By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
State Sen. Whitney Anderson (R-Kailua), right, addresses
the economic task force during a working group meeting
yesterday. He and others say this group must turn its
ideas into workable legislation if it is to succeed.
Skeptics emerge
on task force
Improving the isles' business climate
By Rob Perez
has been tried before, they note
Star-BulletinThe state's ambitious plan to resuscitate Hawaii's anemic economy has entered a key phase, but some participants already are expressing skepticism about prospects for success. The first of five working groups for the Economic Revitalization Task Force met yesterday to begin devising possible ways of creating good-paying, private-sector jobs and boosting investment in the state.
But even before the idea-generating process started, Sen. Whitney Anderson, a member of the economic development group, questioned whether the task force approach would fare any differently from previous efforts to improve the state's business climate.
In the past, numerous pro-business bills have been introduced at the Legislature, only to die from lack of support, said Anderson (R-Kailua).
Task force advocates, however, said this effort is different: it already has the support of the state's top political leadership -- Gov. Ben Cayetano, Senate President Norman Mizuguchi and House Speaker Joe Souki appointed the 27 members -- and boosting the economy is expected to be a major focus of the upcoming legislative session.
"I think this needs to be tried," Leeward farmer Larry Jefts, another member of the economic development group, said after yesterday's session. "It's an obvious step in the right direction."
In its broad-based search for solutions, the task force is soliciting ideas from the public and each of the five working groups (the four others will focus on business climate, taxation, education/work force development and the role of government). Meetings of the working groups are scheduled almost daily through September.
The task force is expected to come up with proposals that the public will be able to comment on in November and the Legislature will consider in its session starting in January.
Bank executive Tom Leppert, acting as a facilitator for the task force, said that it should focus on a handful of major, realistic initiatives to address serious structural problems in the economy.
The proposals should be at the "30,000-foot-level, not the crop-dusting level," Leppert said.
But one member, Rep. Robert Herkes, (D-Kau, Puna), questioned whether the task force will be able to turn its ideas into successful legislation and funding measures, especially if it means challenging powerful union and big business interests. "Are we willing to take on these tough issues or are we going to just sidestep them?" Herkes asked.
The 27-member task force already has been widely criticized for being stacked with representatives from big business and unions and for having too few owners of small businesses, which provide the bulk of Hawaii's jobs.
Workshop
What: Public workshop to suggest ideas to the Economic Revitalization Task Force
