House panel leaves medical
school revenue-bond
funding intact

A drug treatment bill would have
repealed action taken last year

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By Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com

A line at the bottom of an eight-page drug treatment bill created some nervous tension until it was deferred yesterday by the House Health Committee.

The line in House Bill 1929, authored by 16 Republicans, would have repealed Act 14, passed in a special session last year to use tobacco settlement money to finance a $150 million revenue bond for construction of a University of Hawaii medical school in Kakaako.

The most relieved people in the hearing room were Dr. Ed Cadman, dean of the John A. Burns School of Medicine, and Jan Yokota, executive director of the Hawaii Community Development Authority.

HB1929 intended to provide tobacco settlement funding for drug prevention and treatment programs.

Noting he is a cancer specialist, Cadman said prevention programs should be funded as much as possible, but he urged continued support for the $150 million medical school bond.

He said he appreciates "the sensitivity of using tobacco funds to support the interest and principal payment of the $150 million bond," but 16 other states are using tobacco money for "biotech initiatives."

Yokota said groundbreaking is scheduled in September for the new health and wellness center. Work on bond financing is under way, with bond issuance expected in May or June, she said.

"Repeal of this funding would immediately halt plans and design activities currently under way and jeopardize the entire project, resulting in the loss of a much-needed opportunity for economic diversification," she said.

The American Heart Association of Hawaii, American Cancer Society Hawaii Pacific and the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawaii were among groups urging restoration of money for the Tobacco Prevention and Control Trust Fund.

A new medical school is important but should not be built with the tobacco funds, Coalition Director Clifford Chang said in written testimony. "No one would even dream of cutting funds for childhood immunizations to pay for the medical school. It makes no more good sense to use the funds allocated for tobacco use prevention and control," he said.

House Minority Leader Galen Fox (R, Waikiki-Ala Wai) said the bill was not intended to kill funding for the new medical school, but to restore original funding for the tobacco trust fund, cut to 12.5 percent from 25 percent of Hawaii's share of settlement funds from the tobacco companies during the special session.

However, he said HB1891, proposing changes in allocations from the tobacco settlement fund, would take care of both goals. He said both measures should be passed by the committee with the disputed section of HB1929 deleted.

State Budget Director Neal Miyahira opposed changing the allocations, saying the Emergency Budget Reserve (rainy day) Fund is essential and that the present allocation for the tobacco trust fund already is substantial.

The Health Committee, headed by Rep. Dennis Arakaki (D, Kamehameha Heights-Kalihi Valley), deferred HB1891 until Thursday to make some changes.

Bob Toyofuku, representing the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawaii, suggested taking the medical school money "off the top" of the tobacco fund, then dividing the rest of the money between the rainy day fund, Department of Health and tobacco trust fund.

The Health Department retained 35 percent in the special session, but, in addition to the trust fund being cut, the rainy day fund was cut to 24.5 percent from 40 percent so 28 percent could be allocated for the medical school bond fund.

UH John A. Burns School of Medicine