LEVINSON, Justice.
The United States District Court for the District of Hawai'i has certified a question of state law to this court. See Hawai'i Rules of Appellate Procedure (HRAP) 13 (1987).1 In substance, the question is whether Ordinance 91-95 of the City and County of Honolulu,2 relating, inter alia, to residential condominium leasehold conversion, is preempted by Hawai'i Revised Statutes (HRS) chs. 46, 101, 516, 516D, 519, 514A, or 421H, as interpreted in conjunction with the Hawai'i Constitution.
The plaintiffs-appellants William S. Richardson, Henry H. Peters, Oswald K. Stender, Myron B. Thompson, and Matsuo Takabuki (the Trustees), in their capacities as Trustees of the Kamehameha Schools/Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate, urge that the question be answered in the affirmative. The defendant-appellee City and County of Honolulu (the City) and the intervenor-appellee HALE Coalition (the Coalition) urge a negative answer. For the reasons discussed below, we answer the question in the negative and rule that Ordinance 91-95 is not preempted by state law.
I. BACKGROUND
On December 4, 1991, the Honolulu City Council enacted Bills 156 (1990) and 36 (1991), which became effective on December 18, 1991, as Ordinances 91-95 and 91-96, respectively. Ordinance 91-95 provides for the condemnation of a lessor’s leased fee interest in leasehold condominium developments,3 cooperative housing corporation de[52]*52velopments,4 and planned unit developments 5 and the transfer of such fee simple interests to the lessees. See Honolulu, Haw., Rev.Ordinances §§ 38-1.3 (applicability), 38-1.7 (administration of chapter), 38-1.8 (department powers and duties), 38-1.9 (quitclaim deeds), and articles 2 (condemnation of condominium development leaseholds), 3 (condemnation of cooperative housing development leaseholds), 4 (condemnation of residential planned development leaseholds), and 5 (eminent domain) (Apr. 1992 Rev.). Ordinance 91-966 imposes a ceiling on renegotiated lease rents for ground leases of owner-occupied residential “apartments”7 in the City and County of Honolulu. See Honolulu, Haw., Rev.Ordinances §§ 39-1.5 (maximum annual renegotiated lease rent), 39-1.6 (biennial adjustment of renegotiated lease rent), and 39-1.7 (administrative adjustment of an[53]*53nual renegotiated lease rent to exceed maximum) (Apr. 1992 Rev.).
In response to the enactment of these two ordinances, the Trustees, on December 18, 1991, filed a complaint (No. 91-00725 DAE) against the City in the United States District Court for the District of Hawai‘i (the federal court), challenging the validity of Ordinances 91-95 and 91-96. The Coalition, a group representing the interests of lessees, was granted leave to intervene as a defendant on April 1, 1992.
The Trustees’ complaint advances thirteen claims for relief. Count XIII, at issue in the instant case, alleges, inter alia, that: (1) Ordinance 91-95 is preempted by HRS chs. 101 (eminent domain), 516 (residential leaseholds), 516D (residential leasehold condominiums and cooperatives), 519 (real property leases), 514A (condominium property regimes), and 421H (limited-equity housing cooperatives); and (2) the City lacked the authority to enact Ordinance 91-95 because (a) the ordinance conflicts with these statutes and the Hawai'i Constitution, and (b) the state has not delegated such authority to the City.
On February 14, 1992, the Trustees filed a motion for partial summary judgment as to Counts I through IV, VI, VII, XII, and XIII. On June 8, 1992, the Coalition filed a motion for summary judgment as to the remaining counts of the complaint. On June 9, 1992, the City filed a cross motion for summary judgment on all-counts.8
On September 16, 1992, the federal court entered an order resolving the claims for relief contained in Counts I through XII of the Trustees’ complaint. 802 F.Supp. 326. Specifically, the federal court’s order granted the Trustees’ motion for partial summary judgment with respect to all counts relating to Ordinance 91-96 and declared the ordinance unconstitutional. However, the federal court found Ordinance 91-95 “to be in compliance with the relevant provisions and standards of the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Ha-wai[‘]i” and, accordingly, granted partial summary judgment in favor of the City and the Coalition and against the Trustees on the Trustees’ constitutional claims.
Although it upheld the constitutionality of Ordinance 91-95, the federal court’s order did not resolve Count XIII of the Trustees’ complaint. Rather, “[u]pon careful review of the relevant state law and the underlying ... policy implications involved,” the federal court found “that the purely state law preemption issue would be best answered in the first instance by the Hawai[‘]i Supreme Court.” Therefore, the federal court certified the question to this court pursuant to HRAP 13. On October 26, 1992, we entered an order determining the question to be “amenable to answer” and establishing an appropriate briefing schedule for the parties.
II. CERTIFIED QUESTION
According to Hawai'i state law, is Ordinance 91-95 preempted by HRS chs. 46, 101, 516, 516D, 519, 514A, or 421H, as interpreted in conjunction with the Hawai'i Constitution?
III. DISCUSSION
A. The City Possesses The Authority To Enact Ordinance 91-95.
The Trustees devote considerable energy to the contention that “[t]he state legislature never delegated to the. City the authority necessary for it to enact an involuntary fee conversion ordinance.” Trustees’ opening brief at 10-15. The City’s statutory authority to enact Ordinance 91-95 is not expressly placed in issue by the federal court’s certified question. Nevertheless, we choose to resolve the issue inasmuch as the federal court indicated unambiguously, in the course of settling the precise language of the certified question, that it intended
the question [to] be as broad as is appropriate because [it did not] want the Su[54]*54preme Court to decide the issue, have the matter then go to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, have someone make the argument that ... there [is] still [another] issue, send it back down to [the federal court] ... because it hasn’t been decided, ... and [the parties] are right back at square one again.
Oct. 15, 1992 Tr. at 10-11.
