Some Maui lawmakers say opening session short on ideas for bridging gap in state budget

The Maui News
Thursday, January 17, 2002

By MARK ADAMS
Staff Writer

HONOLULU — The state Legislature opened Wednesday to lukewarm reviews from several Maui legislators facing the daunting prospect of finding money to meet the state's needs.

Facing an estimated $330 million shortfall in estimated revenues for the biennium budget, legislators approached the 2002 session in a somber mood, with many members skipping the normal opening day office parties to get down to business immediately on the 90-day session.

Senate President Robert Bunda and House Speaker Calvin Say, speaking for the majority Democrats, outlined their visions of what should be accomplished as an estimated $150 million is trimmed from the state budget. Their proposals left a couple of Maui legislators wanting more.

"Unfortunately, I feel that there should have been a greater focus on the issues of the economy and what we're going to do to change the business environment and stimulate capital coming into the state," said Maui Sen. Avery Chumbley, a Democrat, of Bunda's remarks.

On the House side, Republican Rep. Chris Halford felt that Rep. Say also was short on ideas.

"The list of what he neglected to say was much too long," leaving out ways to introduce greater fiscal integrity and accountability in government spending, Halford said.

"The Legislature needs to insist that the executive branch and state departments provide reliable numbers on how they spend their money and be very specific on what kind of results they get," much as nonprofit agencies are now required to do, he said.

Democratic Sen. J. Kalani English said he thought Bunda outlined a balanced agenda because each of the items addressed ‹ including upgrading state parks and trails, and providing for school repair and maintenance ‹ have an economic benefit.

"It's a macroeconomic approach," English said. "State fiscal policy has to be conducive to supporting a healthy marketplace, and if you look at all the proposals, all of it taken together will support the economy."

Education was high on the list of things the Legislature wants to improve, and Bunda's call to consolidate repair and maintenance operations of the state Department of Education, which runs the schools, and the state Department of Accounting and General Services, which contracts for repair work, was welcomed.

"It's an idea whose time has come," English said. "We have such a huge backlog — if we have a team that can make these projects happen it's worth the organizational effort."

Chumbley welcomed the effort as long overdue, but said simple consolidation may not work.

He said it would be better if Gov. Ben Cayetano created an office to handle repairs and maintenance, appointing a "repair and maintenance" czar to accelerate projects.

Chumbley added the larger issue of educational reform has been inadequately addressed by the Legislature over the last 10 years.

"The only way to make major changes is by way of a revolution, and that will only happen through a Constitutional Convention where governance and funding can be debated," he said. "Until that revolution takes place, the Legislature is simply making minor tweaks."

A couple of hot-button issues ‹ traffic enforcement cameras and gambling ‹ came up during Wednesday's speeches and drew the attention of Maui lawmakers.

Bunda supported "some form of referendum on gambling" to let Hawaii residents voice their opinion on whether it should be legalized to raise money for the state.

Republican Rep. Kika Bukoski opposed a referendum, saying lawmakers were elected to make hard decisions.

He also questioned what impact gambling interests would have on such a vote.

"These companies have millions of marketing dollars to spend wooing the general public into buying into their ideas," he said. "They don't have the opportunity to sit through the hearings like we do, and hear the pros and cons on each issue. They don't see the unintended consequences."

Chumbley said he wants to get a clearer picture of how a referendum would work. If an advisory vote were taken and two-thirds of the public said they wanted gambling, he wondered if that would then be considered a mandate for making it legal.

English said he and at least 16 other senators are ready to put their names on a bill authorizing a constitutional amendment that would prohibit any kind of gambling.

Passage or defeat would be a good way of assessing public opinion, English said, also noting that the number of senators supporting the bill makes it clear that any legislation to legalize gambling would be dead on arrival.

The issue of traffic cameras was on the minds of many people at the Capitol, several lawmakers said.

Bukoski said he is adamantly opposed to bringing the cameras to Maui as planned, saying there are other ways of addressing the problem without putting residents in "a fishbowl" that opens the door of further surveillance of Hawaii residents.

"I'm trying to prevent it from spreading further," he said. "It is offensive and distrustful to the people."

The mood at the Capitol was more somber than normal, lawmakers said.

The specter of the Sept. 11 attacks hung over the day and in the speeches. The attacks will have a lingering effect on the legislative session, Chumbley said.

"There is clearly a greater sensitivity to the impact this is having on the lives of people who've lost their jobs," the senator said. That will come into play as lawmakers look at trimming the state budget. "From a human services level ‹ the extension of unemployment benefits, health coverage ‹ the safety net really needs to be there."

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