Lawmakers scramble
on money bills

As Cayetano strives to salvage A+ funding,
House and Senate split on privatization

By Mike Yuen
Star-Bulletin

With a midnight deadline looming for money-related bills, House and Senate conferees today were wrestling with issues ranging from privatization of government contracts to tax breaks for Continental Airlines, to a "people mover" for the state convention center.

Gov. Ben Cayetano, meanwhile, was trying to salvage the popular A+ after-school program, which now serves 21,000 students statewide. He launched it eight years ago while lieutenant governor.

Budget conferees imposed a 50 percent reduction in the state's subsidy to the program, reducing it to about $7.5 million annually.

Cayetano believes the cut would devastate program, and is working with law-makers to restore funding or to get a provision allowing him to augment A+ funding from other sources, said Cayetano spokeswoman Kathleen Racuya Markrich.

A+ costs $20 million annually, which includes $5 million from the $55-per-child monthly fee paid by parents. The cuts would likely double that fee, she said.

On the privatization issue, lawmakers today were to discuss new proposals to resolve a dispute over government contracts which allow private businesses and agencies to perform public services.

State and county officials still believe the House has the best approach, clarifying that governments can farm out services as long as civil service jobs are not eliminated.

The new House proposal, said state Attorney General Margery Bronster, provides "certainty" that existing and future contracts are valid.

The Senate's new draft establishes a yearlong temporary exemption from civil service laws for all government contracts for outside services, and asks Cayetano to convene a task force to review contracts and propose corrective measures.

The Legislature is grappling with the issue because the state Supreme Court recently knocked down a Big Island contract with a private landfill, saying the work should be done by county workers. State and county officials fear the high court's decision throws into question all government-service contracts.

Maui Mayor Linda Crockett Lingle and Kauai Mayor Maryanne Kusaka are threatening to void all county contracts with private agencies, effective May 1, unless the Legislature clarifies the law on contracting out government services.

The controversy stems from a lawsuit brought by Gary Rodrigues, leader of the blue-collar United Public Workers union. Rodrigues favors the Senate's approach.

But state personnel Director James Takushi doesn't. "It's delaying tactics. You're putting a decision off to an election year," Takushi said. "It is going to be tough on politicians because they're going to get pressured."

Also up in the air are measures to grant Continental Airlines, which is expanding in the Pacific, nearly $2 million in tax breaks for building and operating a $25 million, jumbo-jet maintenance hangar adjacent to Honolulu Airport.

The next move is up to the Senate, said House Finance Chairman Calvin Say (D, Palolo).

That's because the Senate wants those tax credits to expire in five years, requiring Continental to seek an extension, which makes it accountable to the state.

But the House fears sunsetting the tax credits would send the wrong message to companies wanting to do business in Hawaii.

House Tourism Vice Chairman Jerry Chang (D, Hilo) said the House was also concerned that talks were stalled over the construction of a privately financed $500,000 "people mover" that would link the state convention center, scheduled to begin operation in mid-1998, with other Waikiki locations.

Senate Transportation Co-Chairman Cal Kawamoto (D, Waipahu) said the Senate wants to proceed cautiously and first have a feasibility study on building a people-mover monorail connecting Waikiki and the convention center.

The state budget approved early yesterday also gave Cayetano approval to borrow $1 billion -- his full request -- for an accelerated public works program during the biennium. He believes the construction work will help stimulate the economy.

Pact bans kids from riding
in bed of pickup

By Jim Witty and Mike Yuen
Star-Bulletin

A smiling state Rep. Barbara Marumoto raised her hands in the air and danced.

Late last night, Marumoto (R, Waialae Iki) achieved a partial victory after 12 years of pushing and prodding when House and Senate conferees agreed to prohibit children 12 years old and younger from riding in the beds of pickup trucks.

Safety has been Marumoto's reason for wanting to ban people from traveling in the back of pickups.

The conference agreement came just four minutes before a midnight deadline to position nonfiscal bills for final approval Tuesday when the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn.

"Good job. It's been a long road," Senate Judiciary Co-Chairman Matt Matsunaga (D, Palolo) said as he congratulated Marumoto.

"We pushed it uphill all the way," replied Marumoto, who also credited House Transportation Chairman Kenneth Hiraki (D, Kakaako), his Senate counterparts and conferees.

She added: "I think a statewide ban is really great. It should cover everybody, but under 12 is a wonderful start."

If passed by the Legislature and the governor, the prohibition will take effect Jan. 1, 1998. The measure also imposes a $50 fine for each violation.

Opposition to a ban has come primarily from neighbor-island residents who stress that they have no sophisticated public transportation system and that pickups serve a multitude of purposes.

While lawmakers scrambled to come to terms on several other measures, they could not come to terms on a bill aimed at cracking down on prostitutes in Waikiki.

Among the bills that survived were:

A measure that would require people convicted of a sexual offense against a minor or of any sexually violent offense to register with law enforcement agencies. The legislation would also require release of the information to the public and allow the receipt of saliva and blood samples of certain offenders for DNA profiles.

The so-called "zero tolerance" legislation that would establish a new offense for those under the age of 21 driving with a blood alcohol level between 0.02 and 0.08 percent. Backers claim the current law is inconsistent; it is illegal for people younger than 21 to possess or consume alcohol, yet they are allowed to have a blood alcohol content up to 0.08 while driving.

Under terms of the zero tolerance bill, violators would face a mandatory six-month license suspension and an alcohol abuse prevention program for the first offense or for refusing to submit to testing.

What began as legislation to establish a three-step licensing procedure for youth turned into a bill that would extend the time a teen-ager younger than 17 must hold an instructional permit from hours to 90 days. The measure, which would take effect July 1, also would require the permit-holder to be accompanied by a licensed driver over the age of 18.

Legislation that would authorize a police officer to issue an order of no contact based on recent domestic abuse. The order would preclude personal and telephone contact.

A measure that would upgrade conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder from Class C to Class A felonies.

The bill would also impose mandatory fines on those convicted of receiving stolen property. The fines would amount to the greater of double the value of the stolen property received or $25,000 for first-degree theft and the greater of double the value of the property or $10,000 for second degree theft.

A bill that would add several compounds to the list of controlled substances including GHB, the so-called "date rape" drug. Also making the list is ketamine hydrochloride, an animal tranquilizer that reportedly combines the effects of PCP with the visual sensations of LSD.

Exempted from the list were Rohypnol, viewed as a "date rape" drug in other places, and ephedrine, the active ingredient in the herbal remedy mahuang.

The bill would also give the Drug Enforcement Administration the ability to schedule a drug on an emergency basis, subject to subsequent legislative approval.