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IN AND AROUND THE CAPITOL
Cayetano requests $55.5 mil
His emergency plea must be dealt with
By Richard Borreca
before the state budget can be considered
Star-BulletinEven before the state Legislature gets to scrutinize this year's state budget, it must deal with more than $55 million in emergency requests from Gov. Ben Cayetano.
That is higher than usual as the state administration averages about $44 million in appropriations a year.
The money is needed to "continue essential services, special education programs, human services and to keep the rural hospitals running," Gov. Cayetano explained in a budget briefing earlier this year.
But this year, the emergency pleas for money mean that when the Legislature starts to figure out how much it can spend, it has to subtract the $55.5 million already requested.
"There's little room for anything extra," notes Rep. Calvin Say, speaker of the House.
Some of the requests, Say added, are for money the Legislature last year didn't feel the state administration needed to spend, such as a request for $14 million to repay money advanced by the federal government.
"If we are not satisfied the money is needed, we don't approve it; it all gets scrutinized," says Sen. Andy Levin, Ways and Means committee co-chairman.
But as Say explained, a "great deal of it is going to get funded first."
Neal Miyahira, state budget director, explained that appropriations for mental health care and federally required changes to the state hospital all came in after the new budget was prepared.
"None of this, however, is done in isolation," Miyahira said. "It is all accounted for in the final financial plan."
One item that did come up at the last minute is the relocation of the state's weights and measures building in Kakaako, which houses the state offices and machinery used to test products, scales and pumps for accuracy.
The building and occupants will be displaced by the Ialo Street widening project designated by the Hawaii Community Development Agency.
The administration was forced to send in a special appropriation request for $500,000 to temporarily move the program. Also $3.8 million in bonds will be needed to actually build the new offices.
"We had some problems with the coordination of it," Miyahira acknowledged.
Briefly ...
LATE RAISE:
State judges got a speedy OK for a 22 percent pay raise from the state Legislature.The raise actually had been passed last year, but a flaw in the bill gave them a much smaller raise than promised.
In the Senate, Sen. Brian Kanno (D, Ewa Beach-Maka- kilo) was the only person to vote against the measure. He said his constituents were opposed to giving judges such a large pay raise.
But the Legislature was in general agreement this year that it should move quickly on the pay raise for judges who now get between $81,780 for district court judges and $94,780 for the chief justice.
"If we had made our mistake earlier last year, we could have corrected it last year," Sen. Matt Matsunaga joked.
SANTA TAXES:
State excise tax collections are benefitting from "relatively strong Christmas shopping" said Tax Director Ray Kamikawa.Figures released yesterday show the state collected $47 million more in taxes last month, measured against December collections.
Technical reasons extended the number of days reported in the collection period, but even removing those considerations, Kamikawa said the state had a good Christmas.
"About $11 million out of the $47 million increase ... was probably caused by a strong Christmas season," he said.
Last year, January collections were down 7.3 percent.
Overall, tax collections are running 2.7 percent higher than at the same time last year, while previous estimates had tax revenues actually declining by about 1 percent.
CRUISIN':
Passenger cruise terminals statewide would be improved using money from taxes paid by cruise ships operating in Hawaii, under a bill making its way through the Legislature.House Bill 2212 would transfer a portion of the public service company taxes paid by American Hawaii Cruises, currently the state's only cruise ship operator, over the next nine years to fund the necessary passenger cruise facilities needed at key ports of call around the state. The improvements are needed because American Hawaii Cruises expects to place three new cruise ships in service over the next four years if sufficient facilities are available.
The money would be placed into a harbors special fund managed by the state Department of Transportation.
Transportation Chairman Kenneth Hiraki (D, Ala Moana) said yesterday the state receives about $3 million in annual public service company taxes that go directly into the state general fund. The bill allows the Transportation Department to use some of that money for passenger cruise terminals, he said.
The House Transportation Committee sent the measure to the Finance Committee.
PULL THE SHADES:
Those loud, annoying "beep, beep, beep" sounds heard from reversing delivery trucks making their night rounds would be silenced in favor of bright flashing lights, under a noise pollution measure moving in the state Legislature.House Bill 2880 House Draft 1, approved yesterday by the House Transportation Committee, allows delivery vehicles to turn off the audible component of their reverse warning system from midnight to 5:30 a.m. if equipped with bright flashing lights at the rear of trucks.
The measure is aimed at reducing noise pollution in high-density areas like Waikiki, where most deliveries to hotels, businesses and restaurants are made during the night.
Sylvia Zarkin, a Waikiki resident, said for the past 10 years she has been continually awakened from a sound sleep between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. deliveries to the nearby Hyatt Regency Hotel. Zarkin said she and other area residents deserve some consideration.
"I can tell you that sleep deprivation has a very bad effect on one's health," she said.
Nevertheless, the Hawaii Transportation Association opposed the bill because audible reverse warning systems are a recognized signal for a reversing vehicle, while bright flashing lights are not. Ashford Kekaula, association safety director, said drivers must do everything reasonable to prevent an accident while reversing big vehicles.
The measure's next stop is the House finance panel.
Star-Bulletin staff
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