House to vote on state’s $16 billion spending plan
KRYSTLE MARCELLUS / JULY 2015
House Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke (right) says she reduced Gov. David Ige’s operating budget proposal by about $47 million.
The Hawaii House of Representatives is planning to vote on the state’s $16 billion spending plan for 2017.
Representatives will decide Wednesday how much money they want to spend on everything from school air conditioning to hospitals.
House Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke says she reduced Gov. David Ige’s operating budget proposal by about $47 million.
Even so, the House version of the budget includes plans to spend at least $300 million more than the state expects to reel in.
Luke says she supports Ige’s $30 million school cooling plan. But lawmakers haven’t yet decided how to fund the proposal.
The House budget plan doesn’t include $160 million to rebuild Hawaii State Hospital.
They included $380,000 for sex abuse treatment services, a program that faced reduced funding during tight fiscal times.
17 responses to “House to vote on state’s $16 billion spending plan”
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Where are the Democratic’s who supported progressive legislation? This tired group is a flop.
When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer ‘Present’ or ‘Not guilty.’ Theodore Roosevelt
Looking at this picture with these 4 elected officials gives me ZERO HOPE for any real improvement in this city.
VOTE THESE CLOWNS OUT OF OFFICE !!
My first impression of the Photo was similar. Looked like a requiem for the soon to dead and now dying… “Clowns”–not really; Clowns are entertaining. These are Puppets, serving their respective Puppet Masters. Therefore, in this next election, I am voting for “Kermit”, atleast he’s an honest puppet.
Redacted: ..”soon to be dead”.. (I hate WordPress!)
Everyone in the photo looks so unhappy. They need to kill the bill that will increase the Vehicle Registration fee and the fuel tax. DOT claims that money is needed for highway improvement but i don’t see anything going on in our area.Their probably redirecting funds to other projects.
Hahaha well IGE stopped the DOT Highways FAST IT Project and cost the taxpayers $13 million. That $13 million could have been used for highways maybe? If State workers didn’t waste so much of taxpayers money.
Plus that Highway’s FAST IT project lasted almost 6 years. How many years and how many DOT Highways people are needed to determine a project will not work. Notice the “not work” part.
Geez
The House version of the budget includes plans to spend at least $300 million more than the state expects to reel in. If approved, the State will issue bonds to cover the $300 million. That means the $300 million plus interest to repay the bonds when they mature will be added to the State’s debt which is already about $18 BILLION, including State bonds, unfunded pension benefits and unfunded retiree health care benefits. Here is the source: http://www.statedatalab.org/state_data_and_comparisons/detail/hawaii
That’s what Dems do.
Hopefully they don’t waste money spending it on useless things like they usually do.
Ok let’s see about the waste:
$12 million lost on ERP IT project
$13 million lost on DOT Highways FAST Project
$?? million lost on outdated TAX systems
Who knows how much more the government is hiding?
Leadership is no fun for those with a conscience, the inescapable burden of choosing winners and losers is heavy. On the other hand, the job of us “ordinary” citizens is to be vigilant, to speak up and to help out when we can. This isn’t usually fun either, especially this time of year. Taxes, yay!
What happened to the number $13.7 billion that was in the headline of article a few days ago? $16 divided by $13.7 is 17% higher. Was this an error in reporting, or a last minute ramp up in spending. Just yesterday, PBN reported that the State Department of Taxation sent out 1095-A IRS forms that had errors in it, regarding Health Insurance. So what does the State want? More money: TAKE IT, TAKE IT ALL !!!! Realize that a latest revenue figure for HEI is $3.5 billion per year. The State is running a budget of $16 billion. That’s 16 divided 3.5 equals 4.5 times more than our largest corporation. WHAT THE HECK R U DOING GOVERNOR DAVID “WIMP” IGE??!! The Star Trek episode entitled “Errand of Mercy” in 1966 Indicated that Klingons do not like “Men who smile too much”. David Ige, u r not another Jimmy Carter, I hope.
Spending 16 billion with roughly 1 million inhabitants is $16000 per person. Can that be possible?
How many legislators does it take to change a light bulb? None. Everybody went home after the state went bankrupt.
That’s too much
Wow, I think Hawaii may be spending much more per person than most, if not all other states. That’s what happens when 1 party controls everything for 50 years. Public corruption runs rampant in Hawaii. Keep voting for the same long serving (D) politicians people, you deserve what they and their special interest financiers are doing to the state. 18 billion in unfunded public worker liabilities and growing.