UH regents back
autonomy bills
Six regents make
a rare appearance before the
House Higher Education Committee
By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin
Give us a longer leash was the message University of Hawaii leaders gave state lawmakers as informal discussion began yesterday on several bills that would give the UH autonomy.
"We can make it work," said Regent Donald Kim, one of six board members who made a rare appearance before the House Higher Education Committee yesterday in support of making the UH a quasi-public institution.
The bills are part of the recommendations proposed by the state Economic Revitalization Task Force to restart Hawaii's economy. Member John Couch, president and chief executive officer of Alexander & Baldwin Inc., told lawmakers UH autonomy was among the five overreaching objectives the task force felt could help stimulate the economy.
The task force's goal, Couch said, was to see how it could make the UH more responsive to the state while at the same time giving it the freedom to fully utilize its "intellectual capital" to help reboot the economy.
Couch said the UH has an "untapped and unrealized" potential in the global economy, especially in the Pacific Rim.
"This is a very unique resource," he said. "As a community, we should be doing as much as we can to ensure the UH ... succeeds in its own environment."
UH President Kenneth P. Mortimer told lawmakers his autonomy plan is based on four key points: fiscal control, access to its own legal counsel, the ability to lease land under its control and access to resources that help its people, such as cutting down the time it takes to implement a grant or process contract work done at the UH.
Mortimer stressed more autonomy won't mean less accountability. Instead, his goal is to establish a "town & gown" relationship that will make the UH more valuable to the state and more accountable through increased reports and benchmarks.
The state, Mortimer said, must not be afraid to take risks with the UH, and must buck the fear of making mistakes. With risks, comes great rewards, he said.
Mortimer assured House Higher Education Chairman David Morihara (D, Puunene-Makawao) that the UH would still appear before the Legislature for its general fund and operational budgets, as well as its capital improvement budget.
Still, Rep. David D. Stegmaier (D, Hawaii Kai) said he has difficulty with autonomy because it could mean the Legislature would have less say in teacher education. Stegmaier said it appears the UH College of Education -- which is searching for a new dean -- seems low on Bachman Hall's priority list.
Mortimer responded the college is one of seven top priorities at the Manoa campus. He added the UH is continually adapting its teacher education program to address the demand of public schoolteachers.
Morihara said the committee will begin hearing the UH autonomy bills next week.
Mother urges lawmakers
to tighten seat belts
By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin
Every day, Barbara Babyack of Kailua lives with the "what ifs."
Babyack, whose teen-age daughter died in December 1996 when she was thrown from a motor vehicle, had urged the House Transportation Committee at a hearing last week to forward two seat belt bills that could save children's lives.
"I firsthand know what it is like to lose a child who was unprotected in a motor vehicle ... ," Babyack said in her written testimony.
Yesterday, the committee voted to send the bills to the House Judiciary. House Bill 2341, House Draft 1, would amend Hawaii's seat belt law to conform with national highway standards by boosting the age children must be in a child passenger restraint from age 3 to 4.
Another measure, House Bill 2342, House Draft 1, would require all back seat passengers between the ages of 4 and 13 to be restrained by a seat belt while riding on public roads.
House Transportation Chairman Kenneth T. Hiraki (D, Downtown) said a child restraint bill has already been sent to the Judiciary Committee. That bill requires first-time offenders to attend a child passenger restraint safety class. Drivers who are caught a second time pay a $200 fine; $500 for a third or subsequent offense.
He hopes all the bills will be heard.
The transportation committee also deferred an administration bill relating to public lands that would amend state law to allow the state Harbors Division to buy, control and have sole jurisdiction over real property for commercial harbor and maritime uses.
Transportation Director Kazu Hayashida said yesterday that he did not discuss the matter with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
OHA fears removing airports, harbors, maritime facilities and air navigation facilities owned by the department from the definition of public lands would hurt Hawaiian beneficiaries, said OHA Vice Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona.
"If the worse case scenario where to occur, the effect of this amendment could mean that Hawaiians would receive no revenues from any of these facilities even though the state may reap huge profits from the use of these lands," she said.
Apoliona said language in the bill is vague and could be interpreted as diminishing the state's obligation toward native Hawaiians.
Moreover, she said, a law passed last year requiring a panel to review ceded land payments to OHA is ongoing and may be affected if this measure is passed.
David Kimo Frankel, director of the Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, said the bill precludes public review of important land transactions, a move that could be open the door "to sweetheart and backroom deals."
Hiraki recommended the measure be deferred so transportation officials could consider OHA's testimony while reviewing the measure.
'Clean money' campaign reform bill
would provide total public financing
By Craig Gima
Star-Bulletin
Supporters of a "clean money" campaign reform bill dream of an election day when candidates no longer have to seek money from special interests and small businesses no longer feel pressured to donate to get contracts.
The bill they support would provide total public campaign financing of qualified candidates who agree to give up private contributions, limit their spending and shorten their campaigns.