I. HRS §§ 46-61, 4.6-62, and 101-2 neither limit the counties’ general “power of eminent domain nor divest them of the authority to enact ordinances allowing for the condemnation of land for any particular public purpose.
The City maintains that it has the authority to enact Ordinance 91-95 pursuant to HRS § 46-1.5(6) (Supp.1992), which confers upon the City the power of condemnation by eminent domain when it is in the public interest to do so.9 City’s answering brief at 2-7. The Trustees, on the other hand, argue that HRS § 46-1.5(6) does not authorize the City to enact Ordinance 91-95 because the City’s powers under that statute are limited by HRS § 46-61 (1985),10 which only permits the counties to take private property for public purposes within the purview of HRS §§ 101-2 (1985),11 and 46-62 (1985),12 the latter mandating, inter alia, that condemnation proceedings by the counties “shall be taken and had in accordance with [HRS ch.] 101, as the same may be applicable.”13 Trustees’ opening brief at 10-14.
We therefore confront the task of interpreting general statutes that may appear to be in conflict with specific statutes relating to the same subject matter. Three rules of statutory construction are especially germane to the inquiry.14 First, legislative enactments are presumptively valid and [55]*55“should be interpreted [in such a manner as] to give them effect.” State v. Spencer, 68 Haw. 622, 624, 725 P.2d 799, 800 (1986) (citation omitted). Second, “[l]aws in pari materia, or upon the same subject matter, shall be construed with reference to each other. What is clear in one statute may be called in aid to explain what is doubtful in another.” HRS § 1-16 (1985); Kam v. Noh, 70 Haw. 321, 325, 770 P.2d 414, 417 (1989). Third, “where there is a ‘plainly irreconcilable’ conflict between a general and a specific statute concerning the same subject matter, the specific will be favored. However, where the statutes simply overlap in their application, effect will be given to both if possible, as repeal by implication is disfavored.” Mahiai v. Suwa, 69 Haw. 349, 356-57, 742 P.2d 359, 366 (1987) (citations omitted).
Unquestionably, HRS §§ 46-1.5(6), 46-61, 46-62, and 101-2 are in pari materia, inasmuch as they all relate generically to the subject matter of the counties’ power of condemnation by eminent domain. However, close examination reveals that they are complementary rather than conflicting. Cf. Mahiai, 69 Haw. at 356-57, 742 P.2d at 366.
HRS § 46-1.5(6) is a “general” statute; it establishes the counties’ broad power of condemnation “in the public interest.” HRS § 46-61, the more specific statute, designates, but does not limit, the purposes for which a county may exercise its power of eminent domain, insofar as it subsumes within its broad scope the taking of private property for “public uses within the purview of [HRS §] 101-2.” And, in the main, HRS § 101-2 merely reiterates both the state and counties’ power to take private property “for public use.” By the same token, HRS § 46-62, which governs the manner by which the counties’ power to condemn will be effected, simply incorporates the procedures prescribed by HRS ch. 101, “as the same may be applicable.” (Whether HRS ch. 101 preempts Ordinance 91-95 is considered in section III.B.1 below.)
Thus, by construing the statutes in pari materia, we distill the following general scheme: (1) HRS §§ 46-1.5(6) and 101-2 confer upon the counties the general power of eminent domain for public purposes; (2) HRS § 46-61 delineates the public uses for which the counties may condemn land and includes any unenumerated “other public uses” consonant with HRS § 101-2; and (3) HRS § 46-62 clarifies the procedures to be followed by the counties in exercising the power.
We note that it is with our construction of the foregoing statutory scheme, and with that construction alone, that the dissenting opinion (dissent) takes issue.15 First, the dissent acknowledges that “‘[o]n superficial examination’ it might appear that [HRS § 46-1.5(6) ] grants broad powers of eminent domain to the counties, limited only by the requirement that the powers be exercised ‘in [56]*56the public interest.’ ” Dissent at 1216. The dissent argues, however, that upon “[c]loser examination of the statute, application of principles of statutory construction, and a review of the legislative history, ... all demonstrate that the power of eminent domain referred to in HRS § 46-1.5(6) is limited by the provisions of HRS § 46-61.” Id.
Second, the dissent concedes that “[b]e-cause HRS § 101-2 places no limits on the public uses for which the power of eminent domain may be exercised, under a literal reading of HRS § 46-61, the several counties would have the authority to exercise the power of eminent domain for any constitutionally valid public use.” Id. at 1218 (emphasis in original and footnote omitted). Notwithstanding the admittedly limitless scope of HRS § 101-2, however, the dissent dismisses a “literal reading” of HRS § 46-61 on the basis that it would render “the enumerated list of specific uses preceding the ‘other public uses’ clause” therein, see supra note 10, “entirely unnecessary.” Id. at 1218. Because, in the dissent’s view, “the counties do not have the virtually unlimited authority to condemn property that a literal reading would indicate, but are limited to purposes that are within the scope of their governmental powers,” the dissent concludes that “HRS § 46-61 is ambiguous,” thus necessitating resort to “extrinsic aids to statutory construction, in particular the legislative history, ... in order to ascertain the legislature’s intent.” Id. Having engaged in its analysis of that history, the dissent concludes that “it is abundantly clear that the legislature did not intend to authorize the several counties to exercise the power of eminent domain for any and all unenumerated constitutionally valid public uses.” Id. at 1221.
Third, based on the history of various legislation subsequent to the inclusion, in 1951, of the “other public uses” clause in HRS § 46-61, id. at 1220-21, 1222, the dissent concludes that HRS § 46-61 “should be interpreted as simply making clear that the several counties can exercise the power of eminent domain for public uses not on the enumerated list of HRS § 46-61 when authorized to do so by other statutes.” Id. at 1222.
We are unpersuaded by the dissent’s arguments.
