Hurricane fund Several state Republican lawmakers criticized the governor's veto of a budget item that would have set aside $2 million from the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund to be used by former policyholders to retrofit their homes to withstand a hurricane.
veto criticized
State GOP legislators
say Cayetano's move
will hurt homeownersBy Lisa Asato
lasato@starbulletin.comRep. Charles Djou (R, Kahaluu-Kaneohe) called the line-item veto "an out-and-out theft."
"The homeowners of Hawaii have made it very, very clear that this money does not belong to the governor, it belongs to the homeowners ... (and is) not to be used to pay for big government or for a deficit," Djou said at a press conference yesterday at the state Capitol.
In his veto message Friday, Gov. Ben Cayetano said he did not support the program because the benefit was limited to less than 1,000 former policy holders of the fund and because of the administrative costs of the program.
"The HHRF policyholders have already benefited from paying their HHRF premiums, because they received the coverage they paid for," Cayetano said in his veto message.
Republicans also took issue with vetoes of the transfer of $25 million in various special funds to the state's general fund.
"I think what is disturbing and very disappointing is the governor decided ... that these special funds are more important than preparing Hawaii for the next hurricane," Djou said.
The governor said he vetoed the transfers because he felt the money was needed in the special funds.
Djou, Rep. Joe Gomes (R, Waimanalo-Enchanted Lake) and Sen. Fred Hemmings (R, Kailua-Waimanalo) said the move was hypocritical because the administration is pushing citizens to be prepared for natural disaster yet it vetoed a measure would have helped homeowners accomplish that goal.
The Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund, the state's hurricane insurance program, was started when homeowners could not get policies from private insurance companies after the devastating effects of Hurricane Iniki 10 years ago. The state stopped writing HHRF policies when insurers returned a few years ago.
State of Hawaii
