When writing laws, sometimes just a few words can make all the difference.

Here's how the state Senate amended a House bill on Tuesday:

(d) Any member of the legislature who attains age sixty-five may retire and receive a service retirement allowance although the member continues to fill the elective position.

Here's how the bill used to read:

(d) Any member of the legislature or any member who has served in the legislature for at least five years who attains age sixty-five may retire and receive a service retirement allowance although the member continues to fill any paid elective position.

The original bill was apparently written to help one person: Honolulu City Councilmember Romy Cachola.

Senators never mentioned Cachola's name on the Senate floor, and neither did House leaders afterward when they said the House would likely amend or kill the bill.

But House and Senate leaders did not dispute that lawmakers thought it was written for Cachola.

Cachola, 69, who served in the state House from 1984 to 1992, has represented Council District 7 covering Kalihi, Aliamanu and Foster Village since 2000.

State House and Senate Democratic leaders, meeting privately Monday evening, went over their lists of possible veto overrides before session adjourns on Thursday.

Insiders from both camps say the lists are solid, but with two-thirds' votes required in both chambers, nothing is guaranteed until the votes are taken Tuesday and Thursday.

Here's the Senate list:

*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.

*SB1063 -- Requires the governor to fill vacancies for the state Legislature and U.S. Senate from nominees chosen by the political parties.

*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.

*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.

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

Here's the House list:

*HB10 -- Requires pharmaceutical companies participating in the Hawai'i Rx Plus program to provide rebates for prescription drugs.

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

*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.

*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.

The House could also override vetoes on two other bills that Gov. Linda Lingle may send down Tuesday:

*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.

*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.

Each chamber would likely deal with its own bills Tuesday, then switch to the other chamber's bills on Thursday.

Although votes are still being counted, the House may not have the votes to override the Senate bill on union negotiations for worker transfers. The Senate, meanwhile, may not have the votes for the House contractor-penalty bill.

The House and Senate could also return for an override session in July to handle bills vetoed by Lingle after the session ends.

The Kaua'i Democratic Party, meeting at its annual convention over the weekend, agreed to a resolution urging U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawai'i, to establish residency in the 2nd Congressional District.

Residency in the district is not a requirement for Congress under the U.S. Constitution, but Kaua'i Democrats said they want Hirono, who lives in Wai'alae Nui, to consider moving into the district so the issue would not be used by her political opponents.

The 2nd District covers Central, Leeward and Windward O'ahu and the Neighbor Islands.

"It's definitely not a criticism, it's just a gentle nudge," said Linda Estes, the chair of the Kaua'i Democratic Party.

The constitutional requirements for Congress are that representatives be a state resident when elected, at least 25 years old, and a U.S. citizen for seven years.

Some of the candidates in the Democratic primary last year -- including state Sen. Gary Hooser, D-7th (Kaua'i, Ni'ihau) -- made the fact that they lived in the 2nd District part of their campaigns.

Estes said she supported Hooser in the primary but said politics was not a motivation behind the resolution.

Former Windward state Sen. Bob Hogue, Hirono's Republican opponent in the general election, also raised the residency issue.

A spokesman for Hirono said the congresswoman was traveling to Washington and could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

Mike McCartney, the party's state chairman, said he would like Hirono to talk with the Democrats who are concerned.

"It's an internal debate within the party," McCartney said. "It's something we need to talk about."

A Circuit Court judge decided Monday that Malia Zimmerman, an editor and reporter for the Web site, Hawai'i Reporter, should get deposed as part of a lawsuit by retired auto dealer Jimmy Pflueger against the state and private companies over the oversight of Kaloko dam on Kaua'i.

Ken Kobayashi, the Advertiser's courts reporter, gave this account to Capitol Notebook:

Circuit Court Judge Gary Chang postponed a ruling on whether Hawai'i journalists have a qualified privilege to refuse providing confidential information to lawyers in a civil case.

Pflueger’s attorney, William McCorriston, wants to question Zimmerman about confidential information she gathered in connection with the breach of Kaloko dam last year that killed seven people.

But Zimmerman’s lawyer, Ted Hong, contends that Zimmerman should be shielded from providing confidential information.

Chang said he wants a more complete record before a judge rules on the issue. He directed Zimmerman to submit to questioning under oath by McCorriston. The judge said she can refuse to disclose confidential information, but must explain the circumstances under which she got the information.

A judge later on would then have more of a basis to render a ruling, Chang said.

“It’s a workable solution,” Hong said.

McCorriston said: “I think it’s the best course of action.”

The issue of whether journalists have a privilege has been debated throughout the country. In Hawai'i, state law does not provide such a privilege, and the Hawai'i Supreme Court has not recognized such a privilege under either the state or federal constitutions.

McCorriston said another issue for the judge to consider is whether a “blogger” would be covered under any journalistic privilege.

Zimmerman told Capitol Notebook afterward she was still reviewing her legal options and declined to comment on Chang's ruling.

It had appeared from earlier legal filings that the "blogger vs. journalist" question would not be part of the case, but McCorriston raised it on Monday.

"Bloggers jump all over me when we say we're not a blog, but we're not," said Zimmerman, who was also a consultant to the ABC newsmagazine "20/20" on the Kaloko story.

State Sen. Gordon Trimble, R-12th (Waikïkï, Ala Moana, Downtown), is known as a serial objector. If a Senate vote ends 24 to 1, there is a very good chance that Trimble will be the dissenter and will have thoroughly explained his reasons on the Senate floor.

So Trimble was so sure a bill he opposed on mopeds would pass that he already complained about it in a newsletter to his constituents.

Trimble feared the bill would make it easier for "scootcars" -- three-wheeled, bubble-like vehicles that can carry a driver and passenger -- to be driven in regular traffic like mopeds and clog up the streets of Waikïkï and Diamond Head.

Moped riders are not allowed to carry passengers.

In his newsletter, Trimble wrote that scootcars are already marketed to tourists "for thrills on our congested roads and busy highways."

State Sen. J. Kalani English, D-6th (E. Maui, Moloka'i, Läna'i), who sponsored the bill by request, said on the Senate floor Thursday night that Trimble made some good points and that majority Democrats should vote their conscience.

The vote was 12 to 12, with one senator excused, meaning the bill died and Trimble -- remarkably -- prevailed.

"All I really want is for bills to be openly discussed on the Senate floor," Trimble said afterward.