Reduced to its essence, the dissent’s position is that the declarations of HRS §§ 46-1.5(6) (i.e., that “[e]ach county shall have the power to exercise the power of condemnation by eminent domain when it is in the public interest to do so”), 101-2 (i.e., that “[p]rivate property may be taken for public use ... by the State or any county ” (emphasis added)), and 46-61 (.., that “[e]ach county shall have the ... specific power[ ] [t]o take private property for ... public uses within the purview of [HRS §] 101-2”) do not mean exactly what they say. However, “ ‘[t]he fundamental starting point for statutory interpretation is the language of the statute itself.... [W]here the statutory language is plain and unambiguous, our sole duty is to give effect to its plain and obvious meaning.’” AIG Hawai'i Ins. Co. v. Estate of Caraang, 74 Haw. 620, 633-34, 851 P.2d 321, 328 (1993) (quoting National Union Fire Ins. Co. v. Ferreira, 71 Haw. 341, 344, 790 P.2d 910, 912 (1990)). The dissent acknowledges “the plain language rule of statutory construction,” but seeks to avoid it on the basis that a literal construction of HRS §§ 46-1.5(6), 101-2, and 46-61 “would produce an absurd or unjust result, inconsistent with the policies of the statute[s].” Dissent at 1215-16. We submit, for the reasons stated in this opinion, that construing the plain language of these three statutes to authorize the City to enact Ordinance 91-95 is neither absurd nor unjust. If we are correct, then the entire theoretical underpinning of the dissent’s resort to any “extrinsic aids to statutory construction” is toppled.
Citing 2A Sutherland Statutory Construction § 47.23 at 216-17 (5th ed. 1992) for the proposition that “when the legislature expresses things through a list, the court assumes that what is not listed is excluded,” the dissent concludes that “the enumeration of specific uses in HRS § 46-61 [thus] limits the apparent grant of general powers in HRS [57]*57§ 46-1.5(6).” Dissent at 1216-17. The principle of expressio unius est exdusio alterius is inapplicable to HRS § 46-61, however, precisely because the “other public uses within the purview of [HRS §] 101-2” clause is an element of the statute’s “list.” Therefore, in our view, the dissent’s conclusion begs the question.
In any event, we believe that the dissent’s own reliance on the legislative history of HRS §§ 101-2 and 46-61 ultimately belies its position. The dissent acknowledges that Act 12, §§ 1(b) and 5(a), 1951 Haw.Sess.Laws 52-53, 61 (Act 12) simultaneously amended the predecessors of HRS §§ 101-2 and 46-61, respectively. Dissent at 1219. Section 1(b) of Act 12 amended the predecessor to HRS § 101-2 by replacing an “enumerated list of public uses and replacing it with the simple provision that ‘[p]rivate property may be taken for public use.’ ” Id. Section 6 of Act 12 clarified that “[HRS § 101-2] ... shall be deemed to include all public purposes specifically mentioned therein before such amendment and any other additional public purposes.” Id. at 1219 n. 14 (emphasis added). Moreover, Sen.Stand.Comm.Rep. No. 177, in 1951 Senate Journal, at 541, stated in relevant part that the amendment to “[HRS § 101-2] provides generally that the power of eminent domain may be exercised for any public use instead of, as at present, attempting to define minutely each public use or purpose.” Id. at 1218 n. 7 (emphasis added).
The dissent correctly suggests that this legislative history “reinforces the conclusion that HRS § 101-2 places no statutory limitation on the uses for which the state can exercise its power of eminent domain.” Id. at 1219 (emphasis added). What the dissent ignores is that section 1(b) of Act 12 conferred the power of eminent domain equally upon the Territory of Hawai'i and the respective counties. It therefore follows that sections 1(b) and 6 of Act 12 manifested an express legislative intention that the counties, as well as the territory (now state), have the power to take private property “for any public use” (emphasis added). That being the case, the legislature behaved in a completely consistent fashion when it enacted section 5(a) of Act 12, inserting the “other public uses within the purview of [HRS § 101-2]” clause into the predecessor of HRS § 46-61. We believe that the reasons, if any, why the legislature retained “the enumerated list in HRS § 46-61” are ultimately unknowable, and the dissent’s explanation of the legislature’s treatment of the “list,” both before and after the promulgation of Act 12, is pure speculation. See dissent at 1219, 1222.
Courts cannot amend statutes in the guise of interpreting them, and they must presume that [the legislature] meant what it said.... Only “unmistakable support in the history and structure of the legislation,” Blue Chips Stamps v. Manor Drug Stores, 421 U.S. 723, 756, 95 S.Ct. 1917, 1935, 44 L.Ed.2d 539 (1975) (Powell, J., concurring), can justify a rejection of otherwise unambiguous language. Such “unmistakable support” for [the dissent’s] construction is absent here.
Standard Oil Co. of California v. Agsalud, 442 F.Supp. 695, 703 (1977), aff'd and reh’g denied, 633 F.2d 760 (9th Cir.1980).
Accordingly, we hold that HRS §§ 46-61, 46-62, and 101-2 neither limit the counties’ (and therefore the City’s) general power of eminent domain, as set out in HRS 46-1.5(6), nor divest them of the authority to enact ordinances allowing for the condemnation of land for any particular public purpose.
2. The City did not impermissibly delegate its power of eminent domain.
The Trustees next urge that “[t]he City lacks the authority to redelegate its eminent domain powers as attempted in Ordinance 91-95,” Trustees’ opening brief at 14, because sections 2.2 (relating to condemnation of condominium development leaseholds),16 [58]*583.2 (relating to condemnation of cooperative housing development leaseholds),17 and 4.2 (relating to' condemnation of residential planned development leaseholds)18 of the ordinance impermissibly transfer the City’s limited condemnation power from the “governing authority,” i.e., the city council, prescribed by HRS § 101-13 (1985),19 to the City’s Department of Housing and Community Development (the Department). Id. at 14-15. We disagree.