The bill is being pushed by Hawaii Clean Elections, an affiliate of a national effort to push campaign spending reform.
"We ought to be looking at ways to get back to the principles of one person, one vote," said Toni Worst, president of Hawaii Clean Elections.
The bill would not prevent other candidates from seeking private donations.
But Worst said that in Tucson, Ariz., which has a "clean money" law, candidates running for office who take private money face suspicion from voters and generally do not win.
The state Campaign Spending Commission supports the intent of the bill but is worried about the cost, which it estimates at $30 million to $40 million per election.
Hawaii Clean Elections estimates the cost at between $8.4 million and $25.3 million per election.
Common Cause Hawaii and the League of Women Voters also support the bill and told the Senate Judiciary Committee it would help restore the public's faith in elections.
Also before the Judiciary Committee yesterday was a proposal to allow the Campaign Spending Commission to dip into the Hawaii Election Campaign Fund to pay for its operating expenses.
The fund comes from the voluntary $2 check-off on state income tax returns and provides partial matching funds for candidates who agree to stay within fund-raising guidelines.
The Cayetano administration is proposing to save about $300,000 from the general fund by shifting funding to the campaign fund.Brian Nakamura from the Campaign Spending Commission testified the fund has about $4.7 million in its account.
But he said the annual contributions have been declining each year and are about $300,000 a year.
"The reduction reflect the public's attitude to campaigns," Nakamura said.
Session workers find a rough
road in waiting for pay
By Craig Gima
Star-Bulletin
Rep. Quentin Kawananakoa (R, Nuuanu) offered on the House floor yesterday to lend money to legislative workers who have been without a paycheck.
House Speaker Joe Souki (D, Wailuku) joked, "I may be calling on you myself."
But to many of the 180 staffers who work during the session in the offices of state senators and representatives, this is not a joke.
Donalyn Dela Cruz, who works in House majority floor leader Marcus Oshiro's office, said she had to convince her landlord to put off collecting her rent until she gets paid.
Another staffer who works in the office of House Labor Chairman Noboru Yonamine (D, Pacific Palisades) said she had to take out a loan from her mother.
Kawananakoa said one staffer did take him up on his offer and got a $500 loan.
The reason session workers are not getting a paycheck is the Legislature must pass an appropriation bill to fund the Legislature and affiliated agencies for the year.
"Those of us who have been here know that this happens every year," said Joan Stebbins, who works for Rep. Barbara Marumoto (R, Waialae Iki).
"Do you know anything at the Legislature that happens rapidly or efficiently?" she asked.
Senate Ways and Means Co-Chairwoman Rosalyn Baker (D, Lahaina) said some of her staff members have been without a paycheck since Jan. 5.
Baker's committee heard the bill last night after it passed the House earlier in the day.
The Senate will vote on the bill tomorrow and send it to the governor. When he signs it, the workers can be paid.
The $19.2 million appropriation is the same amount spent last year. It provides $5 million for the 25-member Senate and $7.2 million for the 51-member House.
The money also funds the legislative auditor, the state Ethics Commission, Legislative Reference Bureau, the Office of the Ombudsman and the Legislature's computer system.
Ways and Means Co-chairwoman Carol Fukunaga (D, Makiki) said it is theoretically possible for the Legislature to pass the bill earlier so the workers can be paid on time.
"Who knows," she said, "maybe in subsequent years that may be the case."
Maunawili land swap
bill dead, sponsor says
By Mary Adamski
Star-Bulletin
A proposal for a land swap that would give a Maunawili golf course owner 80 acres of state land suitable for development in exchange for state assumption of 450 acres on Mount Olomana got a resounding "thumbs down" from Maunawili residents last night.
Sen. Marshall Ige (D, Kaneohe), who represents the area, said his bill won't go any further now that he's heard from the constituents. "It's dead. They will not go for it," he said after a one-hour Maunawili meeting that drew more than 50 people.
He said he introduced the measure as a way to address concerns of residents whose property abuts the Maunawili hiking trails.
A facet of the bill would have required the state to create a 100-foot buffer between the trails and the eastern boundary of Maunawili Estates and Maunawili Park subdivisions.
The objections focused on language that would have allowed the 80-acre Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association site to be developed into housing: "The private property owner's use of the lands shall no longer be restricted to golf course purposes but may be utilized for other purposes as shall be later determined by the appropriate state and county agencies."
Ige said, in answer to questions, that Pan Pacific Development, owner of the Luana Hills Golf Course, did not seek the bill.
The 450 acres which stretches to the top of the landmark mountain is not usable for development and is protected by conservation zoning, speakers pointed out.
"This is a bailout for the golf course. It gives them a housing development," said Anthony Locricchio, one of the residents who fought the golf course development for years.
Maunawili resident Brenda Lumeng said the state action in that area should be to take responsibility for the "best hiking trail in the state" and develop and maintain parking, restrooms and other facilities to support that recreational resource.
