Isles to get $691M in funding

Construction projects at Oahu military bases will receive the bulk of $691 million coming to Hawaii in a federal appropriations bill approved Thursday by Senate and House conferees.

The military budget items include $65 million for a Navy communications center in Wahiawa, a $49.8 million Pearl Harbor submarine facility and $170 million for Army barracks construction at Schofield Barracks, Fort Shafter and Wheeler Army Airfield.

Some $34.2 million in U.S. Department of Education funding would go to public schools with a high percentage of native Hawaiian students, for teacher training, renovations and curriculum development, according to an announcement by U.S. Sens. Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka.

The bill renews a previously authorized $25 million appropriation for a regional biocontainment laboratory in Kakaako. The facility is planned to provide disease detection and response to potential public health emergencies such as pandemic flu that originate in the Asia-Pacific region.

The $157 million appropriated for nonmilitary uses also included:

» State Department of Education, $46 million in Impact Aid to school districts with students who are dependents of armed forces or federal government employees.

» $14.2 million for Papa Ola Lokahi Native Hawaiian Health Care Systems.

» $6 million to provide vocational and secondary school training for native Hawaiians.

» Maui Community College, $2.4 million for job training and community development in rural areas and $1 million for job training and education programs through the Samoan/Asian Pacific Job Training Program.

» State Department of Health, $2 million for continuing medical care and support of people with Hansen's disease in Kalaupapa and Honolulu.