The Capitol Notebook is closing with the end of session. We hope to return before the opening of the next session in January.

We want to thank the people who shared tips. We also want to thank our readers and the few people who took the time to post comments.

This blog is an experiment, an opportunity to share things that happen at the state Capitol that, for whatever reason, might not make the newspaper.

It is a work-in-progress in terms of content and style and we welcome any suggestions.

State Sen. Norman Sakamoto, D-15th (Waimalu, Airport, Salt Lake), the chairman of the Senate Education Committee, is fond of his metaphors.

So it had to be Sakamoto behind one of the most interesting descriptions of a concurrent resolution introduced in the Senate this session:

"SCR112 -- Requesting the Department of Education to undertake a study to determine the most effective medium between `one size fits all' and `to each his own.'"

The state Senate overturned four of Gov. Linda Lingle's vetoes on Thursday, the last day of session, following the House, which overrode the vetoes on Tuesday.

The Senate chose not to override vetoes on bills related to contractor violations and disability benefits that the House dealt with Tuesday.

The House, meanwhile, chose not to hold an override vote on a bill that would allow Hawai'i to join an interstate compact and elect the president by popular vote instead of the Electoral College.

The Senate voted to override the bill on Tuesday.

Here are the vetoes overriden by the Senate Thursday:

*HB10 -- Requires pharmaceutical companies participating in the Hawai'i Rx Plus program to provide rebates for prescription drugs. (Vote: 18-4-3)

*HB861 -- Requires that the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations ensure compliance on prevailing wage law for public works projects not directly caused by a government contracting agency. (Vote: 18-4-3)

*HB863 -- Requires construction companies to pay prevailing wages when at least half of a project is for state or county use. (Vote: 19-3-3)

*HB1672 -- Increases the salaries for the deputy auditor, the first assistant to the ombudsman, and the first assistant to the director of the Legislative Reference Bureau. (Vote: 19-3-3)

A Stanford University professor and one of Hawai'i’s top lobbyists are close to changing the state’s role in electing presidents.

Hawai'i would become the second state, after Maryland, to agree to form an interstate compact and commit its electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. If enough states join the compact, it would bypass the Electoral College, the system created by the Founding Fathers in part to protect small-state interests from the will of the majority.

Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed the bill, saying the state’s four electoral votes could go to a candidate not chosen by Hawai'i voters, but her veto was overriden on Tuesday by the state Senate. The state House will decide Thursday, the last day of session, whether to overturn the veto.

“I would say it’s up in the air right now,” said state House Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell, D-24th (Mänoa).

The bill stayed under the radar for the most of the session but splashed into public view last month when National Popular Vote, a California-based nonprofit behind the movement, began newspaper, radio and television advertising. Many lawmakers still consider it a curiosity, since the money and effort behind the bill is coming from the Mainland and because it could take years for enough states to join the compact to make it relevant in national politics.

Inside the state Capitol, the bill is known mostly for its lobbyist, John Radcliffe, a popular and influential fixture on the rail whose client list includes such varied interests as Hawai'i Superferry, the Motion Picture Association of America and R.J. Reynolds. (Reporters doctored one National Popular Vote ad to include Radcliffe’s face and posted it on the door of the media room.)

Radcliffe was hired by National Popular Vote, whose biggest financial contributor is John Koza, a consulting professor of medical informatics at Stanford and co-author of a book last year on the national popular vote. Koza, who made his fortune as an inventor of the rub-off lottery ticket, also invented a board game on the Electoral College in the 1960s called, “Consensus.”

Koza helped launch the national popular vote movement in February 2006 and bills are pending in state Legislatures across the country. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, vetoed a popular vote bill last year, saying it could disregard the will of state voters. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, signed a bill last month, becoming the first state in the nation to agree to the compact.

Koza said states such as Hawai'i are ignored in presidential election campaigns because candidates mostly concentrate on battleground states with large numbers of electoral votes, such as Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. He believes candidates would be more inclined to campaign in more states, even in states that may favor their political opponents, if every vote counted toward victory.

“Every person’s vote would count equally throughout the country,” Koza said. “And the count within the state is no longer relevant.”

