Gov. Ben Cayetano has signed a bill creating a public company largely free of governmental restraint to operate the state's 13 hospitals and medical centers. The goal is increased efficiency.
"It's not a privatization bill," said Deputy Health Director Bert Kobayashi, referring to the reorganization. Rather, it establishes an autonomous "public benefit corporation" with more exemptions than any other agency of its kind, he said.
Cayetano also signed a number of other bills - and vetoed 24 - in the past several days in anticipation of last night's midnight veto deadline.
And the governor wielded his line item veto power to excise a $300,000 consultant fee for the Public Utilities Commission from the budget.
Cayetano has until July 3 to sign any remaining bills into law.
The public hospital corporation is exempt from the state procurement code, is able to set fees without undergoing a lengthy administrative process and can manage its own capital improvement project fund, Kobayashi explained.
Responsibility for hospital operations will be placed on a yet-to-be-appointed 11-member board of directors.
The board is expected to be appointed by August.
"It will enable us to operate more efficiently with fewer layers of review," he said. "The hospitals have been operating without general fund subsidy for the past year. They've dipped into the reserves. We've been struggling under an unfunded state mandate to maintain current levels of services."
Kobayashi said he expects the change to make operations more efficient and to put the system on firmer fiscal footing.
Beach lawsuits: Gives the state and counties limited immunity from beach-related lawsuits if they post and maintain warning signs approved by the head of the Board of Land and Natural Resources.
Cigarettes sales: Prohibits cigarette sales from lunch wagons that are within 1,000 feet of schools. Only allows sales of cigarettes from vending machines from bars or other establishments to which the admission age is 18. The penalty is a $1,000 a day fine.
Auto thefts: Cracks down on auto break-ins, a major problem here, by creating a Class C felony of unauthorized entry into motor vehicles, treating auto break-ins similar to burglaries. Also creates a Class C felony for interfering or attacking bus drivers.
Drivers licenses: Reduces the maximum prison term from a year to 30 days for people with one or two convictions for using suspended, fake or borrowed drivers licenses. Retains, however, a maximum jail sentence of a year for a third conviction within a five-year period.
Drug manufacturing: Adds illicit drug manufacturing and distribution to the nuisance abatement law and allows groups, such as tenant organizations, to sue to prevent a nuisance. Also provides for temporary injunction to prohibit the person causing the nuisance from living in or entering the building where the problem exists.
Manslaughter: Increases the maximum prison sentence for manslaughter from 10 to 20 years.
School attendance: Exempts from compulsory school attendance law 16- and 17-year-olds who are disruptive in class.
Sunshine Law: Amends the Sunshine Law to allow private conversations between board members outside formal meetings if the group constitutes less than a quorum and if no votes are sought. It would permit meetings between the governor and board members to discuss issues before the board.