HGEA pay raise
at risk for vetoGov. Lingle kills a bill
tapping a special fund
to balance the budget
Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed a bill yesterday that takes $20 million from the self-funded Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to help balance the state budget, and threatened raises awarded to white-collar state workers.
Lingle has insisted the state cannot afford the raises for Hawaii Government Employees Association workers.
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Lingle has until next Friday to veto a pay-raise bill sent to her by the Democrat-controlled Legislature.
"We think the state can afford 4 percent and they think the state can afford 8 percent," Lingle said "I am suggesting to them that we can't afford what they want."
Lingle met with House Speaker Calvin Say and Senate President Robert Bunda early yesterday to tell them she would veto the bill dissolving the Compliance Resolution Fund and would call for $40 million to be restored in the budget.
She asked for the restoration of almost $20 million in construction projects, including $9 million in harbor improvements, $2.4 million for sand replenishment at Kuhio Beach and $2.5 million to meet a federal court-ordered deadline for making state parks accessible to the disabled.
Lingle asked that 45 federally funded jobs within the Human Services Department be restored and that the pay for her senior policy adviser, Linda Smith, be put back into the budget.
Lingle said the budget changes are needed, but that the state cannot afford the HGEA pay raises, estimated to cost $32 million in 2005 and grow to more than $51 million a year after 2006.
Asked if she would consider vetoing the pay raise, Lingle said, "I will consider it."
She said some lawmakers have said that because the pay raise was the result of binding arbitration, the state has a legal duty to fund it.
"If some legislators have taken a position that they have no choice, that is not true and they have been told that it is not true," Lingle said. "They do have a choice, and I have a choice."
Democratic leaders said they will attempt to override Lingle's veto of the bill dissolving the Compliance Resolution Fund, and would consider doing the same if the governor vetoes the HGEA pay raise.
The fund was set up under former Gov. Ben Cayetano to allow the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to deposit the fees needed to operate business licensing and registration operations.
Lawmakers this year grabbed the $30 million special fund and appropriated $10 million to the department, leaving them $20 million to help balance the state budget.
But Lingle and department director Mark Recktenwald said yesterday that businesses have praised the department and worry service will suffer if the operating budget is cut.
"Being self-sufficient allows the department to avoid competing for funds and being underfunded, as has happened in the past," Lingle said in her veto message to the Legislature.
Lingle called the bill "badly written, poorly thought out and a money grab."
Nine senators voted against the bill, enough to sustain Lingle's veto if they all continue to object to the bill.
Sen. Ron Menor, chairman of the Consumer Protection Committee and considered a swing vote on the bill, said yesterday he would not vote for an override unless new arguments for the bill were presented to him.
"So far, I have not seen a reason to support it," said Menor (D, Mililani).
Lingle also vetoed bill House Bill 1797 yesterday, which would allow optometrists to prescribe drugs for eye diseases and give injections.
"This bill is objectionable because it constitutes a significant relaxation of current restrictions and raises health and safety concerns," Lingle said in her veto message.
Because optometrists don't get the same training that physicians receive, Lingle said, there could be severe consequences.
"Time is of the essence in treating eye infections," Lingle said. "If treated inappropriately or belatedly, the result could be severe complications, including blindness."
