Index: hierarchical_select.module
===================================================================
--- hierarchical_select.module	(revision 2877)
+++ hierarchical_select.module	(working copy)
@@ -690,7 +690,8 @@
   if (isset($element['#disabled']) && $element['#disabled']) {
     _hierarchical_select_mark_as_disabled($element);
   }
-
+  // remove options in case it's been added
+  if ($element['#options']) unset($element['#options']);
   return $element;
 }
 
@@ -814,6 +815,7 @@
     form_error($element, t('!name field is required.', array('!name' => $element['#title'])));
     _hierarchical_select_form_set_error_class($element);
   }
+  
 }
 
 /**
Index: modules/hs_taxonomy.install
===================================================================
--- modules/hs_taxonomy.install	(revision 2877)
+++ modules/hs_taxonomy.install	(working copy)
@@ -13,9 +13,8 @@
 function hs_taxonomy_install() {
   $ret = array();
 
-  // Update the module weight to 2 so hs_taxonomy runs after the forum module.
-  // See http://drupal.org/node/475784.
-  $ret[] = update_sql("UPDATE {system} SET weight = 2 WHERE name = 'hs_taxonomy'");
+  // Update the module weight to -1 so it runs before other taxonomy related modules
+  $ret[] = update_sql("UPDATE {system} SET weight = -1 WHERE name = 'hs_taxonomy'");
 
   return $ret;
 }
@@ -60,3 +59,11 @@
 
   return $ret;
 }
+
+function hs_taxonomy_update_2() {
+  $ret = array();
+
+  $ret[] = update_sql("UPDATE {system} SET weight = -1 WHERE name = 'hs_taxonomy'");
+
+  return $ret;
+}