The Trustees appear to have misread Honolulu, Haw., Rev. Ordinances §§ 38-2.2, 38-3.2, and 38-4.2 (Apr. 1992 Rev.). Although the Department is empowered to designate land for acquisition pursuant to these sections, by their very terms the Department merely facilitates the City’s acquisition of the land subject to the decision of the City, through its City Council, actually to exercise the power of eminent domain as prescribed by HRS §§ 101-13 and 101-14.20 In other words, the sections accord the Department the authority to assist the City’s statutorily designated “governing authority” in the ultimate exercise of that power; they do not, and cannot, confer the power to condemn land on the Department itself.
Because the Department’s mere designation of land, as a means of facilitating its acquisition by the City, is only a preliminary step in the condemnation process that precedes the institution of eminent domain proceedings at the behest of the City Council, [59]*59we hold that Ordinance 91-95 does not entail the sort of impermissible delegation of the power of eminent domain from the City Council to the Department that would violate HRS § 101-13.
B. Ordinance 91-95 Is Not Preempted By HRS Chs. 46, 101, 516, 516D, 519, 514A, Or 421H, As Interpreted In Conjunction With The Hawai'i Constitution.
We now turn directly to the question certified by the federal court. Relying on two distinct theories, the Trustees allege that Ordinance 91-95 is preempted by HRS chs. 46 (1985 and Supp.1992) (general provisions common to all counties), 101 (1985 and Supp. 1992) (eminent domain), 516 (1985 and Supp. 1992) (residential leaseholds), 516D (Supp. 1992) (residential leasehold condominiums and cooperatives), 519 (1985 and Supp.1992) (real property leases), 514A (1985 and Supp. 1992) (condominium property regimes), and 421H (Supp.1992) (limited-equity housing cooperatives). Trustees’ opening brief at 16-34. The first theory is that the legislature intended the respective chapters “to be exclusive and uniform in the fields of eminent domain procedures, involuntary fee conversion, and residential leasehold condominiums and cooperatives.” Id. at 16-28. The second is that Ordinance 91-95 conflicts with these statutes because they “conflict with it on matters of statewide interest and concern.” Id. at 29-34.
The Trustees apparently rely on HRS § 46-1.5(13) as the cornerstone of their preemption arguments. In its present form, the statute provides:
General powers and limitation of the counties. Subject to general law, each county shall have the following powers and shall be subject to the following liabilities and limitations:
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(13) Each county shall have the power to enact ordinances deemed necessary to protect health, life, and property, and preserve the order and security of the county and its inhabitants on any subject or matter not inconsistent with, or tending to defeat, the intent of any state statute, provided also that the ordinance does not disclose or express an implied intent that the ordinance shall be exclusive, or uniform throughout the State.
HRS § 46-1.5(13) (Supp.1992). In order to place HRS § 46-1.5(13) in its correct context with regard to the certified question before us, however, it is necessary both to trace its legislative evolution and to understand its significance within the larger statutory framework in which it is situated.
HRS § 46-1.5(13) is the successor to HRS § 70-105, which was first enacted in 1909, amended once in 1939, and provided:
Effect of state statutes. No ordinance shall be held invalid on the ground that it covers any subject or matter embraced within any statute of the State; provided that the ordinance is not inconsistent with and does not tend to defeat the intent or object of the statute or of any other statute; provided also that the statute does not disclose an express or implied intent that the same shall be exclusive, or uniform throughout the State.
HRS § 70-105 (1985).
Prior to 1988, HRS eh. 70, entitled “General provisions relating to Honolulu,” was subsumed within HRS Title 6, which was, and remains, the comprehensive statutory scheme governing “county organization and administration.” Title 6 was organized into three Subtitles. Subtitle 1, entitled “Provisions common to all counties,” encompassed HRS chs. 46 through 57. Subtitle 2, entitled “Government of Hawai[‘]i, Kaua[‘]i, [and] Maui,” encompassed HRS chs. 61 through 67 and addressed matters relating to general organization and power, county officers, and other provisions specific to those three counties. Subtitle 3 was entitled “Honolulu government,” related exclusively to the City and County of Honolulu, and consisted solely of [60]*60HRS ch. 70.21
Effective June 13, 1988, the legislature enacted Act 263, the purpose of which was
to repeal the special or local statutes setting forth the powers of particular counties, and to replace these provisions with grants of general powers which would have uniform operation in all counties of the State ... so that all counties [would] have similar general powers or limitations that supersede currently unnecessary provisions.
Hse.Stand.Comm.Rep. No. 433-88, in 1988 House Journal, at 1006. Put more succinctly, the purpose of the act was “to promote ... uniformity by replacing special and local laws with grants of general powers that apply to all counties.” Act 263, § 1,1988 Haw. Sess.Laws 483. Among other things, Act 263 repealed Subtitles 2 and 3 (and hence HRS ch. 70) of Title 6 and reorganized Subtitle 1. Key to that reorganization was the promulgation of HRS § 46-1.5, which, in effect, enumerated the general powers of the county governments, “subject to general [i.e., state] law.”22
As formulated by Act 263, HRS § 46-1.5(13) was identical to the present statute, except that the concluding proviso clause read: “provided also that the statute does not disclose or express an implied intent that the statute shall be exclusive or uniform throughout the State.” Act 263, § 2, 1988 Sess.Laws 484 (emphasis added). HRS § 46-1.5(13) remained unaltered until 1991, when, without explanation in any legislative history, it was amended to substitute “ordinance” for “statute” where the latter is highlighted in this paragraph. Act 212, § 2, 1991 Sess.Laws 490.
Unfortunately, HRS § 46-1.5(13), in its present incarnation, is an oxymoron. Read literally, it counsels that a county may enact an ordinance so long as the ordinance is not intended to be “exclusive or uniform throughout the [s]tate.” Inasmuch as an ordinance is “a local law of a municipal corporation ... prescribing general, uniform, and permanent rules of conduct relating to the corporate affairs of the municipality,” Black’s Law Dictionary 1097 (6th ed. 1990) (emphasis added), it cannot, by definition, evince such an intent.
