The full Senate is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a measure that would allow the counties to enact a contract preference for local bidders.

The proposal is identical to the 15 percent preference that's been part of the state's procurement system since last year.

For critics, such as freshman Sen. Sam Slom (R, Kalama Valley), a longtime business advocate, the local preference simply means that taxpayers will have to pay more for government goods and services.

But proponents, such as Sens. Robert Bunda (D, Wahiawa) and Cal Kawamoto (D, Waipahu), insist that even with the added cost, the state benefits because it helps to churn the state's economy by keeping state money here and by putting local people to work.

"With so many construction people sitting on the bench, we are quite concerned," Senate Government Operations Co-Chairman Bunda said, explaining why his panel gave its approval last week.

The Senate Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, co-chaired by Kawamoto, passed the bill earlier.

The measure is likely to gain Senate approval and move to the House with scores of other bills up for floor votes this week.

The House has also been mulling the companion version of the local-preference measure, Slom said.

Slom said he has not seen how the 15 percent local preference has eased the high cost of doing business in Hawaii.

"I spoke out against the 15 percent preference prior to this," Slom said. "I still feel that the 15 percent deferential is an additional and unnecessary cost burden."

When the measure came before the Senate Intergovernmental Affairs panel, Slom, one of only two Republicans in the 25-member Senate, voted for it. He said he wanted to be eligible to sit on a committee that would iron out differences on the bill, but his floor vote will be a nay, he said.

Representatives of the Hawaii State Association of Counties, the Maui and Kauai county councils, the city and county of Honolulu and the Hawaii Operating Engineers Industry Stabilization Fund testified in favor of extending the local preference to the counties.

Under the law and the bill now before the full Senate, firms are eligible for the 15 percent local preference if they have been paying state employment, general excise and income taxes. If the companies have been paying those taxes for four years, they can bid on projects of less than $5 million. Companies must have paid state taxes for eight years to get the preference in bidding on contracts worth $5 million or more.

Part of the reasoning for the local preference, Bunda said, is that "it levels the playing field" since mainland firms don't pay the 4 percent general excise tax.

Others have said the workers' compensation premiums that mainland firms pay are about 7.5 percent less than what local companies cover.