Have you heard what they’re trying to do in Honolulu?  According to Fox News, city councilmen Rod Tam and Nestor Garcia have sponsored a bill that would in effect criminalize anyone using the city bus system who are deemed to be “too smelly”.

From the article:

Stinky city bus riders soon could get soaked. The Honolulu City Council is considering a bill that would impose up to a $500 fine and/or up to six months in jail for public transit passengers convicted of being too smelly.

Can you believe this?  A person could go to jail for six months if someone decides that their odor (while on the bus) is offensive?  Smelling bad is now a criminal offense?

If I had to venture a guess, I would say that this proposal is specifically targeting the homeless people of Honolulu.  But criminalizing body odor is just ridiculous.  Who decides where to draw the line in the stinky sand? If this really is a proposal targeting homeless people, then this would just be another case of politicians attempting to solve a problem by removing it’s visibility.  An example would be how Portland, OR has tried to enact laws making it illegal to sit or lie on downtown sidewalks between the hours of 7am to 9pm.  If you don’t see homeless people  then they don’t exist, right?  The Portland, OR ordinance has since been ruled unconstitutional.

While I find what Honolulu is trying to do comical, I also see it as a misguided assault against the homeless community of Hawaii.

Update: The proposal is currently stalled due to “some technical problems that need to be addressed“.