This court has recognized that departure from a literal construction of a statute “ ‘is justified when such construction would produce an absurd ... result , and the literal construction in the particular action is clearly inconsistent with the purposes and policies of the act.’ ” Franks v. City and County of Honolulu, 74 Haw. 328, 341, 843 P.2d 668, 674 (1993) (quoting Hawaiian Ins. & Guar. Co. v. Financial Sec. Ins. Co., 72 Haw. 80, 85, 807 P.2d 1256, 1259 (1991)).
HRS § 46-1.5(13) (Supp.1992) presents just such a case. A literal reading of it would not only produce an absurd result, but would also be clearly inconsistent with its purposes and policies. HRS § 46-1.5(13) was enacted in 1988 because the legislature expressly intended to expand the scope of HRS § 70-105, which was limited to the City and County of Honolulu, to all of the state’s counties. But because HRS § 46-1.5(13) emerged from HRS § 70-105 otherwise substantively intact, it is clear that HRS § 46-1.5(13) was intended to be a provision mandating the preemption of any ordinance that either conflicted with the intent of a state statute or legislated in an area already staked out by the legislature for exclusive and statewide statutory treatment.
In Sherwin-Williams Co. v. City of Los Angeles, 4 Cal. 4th 893, 16 Cal.Rptr.2d 215, 844 P.2d 534 (1993), the California Supreme Court recently synthesized the general principles governing preemption as follows:
If otherwise valid local legislation conflicts with state law, it is preempted by such law and is void.
[61]*61A conflict exists if the local legislation duplicates, contradicts, or enters an area fully occupied by general law, either expressly or by legislative implication.
Local legislation is “duplicative ” of general law when it is coextensive therewith.
Similarly, local legislation is “contradictory” to general law when it is inimical thereto.
Finally, local legislation enters an area that is “fully occupied” by general law when the Legislature has expressly manifested its intent to “fully occupy” the area, or when it has impliedly done so....
Id. at 897, 16 Cal.Rptr.2d at 217-18, 844 P.2d at 536-37 (citations omitted and emphasis added).23
This court has employed a compatible but somewhat different approach to the issue of preemption of county ordinances by state statutory law, which might best be characterized as a “comprehensive statutory scheme” test. In In re Application of Anamizu, 52 Haw. 550, 481 P.2d 116 (1971), we considered whether a city ordinance mandating the certification of electrical contractors by a municipal agency was preempted by a state statutory scheme that governed the licensing of all building contractors. Applying HRS § 70-105 (the precursor to HRS § 46-1.5(13)), we held that the city ordinance was preempted by the state statutory scheme, noting that “the critical determination to be made” under HRS § 70-105 was whether the statutory scheme at issue “indicate[d] a legislative intention to be the exclusive legislation applicable to contractors.” Anamizu, 52 Haw. at 553, 481 P.2d at 118. Because the legislation “established a comprehensive statutory scheme for regulating the contracting business within the [s]tate,” we ruled that the state’s grant of permission to a contractor “to pursue his occupation throughout the [s]tate” could “not be circumscribed by local authorities through the enactment of additional qualifying regulations.” Id. at 554-55, 481 P.2d at 118-19 (emphasis added). “To hold otherwise,” we said, “would be to allow the intercity flow of contracting services to be impaired, thereby severely diluting the value of a uniform state licensing system.” Id. at 555, 481 P.2d at 119.
Anamizu is distinguishable from the present case on at least two grounds. First, the state statute in question created a global (i.e., “comprehensive”) mechanism for regulating the licensing of the entire universe of building contractors within the state; by contrast, the city ordinance undertook to regulate only electrical contractors—a discrete galaxy within, or a subset of, that universe. In the matter before us, the applicable state laws and Ordinance 91-95 establish the right of lease-to-fee conversion with respect to entirely distinct galaxies—residential houselot leasehold interests in the case of state law, see HRS §§ 516-1 (Supp.1992) and 516-2 (1985), and condominium, cooperative, and planned development leasehold interests in the case of Ordinance 91-95. Second, the city ordinance at issue in Anamizu imposed “qualifying regulations” upon electrical contractors for municipal certification that were “additional” to those required for state licensure. In the present case, because Ordinance 91-95 leaves the particular subject matter of residential houselot leasehold interests untouched, it necessarily follows that the ordinance imposes nothing that is “additional” to the applicable state law addressing that subject matter. Thus, while the substantive legal principles articulated in Anamizu govern the question before us, the particular facts of the case are inapposite.
Likewise, in Citizens Utilities Co. v. County of Kauai, 72 Haw. 285, 814 P.2d 398 (1991), we held that a county ordinance regulating the height of utility poles was preempted by the combination of HRS § 269-6 (1985), which conferred upon the State Public Utilities Commission (PUC) the power of “general supervision ... over all public utilities,” and a specific regulation of the PUC that governed, inter alia, the minimum requirements for utility pole height. [62]*62Id. at 288-89, 814 P.2d at 400. In doing so, we applied the Anamizu test to HRS § 46-1.6(18) (the successor to HRS § 70-105) and declared that “a municipal ordinance, which covers the same subject matter embraced within a [s]tate statute is invalid if the statute discloses an express or implied intent that the same shall be exclusive, or uniform in application throughout the [s]tate.” Id. at 289, 814 P.2d at 400.24
Analogously to Anamizu, but unlike the present matter, the state law at issue in Citizens Utilities governed a substantive “universe,” i.e., global regulation of public utilities, whereas the relevant county ordinance addressed only a “galaxy” thereof—utility pole regulation. Accordingly, while the principle of preemption law reaffirmed in Citizens Utilities governs the question before us, the facts of the case are similarly inapposite.
In summary, a municipal ordinance may be preempted pursuant to HRS § 46-1.5(13) if (1) it covers the same subject matter embraced within a comprehensive state statutory scheme disclosing an express or implied intent to be exclusive and uniform throughout the state or (2) it conflicts with state law.
