But legislative leaders and a teachers union official said they want assurances that the initiative will not further push the state into debt or mean no pay raises for teachers.
The amount is nearly triple what has been spent in recent years.
"As the branch of government responsible for the appropriation and oversight of state funds, the Legislature will carefully review the details of the governor's proposal once it has been submitted to us," Senate president Norman Mizuguchi said yesterday. "We will want to ensure that the state has sufficient general revenues to retire the debt service that will be generated by these projects.
"Further, we will want assurances that any capital improvement projects which have received prior legislative approval have been completed before any new projects are begun."
House Speaker Joe Souki added: "Relative to the governor's recommendations, I generally agree with them. But it will take the scrutiny of the House majority. I don't have a problem with his proposal right now."
June Motokawa, president of the 12,000-member Hawaii State Teachers Association, currently in contract negotiations with the state, praised Cayetano for proposing to double the Department of Education's construction budget to $180 million in each of the next two fiscal years.
But Motokawa added, "Our students need both the right environment and the best prepared teachers to encourage learning. Without either, the learning process is handicapped. We encourage the governor to take the next step toward ensuring quality public education in Hawaii by settling current negotiations with our public school teachers."
State capital-improvement funds can only be used for construction projects. Pay raises come from separate operational funds.
Budget director Earl Anzai said the Cayetano-proposed state construction budget would be funded by floating bonds, and it would not require dipping into cash reserves as former Gov. John Waihee, did.
Cayetano said there are not many private-sector construction projects under way, so he wants the state to take the lead in boosting the building industry.
Under Cayetano's plan, the state construction budget would jump to $500 million from $200 million annually in both fiscal 1997 and 1998. The increase would also go to doubling the state's payments to the Department of Hawaiian Homes for breaching its lease of ceded lands.
Key elements of Cayetano's initiative:
Public schools: Doubling the Education Department's construction budget each year in the fiscal biennium to $180 million. Funds would be used in part to build four new schools, Konawaena Elementary, Kauai Intermediate, Kapolei Intermediate and Kapolei High.
University of Hawaii: Increasing the construction budget 60 percent to $125 million from $78 million. Specific proposals: expansion of Hamilton Library, $36.9 million, and Maui Community College, $17.2 million; and construction of new West Hawaii Educational Center, $11 million, and the new Molokai Education Center, $4.2 million.
Public libraries: Build libraries on Kauai's North Shore, in Kohala on the Big Island and in Nanakuli and Kapolei on Oahu. Cost: $23.7 million.
Prisons: Spending $12.2 million by adding beds for 84 inmates at the Women's Community Correctional Center, 200 beds for Waiawa prison's drug rehabilitation program, 168 beds at Oahu Community Correctional Center, 158 beds at Halawa prison and by improving the water system at Kulani prison on the Big Island.
Hawaiian Home Lands: Doubling payments to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to $60 million annually to expedite construction of housing for native Hawaiians.
$215 million in other projects: They include $13.4 million for water projects, $6.6 million for expanding patient facilities at the Hawaii State Hospital, and $19 million for dredging the Ala Wai Canal and beautifying the promenade in front of the state Convention Center.