiative filed an action in federal court seeking federal judicial authority to have the election results invalidated. The industry group named the same public officials from Maui County who had opposed the ordinance for months as the “defendants” in the action. Four days later, Maui County officials and industry opponents reached a “settlement” together to not certify the election results, or begin implementation of the law approved by voters, until March 2015 (see Federal Legal Case).
As a result, there are now 2 legal actions proceeding through the courts (one on the Federal level , and one on the States level) both related to the same essential issues. Updates in the unfolding of each case and its implications will be posted and available here with more detailed analysis and copies of the relevant filings available on each case’s respective web page.
The SHAKA Movement’s State court case for the implementation of the GMO moratorium and environmental impact study.
The Federal case brought be the Monsanto Group attempting to invalidate the general election results.
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