1. Ordinance 91-95 does not cover the same subject matter embraced within a comprehensive state statutory scheme disclosing an express or implied intent to be exclusive and uniform throughout the state.
a. HRS chs. 16 and 101
The Trustees argue that HRS §§ 46-61, 46-62, and ch. 101 “set forth a comprehensive and uniform eminent domain scheme (Chapter 101) that preempts all locally enacted condemnation procedures.” Trustees’ opening brief at 18. The Trustees’ argument, however, is logically flawed.
As we have noted, HRS § 101-2 confers upon both the state and the counties the general power to take private property for public purposes. More globally, HRS ch. 101 is a procedural statute; it prescribes the mechanical steps that the state and counties must follow in the actual commencement and prosecution of takings for such purposes. HRS §§ 46-61 and 46-62 are merely complementary to HRS ch. 101. HRS § 46-61 reiterates the counties’ power “to take private property for ... public uses within the purview of [HRS §] 101-2.” And HRS § 46-62 incorporates the procedures prescribed by HRS ch. 101, “as the same may be applicable.” Thus, the statutory scheme circumscribed by HRS §§ 46-61 and 46-62 and ch. 101 is “uniform” but not “comprehensive” because, although it controls the mechanics of the taking process, it neither expressly nor impliedly addresses (1) the preliminary subject of the rights of lessees to lease-to-fee conversion via the mechanism of the counties’ (and therefore the City’s) power of condemnation or (2) the subsequent subject of the manner by which lessees might acquire the fee interest in their land from the City before, during, or after the City has accomplished the takings.
It is precisely these two subjects that are subsumed within Ordinance 91-95. In the first instance, the ordinance
[63]*63establishes] the right of any person, who is a lessee under any long-term lease of land upon which is situated either residential condominium property regime projects ..., cooperative housing unit projects!,] or residential planned development projects, to purchase at a fair and reasonable price the fee simple title to such land.
Honolulu, Haw., Rev.Ordinances § 38-1.1 (Apr. 1992 Rev.). In the second instance, the ordinance governs, inter alia: (1) the designation of the leased fee interests to be taken; Honolulu, Haw., Rev.Ordinances §§ 38-2.2, 38-3.2, and 38—4.2; (2) the qualifications of lessees for purchase; Honolulu, Haw., Rev.Ordinances §§ 38-2.4, 38-3.4, and 38-4.4 (Apr. 1992 Rev.); (3) the actual purchases by lessees; Honolulu, Haw., Rev.Ordinances §§ 38-2.3, 38-3.3, 38-4.3 (Apr. 1992 Rev.); and (4) the preliminary negotiations with lessors required of lessees; Honolulu, Haw., Rev.Ordinances §§ 38-2.6, 38-3.6, and 38-4.6 (Apr. 1992 Rev.). These provisions have no counterparts in HRS §§ 46-61, 46-62, or ch. 101.
Accordingly, it cannot be said that Ordinance 91-96 “covers the same subject matter embraced within” HRS §§ 46-61, 46-62, and ch. 101. See Citizens Utilities, 72 Haw. at 289, 814 P.2d at 400. That being the case, the state statutory scheme encompassed therein does not, and indeed cannot, “indicate a legislative intention to be the exclusive legislation applicable to” the domain of the ordinances — the rights of certain otherwise statutorily uncovered classes of residential lessees to involuntary lease-to-fee conversion. See Anamizu, 52 Haw. at 553, 481 P.2d at 118.
b. HRS ch. 516
The Trustees next urge that HRS ch. 516, popularly known as the Land Reform Act, preempts Ordinance 91-95 because it “sets forth an exclusive and comprehensive state statutory scheme covering involuntary fee conversion.” Trustees’ opening brief at 18. The Trustees’ position in this regard, however, is defeated by the plain and self-limiting language of the very statute on which they rely.
“The interpretation of a statute is a question of law reviewable de novo. When construing a statute, our foremost obligation ‘is to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the legislature!,]’ which ‘is to be obtained primarily from the language contained in the statute itself.’” Franks v. City and County of Honolulu, 74 Haw. at 334, 843 P.2d at 671 (quoting In re Hawaiian Telephone Co., 61 Haw. 572, 577, 608 P.2d 383, 387 (1980)) (other citation omitted); Kaapu v. Aloha Tower Dev. Corp., 74 Haw. 365, 387, 846 P.2d 882, 891 (1993). In other words, “ ‘[t]he fundamental starting point for statutory interpretation is the language of the statute itself.... And where the statutory language is plain and unambiguous, our sole duty is to give effect to its plain and obvious meaning.’ ” Estate of Caraang, 74 Haw. at 633-34, 851 P.2d at 328.
HRS § 516-2, delineating the “applicability” of the Land Reform Act, provides in relevant part:
This chapter applies to all lands leased as residential lots which are owned or held privately or owned by the State or its political subdivisions, except Hawaiian home lands which are subject to Article XII of the Constitution of the State and lands owned or held by the federal government. This chapter is not meant to supersede or preclude any other remedy at law available to residential leasehold lessees or the State_
(Emphasis added.) HRS § 516-1 defines “residential lot” (which the section deems to be synonymous with “lot,” “houselot,” and “residential houselot”) to mean “a parcel of land, two acres or less in size, which is used or occupied or is developed, devoted, intended, or permitted to be used or occupied as a principal place of residence for one or two families. ” (Emphasis added.)
Thus, by its own plain and unambiguous language, the subject matter of HRS ch. 516 is limited to the involuntary lease-to-fee con[64]*64version of “lots” of land that are two acres or less in size and are used or intended for use as the principal residences for one or two families. As such, HRS ch. 516 does not “cover the same subject matter embraced within” Ordinance 91-95 and, for that reason alone, the statute must therefore fail the Citizens Utilities preemption test. See Citizens Utilities, 72 Haw. at 289, 814 P.2d at 400.
