Legislature cautious Gov. Ben Cayetano's economic recovery plan is finding little support at the state Capitol, except for Sen. Fred Hemmings (R, Kailua-Waimanalo), who said Cayetano was "headed in the right direction."
about gov’s plan
Cayetano is requesting $1 billion
for new construction
projects around the stateBy Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.comWhile legislators have been talking about ways to speed up state construction spending, adding money to the tourist promotion budget and helping out-of-work employees, Cayetano said Monday the state must do more.
The governor also pressed his case for Hawaii yesterday on national television, appearing on a CNN presentation with three other governors.
He said the economic downturn triggered by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has to be addressed by a major effort to diversify Hawaii's economy. Cayetano is calling for spending an additional $1 billion to build a major university campus in West Oahu, build a new University of Hawaii medical school and start work on a prison and drug treatment center in Hilo.
Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, however, are more cautious, saying the state should go slow.
And there are new calls that any state subsidies for tourist promotion should go to actually lowering the price of plane tickets and hotel rooms in Hawaii.
The only dispute comes from Hemmings, who says he agrees with Democrat Cayetano.
"If we can expedite spending without hurting our bond rating, we should," Hemmings said.
"Not only do we have to allocate more money, but we have got to get it off the budget sheets and into projects in the ground," he said.
Senate President Robert Bunda (D, Wahiawa-North Shore) disagreed, saying there is no agreement on where to locate the West Oahu campus, medical school or a new prison.
"We are trying to be responsible in terms of the debt situation and also the location and what our people want us to do," Bunda said yesterday after a Democratic caucus.
"Is this really diversifying the economy?" he asked. "It is a billion dollars over and above what is already allocated. The question is, Did he go overboard?"
Bunda added that he thought if the state is to aid the tourist industry, it would be better off "if we negotiate with the airlines on their fares and the hotels in reference to their room rates."
"Perhaps the state could buy a large amount of airline tickets to give to travel agents so they can bring in tourists," Bunda said.
Sen. Brian Taniguchi (D, Manoa), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, also pointed to the $500 million in state construction spending that has to be released, before getting around to an extra $1 billion expenditure.
"We know there is talk of some of these big projects, but we want to go cautiously on that," Taniguchi said.
"We are not sure that building a medical school or research facility will mean that in the short term we will have more steady economic growth," he said.
The Legislature is considering coming back into special session later next month to pass legislation to help the tourist industry and other workers who could be laid off in a recession, but no agreement has been reached yet on what to do.
In the House, Rep. Brian Schatz (D, Makiki), a Democratic policy leader, said he is not sure the tourist industry can help the situation with more advertising.
"They haven't demonstrated that they have the capacity to formulate and execute a strategy, and that makes a difference," Schatz said.
And veteran Rep. Dennis Arakaki (D, Kalihi) said after seeing the tourist industry come to the Legislature repeatedly to ask for emergency aid, he wants more action.
"We are talking about the immediate," he said. "It seems to be the best strategy to get people on airplanes. It is going to take incentives."
Tomorrow, Sen. Donna Kim Mercado Kim (D, Fort Shafter-Aiea), chairwoman of the Tourism Committee, plans a committee meeting to review with tourist officials their plans for a promotion effort that right now is pegged at $10 million.
And on Friday, Hawaii's congressional delegation is to meet with Hawaii's local political leaders, from the governor and lieutenant governor to the Democratic and Republican legislative leaders and the four county majors, as well as the state's major tourism officials, to discuss the plans to deal with the economy.
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