Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Proposal seeks
$3.16 million for
Maili A.C.

The school has suffered for years,
but a recent Capitol rally
got action

Blanco sees growing acceptance
Lawmakers nix minimum-wage hike

By Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin

Maili Elementary School would get $3.16 million for air conditioning to help ward off heat, dust, farm-animal smells and flies under the proposed budget awaiting approval by the state Legislature.

"It's great," Maili Principal Linda Victor said yesterday after receiving word from lawmakers about the appropriation.

But Victor said after years of waiting for relief, she will be even happier once work on the project actually begins.

The Maili funding was just one of several education-related money issues approved by lawmakers in the last two days.

Although the school has sought help for years with the problem of heat, flies and odors from adjacent pig and chicken farms, recent public outcry over conditions at the school came after Maili supporters rallied at the state Capitol last month.

The governor also came out in support of the school.

Rep. Michael Kahikina (D, Maili), a House Finance Committee member, said the budget appropriates $200,000 for design, $2.8 million for construction and $160,000 for equipment.

The original cost to air-condition Maili was $3.4 million but the cost is now about $4.6 million.

Kahikina said he's confident the remaining money will be appropriated next year. Victor said the new funding will help with the design and the upgrade of the electrical system which must be completed before air conditioning is put in.

Rep. Ken Ito, chairman of the House Education committee, said lawmakers recognized that something needed to be done at Maili. "I went to Maili and no child should be in that kind of situation," Ito said. "It was embarrassing."

Other money-related education measures going to a final vote next week include:

Raising the salary cap for the state superintendent of schools to $150,000. Superintendent Paul LeMahieu's current annual salary is $90,014.

Allowing the Department of Education to retain the full amount of federal-impact aid and other federal subsidies instead of repaying it to the general fund.

Appropriating $200,000 to continue the school-to-work program under the DOE after federal funding for the program ran out.

---

High-tech czar sees
growing acceptance

Lawmakers nix
minimum-wage hike

By Tim Ruel
Star-Bulletin

The Legislature is poised to pass several bills to help the growing high-technology sector in Hawaii, much to the liking of state tech czar Joe Blanco.

"Blanco is smiling," he said outside a conference committee yesterday that had just approved at least six technology bills he and other legislators had pushed this session.

"It's been a good day for us," Blanco said, giving a thumbs-up to passers-by at the Capitol.

It's also been a comeback for Blanco, technology adviser and aide to Gov. Ben Cayetano.

Earlier this session, a Senate committee shelved a bill backed by Blanco that would have let him consolidate the state's technology agencies.

Blanco said this would streamline government operations and prevent duplicated efforts.

Lorraine Inouye, Economic Development Committee chairwoman and Big Island senator, killed it because the individual agencies didn't know about it.

The same language resurfaced in a bill that passed Friday, however. It gives Blanco the power to merge the Hawaii Strategic Development Corp., the Natural Energy Lab and the High Technology Development Corp.

Cayetano will likely sign the tech bills, Blanco said, since many of them had originated in the governor's office.

Cayetano already signed a law Thursday that allows the High Tech Development Corp. to issue $100 million in bonds for the development of high-tech office buildings.

The bonds offer lower interest rates than bank loans.

The state is negotiating with companies to open tech offices in Hawaii, and had been waiting for the bonds to sweeten the talks, Blanco said.

Other tech-related language that emerged Friday includes:

A $200,000 college scholarship program that would go to students who meet several criteria, including acceptance to schools with a qualified course of study. The pilot program, administered by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, would run for five years.

A 10 percent tax credit for investments in high-tech companies.

A new committee, led by Blanco and other state officials, that will oversee the government's Web portal at AccessHawaii.com. The bill sets aside $250,000 to link the site to state libraries through a high-speed Internet connection.

Tax credits for those who buy laptops for their children's schooling, part of an $800,000 fund to teach computer education.

Exemption of certain activities of call centers from the state general excise tax and public service company tax. Mainland companies Penncro Associates Inc. and Southco Inc. have recently opened two 24-hour customer service call-in centers in the state.

---

Lawmakers nix
minimum-wage hike

Rejection of the 50-cent hike
is 'really sad,' Cayetano says

By Richard Borreca
Star-Bulletin

Saying an increase in the minimum wage would hurt small business, the state Legislature failed to approve a raise of 50 cents an hour that had been called for by Gov. Ben Cayetano.

The rejection upset Cayetano, who called it "sad, really sad."

He complained that after the legislature gave "tax breaks to multimillion-dollar hotel corporations, they won't help folks who don't earn enough."

But Rep. Terry Nui Yoshinaga, Labor Committee chairwoman, said raising the minimum wage by even 50 cents means a 10 percent increase in fixed-labor costs for small businesses. It's a big jump for business owners to absorb at one time, she said.

The House wants to defer the increase to 2003, to give the economy more time to recover.

"So we're concerned if we increase it this year before we're really out of the woods that it might send a wrong signal to our businesses," she said.

Cayetano blamed House Economic Development Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Herkes, for the minimum-wage defeat.

"We have given business a great deal, we cut taxes, we cut workers' comp, we cut insurance and we streamlined the process," he said.

"Now there is just one guy holding this thing up, Bob Herkes; as he leaves, he wants to make sure he does as much as he can for his employers."

Herkes (D, Kau), a former hotel executive and Kamehameha Investments vice president, said helping hotels would improve the economy and provide jobs.

"I think job creation is the most important thing we can do for working people," Herkes said.

"His remarks were unfortunate. My motive is job creation; that is all I have been doing this session," Herkes said.

---

Legislature Directory
Hawaii Revised Statutes
Legislature Bills