Key isle projects
to get $600M

A federal spending
bill includes $68 million
for native Hawaiians

The state will get more than $600 million in federal funds for scores of Hawaii-related projects -- ranging from road improvements to crime prevention -- as part of a $388 billion spending package approved by President Bush yesterday.

ISLE SPENDING Here are some of the federal spending bill's Hawaii-related highlights: » $34.5 million to support native Hawaiian education, including scholarships and teacher training programs. The state Department of Education will get $1 million from the appropriation to repair public schools with high percentages of native Hawaiians. » $14 million to Papa Ola Lokahi to provide primary care, health education and disease prevention services to native Hawaiians. » $7.8 million to research threatened and endangered Pacific turtles and mitigate the effects of longline fisheries. » $5 million to improve rural bus service on the Big Island, Maui and Kauai. » $4.6 million to expand Puuhonua o Honaunau National Park on the Big Island.

The 1,690-page measure, which covers the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, includes nearly $68 million for native Hawaiian support programs and $12.5 million for projects to combat crystal methamphetamine use in the islands, according to an announcement from U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye.

The bill also includes a provision that allows the state "regulatory freedom" to protect whales in Hawaii waters. The addition is in response to U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway's July ruling that overturned a state ban on parasailing and high-speed boating during whale season.

Mollway said the ban -- in effect from Dec. 15 to May 15 -- violated federal law because states are not allowed to take actions independent of the federal government when dealing with protected marine mammals.

The measure's provision "ensures that the state of Hawaii will be able to protect the endangered whales that frequents its waters," Inouye said.

Appropriations for Hawaii projects in the federal spending bill have grown by about $108 million from last fiscal year, when the state received $494 million in federal funds.

Then, the Citizens Against Government Waste ranked Hawaii second in the nation for federal spending per capita, according to its Web site. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit has criticized several lawmakers, including Inouye, for putting what it calls frivolous projects on the taxpayer's tab.

But Inouye, in a news release on the spending bill, said the Hawaii-related programs "are all valuable to the betterment of our island state."

"The programs include law enforcement and crime prevention, support for our schools, road improvement, agricultural promotion," he said, and are "varied in subject matter and focus."

Congress sent the measure to the president Tuesday. It covers spending for every federal agency except the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security.

Included in the package are several appropriations for projects aimed at battling the state's crystal meth, or "ice," epidemic. A program begun on the Big Island last year received $6 million to continue on Kauai and Maui and expand to Oahu.

Also, $68 million -- about $8 million more than last fiscal year -- has been earmarked for projects aimed at bettering education, health care, vocational training and housing for native Hawaiians.

Meanwhile, the University of Hawaii got $10 million to plan and design a cancer treatment center. The money will be coupled with $8.5 million already appropriated to Tripler Army Medical Center for the project.

The state will also get more than $244 million to support highway, road and mass transit improvements. The Department of Transportation appropriation includes $2 million to build a new, 125-foot air traffic control tower at Kona Airport.

Several historical restoration projects will get money under the measure. The Friends of Old Maui High School will get $250,000 to restore the school's administration building, which has deteriorated since the school's closure in 1972.

Also, nearly $4 million will go to restoring historic buildings in Kalaupapa, where Hansen's disease sufferers were once quarantined.

"Preserving the historic buildings of Kalaupapa will ensure that our state and our nation will never forget the importance of compassion and mercy as the virtues that must always accompany the science of medicine," Inouye said.