Each state now gets two electoral votes for U.S. Senate and one for each U.S. House member -- which is why Hawai'i has four and more populous states with more U.S. House members have a greater number of electoral votes. Most states, including Hawai'i, commit electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote within the states. Candidates need 270 votes within the 538-vote Electoral College to win the presidency.

Under the bill, Hawai'i and other states that join the compact would commit electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. If the compact had been in place in 2000, for example, then-Vice President Al Gore would have beaten George W. Bush because Gore won the popular vote while Bush had more electoral votes.

Lingle told reporters Tuesday that Hawai'i should not give away its votes based on what happens on the Mainland.

“In this case, what you had was a well-known local lobbyist, paid by a Mainland millionaire, to get this passed in Hawai'i,” the governor said.

State Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nänäkuli, Mäkaha), said Gore’s defeat in 2000 was a compelling example for many Senate Democrats in overriding the veto.

“I think, fundamentally, when you come down to it, it really is a matter of every person’s vote counts,” Hanabusa said. “And that’s what it is, that my vote will be just as important as someone in New York or California.”

Working late into the evening, the state House voted to override Gov. Linda Lingle's vetoes of bills restricting her appointment powers for the University of Hawaii Board of Regents and vacancies for state Legislature and U.S. Senate.

The House also overturned a veto on a bill relating to union rights to negotiate transfers and other assignments during collective bargaining.

The Senate had overturned the vetoes earlier in the day.

On Thursday, the House will decide whether to follow the Senate and overturn a Lingle veto of a bill to elect the president through a national popular vote.

The Senate will decide whether to override vetoes on six House bills the House overturned Tuesday night.

Here are all of the Senate overrides on Tuesday:

*SB14 -- Requires the governor to make appointments to the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents from nominees chosen by a new advisory council. Increases the board from 12 to 15 members, with geographic representation. (Vote: 17-7-1)

*SB1063 -- Requires the governor to fill vacancies for the state Legislature and U.S. Senate from nominees chosen by the political parties. (Vote: 20-4-1)

*SB1642 -- Allows public-worker unions to negotiate with state and county governments over promotions, transfers, assignments, demotions, layoffs, suspensions, terminations, discharges, or other disciplinary actions. (Vote: 20-4-1)

*SB1816 -- Requires consultation with the kahuna nui of the Mo'okini heiau before any alterations to the state monument and before any additional organized profitmaking venture takes place. (Vote: 20-4-1)

*SB1956 -- Allows Hawai'i to join an interstate compact to elect the president by national popular vote instead of through the Electoral College. (Vote: 20-5)

Here are the House overrides:

*HB10 -- Requires pharmaceutical companies participating in the Hawai'i Rx Plus program to provide rebates for prescription drugs. (Vote: 46-3-2)

*HB853 -- Clarifies that a single violation refers to each separate project where the state finds a contractor has failed to comply with the prevailing wage law. (Vote: 38-11-2)

*HB854 -- Clarifies that temporary total disability benefits for workers shall only be terminated by the state or if a doctor determines the worker is able to return to work and there is a work offer within the worker's medical restrictions. (Vote: 43-6-2)

*HB861 -- Requires that the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations ensure compliance on prevailing wage law for public works projects not directly caused by a government contracting agency. (Vote: 42-8-1)

*HB863 -- Requires construction companies to pay prevailing wages when at least half of a project is for state or county use. (Vote: 46-4-1)

*HB1672 -- Increases the salaries for the deputy auditor, the first assistant to the ombudsman, and the first assistant to the director of the Legislative Reference Bureau. (Vote: 43-7-1)

*SB14 -- Requires the governor to make appointments to the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents from nominees chosen by a new advisory council. Increases the board from 12 to 15 members, with geographic representation. (Vote: 39-10-2)

*SB1063 -- Requires the governor to fill vacancies for the state Legislature and U.S. Senate from nominees chosen by the political parties. (Vote: 41-8-2)

*SB1642 -- Allows public-worker unions to negotiate with state and county governments over promotions, transfers, assignments, demotions, layoffs, suspensions, terminations, discharges, or other disciplinary actions. (Vote: 38-9-4)

*SB1816 -- Requires consultation with the kahuna nui of the Mo'okini heiau before any alterations to the state monument and before any additional organized profitmaking venture takes place. (Vote: 43-3-5)

Lawmakers will decide later whether to return in July to override vetoes the governor makes after the session ends.