2026 Special Convention | Libertarian Party of Hawaii

DISTRIBUTED WITH THE CALL

Program & Standing Rules

Special Convention of the Libertarian Party of Hawaii Convened by direction of the 2025 State Convention pursuant to the motion adopted August 30, 2025; held in conjunction with a General Membership Meeting and limited in purpose by this call.

DATE

Saturday, September 12, 2026

PLACE

Hilo Hawaiian Hotel · Room Mokuʻola #1, 71 · Banyan Drive, Hilo, Hawaii 96720

HOURS

Credentialing opens 10:30 a.m. 

Call to order 11:10 a.m. 

Adjournment sine die estimated 4:30 p.m.

A SPECIAL RECOGNITION

Don Johnston

Major Sponsor of this Special Convention

The Executive Committee gratefully acknowledges Don Johnston, lifetime member of this Party, and a lifetime member of the National Libertarian Party since 1980, whose contributions in April and July of this year have carried much of the cost of this special convention. Of his membership here he writes:

"LPH since 1974 or 75 (too old to remember exact date but mayoral candidate Don Smith signed me up, mentored by Dale Pratt and Mike Rossell)."

His gift arrived with a single instruction: to support Libertarian candidates, community meetups, social media and communications outreach, and the growing of the message of liberty. The Executive Committee intends to report back to him on the progress of each.

In February 2025, our newsletter asked members for any historical information for the Party's records. Mr. Johnston replied promptly and at length.

He wrote of the chairs and officers of the Party's first decades, and of a membership that once numbered in the hundreds. He recalled headquarters that moved from a downtown office to Kapiʻolani Boulevard and at last to South King Street. He remembered conventions in the late 1970s that he helped coordinate at the Maryknoll campus, the Pacific Club, the Ala Moana Hotel, and the Honolulu Club, and the presidential candidates and writers who came through Hawaii in those years.

He served at-large on the LPHI Executive Committee and stood for the State House in 1992. Governor Waiheʻe afterward appointed him to a school advisory council, where he was the only Libertarian among thirty-eight appointees. He was elected chair and served seven years.

The body of this special convention is asked to join the Executive Committee in thanking him.

Program & Order of Business

Fixed by the Executive Committee under Article VI, Section 3 of the Bylaws. 

The hours shown are for the convenience of members and are not binding. When an item is disposed of, the special convention proceeds immediately to the next without waiting for the hour shown. The Chair may adjust the hour, length, or timing of the recess to avoid interrupting a vote in progress. The hours for the opening of credentialing and call to order are fixed. Business still pending upon adjournment sine die falls to the ground.

Standing Rules

Recommended by the Executive Committee and distributed with the call to be moved for adoption at the opening of the special convention, requiring a two-thirds vote. The special convention is free to amend or reject them.

RULE 1 Authority & Scope

These rules govern the proceedings of this special convention. They supplement the Bylaws and Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (12th ed.); where they conflict with the Bylaws, the Bylaws control. They expire upon adjournment sine die. Any rule may be suspended by a two-thirds vote, but suspending Rule 2, 3, 11, or 12 does not remove the limit that rule restates.

RULE 2 Business Limited to the Call

Business is limited to the items stated in the call: consideration of the proposed bylaws revision and consideration of the proposed platform. Motions incidental to the conduct of the special convention, such as recess, adjournment, and questions of privilege, are not business within the meaning of this rule.

RULE 3 Credentials & Voting

Credentialing opens at 10:30 a.m. and will remain open throughout the special convention. Members arriving after the call to order may be credentialed and seated without interrupting business. A member is entitled to be credentialed who has signed and upholds the Party Pledge and whose dues are current. Only members physically present may be credentialed and may vote. The Credentials Committee shall report the number of members credentialed and present. The report is adopted by the special convention and thereafter governs eligibility to vote. Persons who are not credentialed members may observe the proceedings but may not speak or vote except by permission of the special convention.

RULE 4 Recognition & Debate

A member seeking the floor shall rise, state their name, and await recognition. Debate is limited to two minutes per speaker and two speeches per member on the same question, with no second speech until all who wish to speak once have done so.

RULE 5 Time Limits

Debate is limited in the aggregate as follows: sixty minutes on the bylaws revision, including all amendments to it; twenty minutes on the proposed platform, including all amendments to it. These limits are in addition to the per-speaker limits in Rule 4 and may be extended by a two-thirds vote.

RULE 6 Committee Presentation

The Bylaws & Platform Committee shall present its reports through designated reporting members, each of whom may speak up to ten minutes in presentation. Presentation time does not count against debate limits, and a motion made by direction of the committee requires no second. The reporting member shall be recognized to speak last on the main question of the report that member presented, immediately before the vote. This is a right of recognition only and does not close or limit debate.

RULE 7 Consideration of the Bylaws Revision

The proposed revision is a single main motion to substitute a complete set of bylaws, adopted or rejected by one vote requiring two-thirds of the members present and voting (Article VIII, Section 1). The revision is considered as a whole, and amendments to any Article are in order while it is pending. Once the Chair has stated the question on the revision, it remains the pending question until it is adopted or rejected, except that the special convention may recess or adjourn.

RULE 8 Amendments in Writing

Any amendment other than a motion to strike a word or phrase shall be submitted to the Chair in writing, signed by the mover, before being stated by the Chair. The Secretary shall maintain the text of all adopted amendments.

RULE 9 Voting

Voting shall be by voice or rising vote as determined by the Chair. Any member may demand a rising vote. A counted rising vote shall be taken when the Chair is in doubt, when ordered by majority vote, or when demanded by any member on the final vote on adoption of the bylaws revision or on the final vote on adoption of the platform. The Secretary shall record the count of every counted vote.

RULE 10 Consideration of the Platform

The proposed platform is a complete substitute for the platform now in force and shall be considered as a whole. Amendments are in order before the vote on adoption. Adoption requires two-thirds of the members present and voting (Article VI, Section 3.B(1)) and effects the deletion of the platform now in force, for which Article VI, Section 3.B(2) requires one third or more.

RULE 11 Order of Business

The Executive Committee has fixed the official program and order of business for this special convention under Article VI, Section 3, and it accompanies the call. The sequence of items in the program is the order of business, and a motion to take items out of that sequence requires a two-thirds vote. The hours shown are for the convenience of members and do not fix the time at which any item is taken up. When an item is disposed of, the special convention proceeds immediately to the next item.

RULE 12 Adjournment

Business pending at adjournment sine die falls to the ground. Any matter not disposed of may be placed before a subsequent General Membership Meeting or Convention called and noticed by the Executive Committee.

RULE 13 Electronic Devices & Recording

Members shall silence electronic devices. Recording for personal use is permitted. The official record of this special convention is the Secretary's minutes as approved.

Issued by the Executive Committee of the Libertarian Party of Hawaii.Questions regarding credentialing, dues, or documents: lphisecretary@gmail.com