Table groans under load of proposals

The Maui News
Sunday, January 21, 2007

By EDWIN TANJI, City Editor

HONOLULU – After the Friday deadline for submitting bills without restrictions, the Hawaii State Legislature has amassed more that 2,100 proposals on its table for the 2007 session.

That's not the end of the flow, but as is normal, most will not make it past the first referral to committee, veteran legislators said.

Sen. J. Kalani English, the 6th District Democrat representing East Maui-Molokai-Lanai-Kahoolawe, noted that senators are allowed to continue to submit as many as five bills a day through Wednesday, and some will.

"Now it's about getting ideas out on the table. When we're putting in bills, a lot of them are at the request of our constituencies. People have to understand that putting them in to get them on the table to start discussions doesn't mean they will move further. It will be flushed out," he said. That's the approach Rep. Joe Souki takes, noting that he again is submitting a bill to set up cameras at traffic signals to identify vehicles running red lights, although that proposal has failed to get beyond the House.

"It's been at least three years running, and I don't give up because there are still a lot of drivers running red lights and they're dangerous," he said. "This year, we may get it past the House, but it may die in the Senate again."

A member of the House since 1982, Souki said many bills are proposed to initiate discussion even if they are not expected to pass. If there is sufficient discussion, the idea may be revived, revised and passed in future sessions, if there is public support.

"I have a bill trying to make a statement, to repeal the three-strikes-and-out law. It's probably not going to pass, but I did discuss it with the judiciary chairman "

Souki said he questions the mandatory sentencing law approved last year that applies to criminal suspects convicted of three or more violent felony or sexual assault offenses. For three or more convictions for serious offenses such as first-degree robbery, sexual assault, assault or child abuse, a defendant faces a mandatory life in prison with possibility of parole.

For three or more convictions of less-serious felonies, the mandatory sentence may be 10 or 20 years in prison.

Souki said he is not convinced that the mandatory prison terms are appropriate.

"I believe we should give judges some discretion. That's why we have judges," he said. "I don't expect it to pass because a lot of people in the community think it's a good thing to lock people away when they've committed several crimes.

"But people also don't want us to build new prisons, at least not in Hawaii. Then we're putting them away in Texas or Arizona and spending millions to keep them there. Is that the best use of our money?"

There are other bills that Souki said he is hopeful will get through the session, such as a proposal to bar use of cell phones by drivers unless the driver is using a hands-free device.

"More than likely there will be objections. But I'm convinced that some day using a cell phone while driving will have to stop, unless you have a hands-free device. Because it's dangerous for people to be holding a phone up while they're supposed to be concentrating on their driving."

There are a range of proposals mixed among the 2,100 bills introduced so far, including the budget package offered by Gov. Linda Lingle.

While legislators are questioning some of the details of Lingle's proposal for spending and tax breaks, they have introduced a slew of proposals of their own including multiple ideas for eliminating the excise tax on gasoline and on food and prescription drugs.

Several proposals fulfill positions taken during the 2006 election campaigns, such as an assortment of proposals for requiring bike paths along state highways introduced by Rep. Joe Bertram III, a longtime advocate of open space, greenways and bikeways.

Bertram also introduced bills to provide funding for lifeguards and for restrooms and camping facilities at Makena State Park, duplicating efforts of past legislators that have failed.

Rep. Mele Carroll has her name on a bill requiring that an environmental impact statement be prepared on the Hawaii Superferry and that highway traffic issues be considered in any environmental impact statement drafted on harbors projects. The bill also would hold up the Superferry until an EIS is completed. Although it is supported by five other legislators, it likely will require massive public support to pass.

While Souki is seeking to repeal the mandatory sentencing law on repeat offenders, Rep. Bob Nakasone is proposing that individuals convicted of multiple sexual assault offenses be placed on lifetime parole when they are released from prison.

Nakasone also has offered a proposed constitutional amendment to make the University of Hawaii system completely independent of the state administration, providing for the Board of Regents to submit a separate budget annually to the Legislature.

Even among colleagues in the Maui delegation, there are differences of opinion. Rep. Angus McKelvey from West Maui is a lead supporter of a bill to impose the state transient accommodations tax on cruise ships.

But Transportation Chairman Souki said he didn't think that was necessarily a good idea.

"With the TAT, the funds go into the general fund and it's not going to assist with the big harbor expansion that we need. The administration is going to increase fees on cruise lines that are going to the harbors special fund so we can fund the $280 million in harbor improvements that we need, including at Kahului."

He said any proposals for adding to state revenues need to consider how the state finances specific programs and services.

"Traditionally, harbors are self-sufficient, airports are self-sufficient, and you want the funds generated from the users going to the services," Souki said. "I can see where he (McKelvey) is going. He's a good young man. But the bill likely will not get out of the House."

For the legislative veterans, a major issue is the list of tax credits and reductions proposed by Lingle at a news conference Thursday that failed to note costs that aren't included in the governor's budget proposal.

The major cost items are for collective bargaining increases, with all of the public unions except for University of Hawaii professors in negotiations this year.

Sen. Roz Baker, chairwoman of the Ways and Means Committee, noted that the governor's budget also does not anticipate higher costs expected in the state employees retirement system.

"According to auditors on the employees retirement system, we have an unacceptably large unfunded liability in the retirement system. They have recommended some changes, and they thought she (Lingle) was going to put those into her budget," Baker said.

"She did not."

Baker said one of her bills will serve as a vehicle to initiate review of the costs.

"It's an unknown cost at this point. We have to ask the retirement system to provide us with information because it's not just state government costs, but county costs as well. We have to determine what the counties can afford."

The point is that the state budget does not have as large a "surplus" as has been touted from higher-than-anticipated tax revenues, she said When Lingle presented her budget and tax reduction proposals, she indicated that the excess revenues amounted to more than $700 million.

"It's not as big or as available as people may think," Baker said. "We've put in our own tax measures, with state tax credits and some other items that may be more budget friendly and still provide some relief to those who need it most.

"But most of us agree we need to reinvest in our schools' infrastructure and in our highways," she said.

Souki said the budget decisions will be finalized late in the session when the legislators have more information on costs that aren't included in the governor's budget proposal.

"Usually the budget decisions are made late, because we all have to deal with issues like food for school lunches, Medicaid adjustments, housing for moderate- and low-incomes, all the things that cost money that we have got to put in the budget," he said.

"We've got labor negotiations going on and those are subject to binding arbitration, which means we're estimating we might have another $100 million in labor costs each year.

"We'd all love to give back to the taxpayers, but we also have got to be realistic about this. It should be noted that in her budget, the governor provided nothing for labor cost increases.

"It's not a real budget. But she couldn't keep it in and offer all the tax givebacks that she's proposing. It's as if she wants to make the legislators look bad and say we could have had all these things but the fat boys wouldn't give it up. It's kind of a game."

Edwin Tanji can be reached at editor@mauinews.com.

Copyright © 2005 The Maui News.

Original article URL: http://www.mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=26944

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