Moreover, the fact that HRS ch. 516 was expressly “not meant to supersede or preclude any other remedy at law available to residential leasehold lessees, ” see HRS § 516-2 (emphasis added), demonstrates for two reasons that the legislature could not possibly have intended the Land Reform Act to be the exclusive legislation applicable to the involuntary lease-to-fee conversion of all residential leaseholds. First, the lessees eligible for the benefits of Ordinance 91-95 (i.e., leaseholders of residential condominium units, residential cooperative units, and residential planned development units) are as much “residential leasehold lessees” as those eligible for the benefits of HRS ch. 516 (i.e., residential lot leaseholders); yet the legislature expressly preserved the possibility of legal remedies, extrinsic to HRS ch. 516, for both. The substantive provisions of Ordinance 91-95 obviously encompass a “remedy at law” within the meaning of HRS § 516-2. Second, and correlatively, the legislature’s express declaration that HRS ch. 516 was not “meant” (i.e., intended) to “supersede or preclude” any such legal remedy is antithetical to any intent that the statutory scheme created by the Land Reform Act be “the exclusive legislation applicable.”25 As such, HRS ch. 516 fails the Anamizu preemption test as well. See Anamizu, 52 Haw. at 553, 481 P.2d at 118.
In short, HRS ch. 516 does not, as the Trustees urge, set forth an exclusive and comprehensive state statutory scheme covering involuntary lease-to-fee conversion and, accordingly, cannot preempt Ordinance 91-95 on that basis.
c. HRS chs. 516D, 519, 514A, and 4.21H
Finally, the Trustees contend that HRS chs. 516D, 519, 514A, and 421H preempt Ordinance 91-95 because the ordinance interferes with and intrudes upon the comprehensive statewide statutory scheme established by each chapter. Trustees’ opening brief at 24-28. We disagree.
HRS ch. 516D, although covering condominium property regimes and cooperative housing corporations, in no way addresses the subject matter of involuntary lease-to-fee conversions. Instead, it prescribes disclosure requirements and provisions for mandatory arbitration of rent renegotiations. Because the subject matter embraced within HRS ch. 516D is not the same as that covered by Ordinance 91-95, the former does not preempt the latter on that basis. See Anamizu and Citizens Utilities, supra.
Similarly, HRS chs. 519, 514A, and 421H all cover subject matters distinct from that of involuntary lease-to-fee conversion. HRS ch. 519 deals with the renegotiation of leases. HRS ch. 514A concerns the governance and management of condominiums, the registration of condominium projects, the filing of public reports, and disclosure and other requirements designed to protect condominium purchasers. HRS ch. 421H governs the formation of limited-equity housing cooperatives. None of these chapters address the substantive process of involuntary lease-to-fee conversion. Accordingly, applying the Anamizu and Citizens Utilities tests, no legislative intent to preempt Ordinance 91-95 can be implied.
2. Ordinance 91-95 does not conflict with state law on the basis that it enters an area fully occupied thereby or that it is duplicative with respect thereto.
We next address the Trustees’ second preemption theory, namely, that “Ordinance 91-[65]*6595 is preempted by state statutes that conflict with it on matters of statewide interest and concern.” Trustees’ opening brief at 29. The Trustees assert two bases for their position.
First, according to the Trustees, because the ordinance conflicts with HRS chs. 516, 519, 516D, 514A, and 421H, it violates article VIII, section 6 of the Hawai'i Constitution26 and its implementing statute—HRS § 50-15 (1985).27 Correlatively, the Trustees argue that Ordinance 91-95 conflicts with article IX, section 5 of the Hawai'i Constitution,28 which, in conjunction with the chapters just enumerated, establishes that “housing is a matter of statewide concern and interest” such that “the state has exclusive power to legislate in the area.” Trustees’ opening brief at 31. Second, the Trustees rely on Fasi v. City and County of Honolulu, 50 Haw. 277, 439 P.2d 206 (1968),29 for further authority that Ordinance 91-95 conflicts with HRS chs. 46, 101, 516, 516D, 519, 514A, and 421H because the ordinance “cover[s] the same ground” as the statutes. Trustees’ opening brief at 31-32; see Fasi, 50 Haw. at 285, 439 P.2d at 211.
In effect, the Trustees’ two “preemption-by-conflict” arguments suggest that Ordinance 91-95 conflicts with state law because it (1) “enters an area fully occupied” thereby and (2) is “duplicative” (i.e., “coextensive”) with respect thereto. See Sherwin-Williams, 4 Cal. 4th at 897, 16 Cal.Rptr.2d at [66]*66217-18, 844 P.2d at 536-37. The Trustees are mistaken on both counts.
None of this court’s decisions addressing the question whether a municipal ordinance is preempted by a state statutory scheme have explicitly dealt with constitutional issues. However, article VIII, section 6 of the Hawaii Constitution and HRS § 50-15 are necessarily implicated whenever the question of conflict arises because the preemption doctrine raises issues regarding the supremacy of state law. See 2 R.D. Rotunda, J.E. Nowak, and J.N. Young, Treatise on Constitutional Law: Substance and Procedure § 12.2 (2d ed. 1992).
Article VIII, section 6 was originally promulgated by the 1950 Constitutional Convention to “make clear” that the powers conferred upon the counties in article VIII did “not restrict any of the powers of the legislature on state matters.” Stand.Comm.Rep. No. 74, in 1 Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of Hawaii of 1950, at 230 (1960).
Thereafter, during the 1968 Constitutional Convention, the framers, “[i]n recommending retention [of article VIII, section 6], recognize[d] the sovereignty of the [s]tate over its political subdivisions and its inherent power to enact laws of statewide concern.” Stand. Com.Rep. No. 53 (Majority), in 1 Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of Hawai'i of 1968, at 232 (1973). See also Marsland v. First Hawaiian Bank, 70 Haw. 126, 133, 764 P.2d 1228, 1232 (1988) (“[Although article VIII, section 2[ ] created ‘home rule,’ it did not repeal section 6[,] which reserves matters of statewide concern to the legislature.”); City and County of Honolulu v. Ariyoshi, 67 Haw. 412, 416, 689 P.2d 757, 761 (1984) (“In order to give effect to section 6, the power of the legislature to enact laws of statewide concern cannot be diminished.”).
In enacting the statute implementing article VIII, section 6, i.e., HRS § 50-15, “the state legislature ... expressly retained the ‘power to enact all laws of general application throughout the [s]tate on matters of concern and interest,’ ” Marsland, 70 Haw. at 133, 764 P.2d at 1232 (footnote omitted), and subordinated to such laws all “ordinances adopted under a [county] charter ... in conflict therewith.”30
Thus, if an ordinance truly conflicts with Hawaii statutory law that is of statewide concern, then it is necessarily invalid because it violates article VIII, section 6 of the Hawaii Constitution and HRS § 50-15—the state’s supremacy provisions. A law “of general application throughout the state[ ] is a law of statewide concern within the meaning of article VIII, section 6[] of the Hawai[‘]i ... Constitution.” Marsland, 70 Haw. at 133, 764 P.2d at 1232.
Inasmuch as most state statutes will, by their very nature, govern matters of statewide concern, see 1A N.J. Singer, Sutherland Statutory Construction § 23.16, at 382 n. 1 (5th ed. 1991), we assume, arguendo, that HRS chs. 46, 101, 516, 516D, 519, 514A, and 421H do so as well. The question then becomes whether Ordinance 91-95 conflicts with these statutes, or any of them, in such a way as to result in its preemption. To answer the question, we must engage in a dual analysis.
a. Ordinance 91-95 does not enter an area fully occupied by state law.
On the assumption that HRS chs. 516, 516D, 519, 514A, and 421H govern matters of statewide concern within the meaning of article VIII, section 6 of the Hawaii Constitution and HRS § 50-15, ' we now consider whether Ordinance 91-95 encroaches upon areas in which “the state has the exclusive power to legislate.” See Trustees’ opening brief at 31. Put differently, we consider whether Ordinance 91-95 has entered “an area fully occupied” by the statutes. See Sherwin-Williams, 4 Cal. 4th at 897, 16 Cal.Rptr.2d at 217-18, 844 P.2d at 536-37. As noted above, the ordinance would do so if it has entered areas that the legislature “has expressly manifested its intent to ‘fully occu[67]*67py’ ... or when it has impliedly done so.” Id.
In section III.B.1.b of this opinion, we concluded that: (1) by its own plain and unambiguous language, the subject matter of HRS ch. 516 (the Hawai'i Land Reform Act) is limited to the involuntary lease-to-fee conversion of single and dual family residential houselots; (2) HRS ch. 516 does not cover the same subject matter embraced within Ordinance 91-95; and (3) the legislature could not have intended HRS ch. 516 to be the exclusive legislation applicable to the involuntary lease-to-fee conversion of all residential leaseholds. That being the case, it necessarily follows that Ordinance 91-95 does not enter an area fully occupied by the Land Reform Act.
Similarly, in section III.B.1.c of this opinion, we concluded that: (1) HRS ch. 516D, while covering condominiums and cooperatives, merely mandates disclosure requirements and provisions for mandatory arbitration of rent negotiations and thus does not embrace the same subject matter covered by Ordinance 91-95; and (2) HRS chs. 519, 514A, and 421H each covers an area distinct from involuntary lease-to-fee conversion, and, accordingly, no legislative intent to preempt the subject of Ordinance 91-95 could be implied. That being the ease, it likewise follows that the ordinance does not enter an area fully occupied by any of these statutes.
b. Ordinance 91-95 is not duplicative of state law.
As a final matter, and again assuming that the statutes govern matters of statewide concern, we take up the question whether Ordinance 91-95 conflicts with HRS chs. 46, 101, 516, 516D, 519, 514A, and 421H because the ordinance “cover[s] the same ground” as the statutes. Trustees’ opening brief at 31-82. In other words, we consider whether the ordinance is “ ‘duplicative’ of general [state] law” on the basis that “it is coextensive therewith.” See Sherwin-Williams, 4 Cal. 4th at 897, 16 Cal.Rptr.2d at 217, 844 P.2d at 536.
In section III.B.1.a of this opinion, we concluded that Ordinance 91-95 did not cover the same subject matter as that embraced within HRS §§ 46-61, 46-62, and ch. 101. It necessarily follows that the ordinance cannot be duplicative of the statutes by virtue of being coextensive with them.
By the same token, having concluded in sections III.B.1.b and III.B.2.a of this opinion that HRS eh. 516 does not cover the same subject matter as that embraced by the ordinance, it necessarily follows that the latter cannot be duplicative of the former by virtue of being coextensive with it. And having concluded in sections III.B.1.c and III.B.2.a of this opinion that HRS chs. 516D, 519, 514A, and 421H all cover subject matters distinct from that of Ordinance 91-95, the same result inevitably follows.
3. Ordinance 91-95 is not preempted by state constitutional or statutory law.
Because Ordinance 91-95 does not cover the same subject matter embraced within a comprehensive state statutory scheme disclosing an express or implied intent to be exclusive and uniform throughout the state, and because the ordinance does not conflict with state constitutional or statutory law on the basis that it enters an area fully occupied thereby or that it is duplicative with respect thereto, we hold that Ordinance 91-95 is not preempted by article VIII, section 6 and article IX, section 5 of the Hawai'i Constitution or by HRS chs. 46, 101, 516, 516D, 519, 514A, and 421H.
IV. CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing analysis, we answer the federal court’s certified question as follows: According to Hawai'i state law, Ordinance 91-95 is not preempted by HRS chs. 46, 101, 516, 516D, 519, 514A, or 421H, as interpreted in conjunction with the Hawai'i Constitution.