A House resolution that would call for a state audit of Oahu’s cash-strapped rail project is gaining momentum.
The House Transportation Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to approve House Concurrent Resolution 181. The measure would ask the state auditor "at a minimum" to examine the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s operations, management and policies — as well as factors contributing to the budget gap of nearly $1 billion now confronting the island’s 20-mile, 21-station elevated rail project.
The request is similar to language that’s in the Senate’s rail tax extension bill, Senate Bill 19, which would also require audits of the project.
It’s also among a flurry of resolutions that several state legislators have introduced this month seeking closer scrutiny and better management of the largest public works project in Hawaii’s history, as those lawmakers and their colleagues consider whether to extend the 0.5 percent general excise tax surcharge for Oahu that’s funding most of the project.
After the House committee’s vote Wednesday, HART Executive Director Dan Grabauskas said he’s "looking forward to another opportunity to share information about the project."
Rep. Henry Aquino, who introduced the resolution, said after the vote, "I think it’s good to have this discussion."
HCR 181 is slated to go before the House Finance Committee next. It further asks that the audit probe costs "associated with the rail transit project contracts, including payments to contractors, subcontractors and consultants, and what the expenditures are being used for."
However, HART leaders have repeatedly stressed in the past couple of days that neither they nor those at other state public agencies are legally required to keep tabs on all of the subcontractors for capital projects such as the rail. They say that they could provide a partial glimpse of subcontractor expenditures that’s based on voluntary reporting from prime contractors, as well as HART’s records of subcontractors participating in a government "disadvantaged business enterprise" program.
In his written testimony for the measure, Grabauskas noted that the project is subject to several other audits and financial checks from outside agencies. That includes audits by independent firms, most recently KMH LLP, which had "no findings" for fiscal year 2013-2014.
In HART’s first independent audit, in 2012, another firm, PKF Pacific Hawaii LLP, found a handful of accounting errors that it blamed on a lack of sufficient HART staff resources at the time. The second, in 2013, found accounting problems related to the project’s reimbursements from HART’s federal partners.
Meanwhile, the Senate will consider at least five additional rail-related resolutions during hearings next week. They include:
» Senate Concurrent Resolution 112, which would ask for a state audit of the state Taxation Department to understand why rail’s GET revenues are down despite an overall increase in state GET collections.
» SCR63, which would urge HART to seek more cost-cutting measures.
» SCR143, which would ask HART to develop a plan to fund rail operations and maintenance.
» SCR65, which would urge HART to incorporate bus rapid transit links from several parts of the island into the future rail line.
» SCR124, asking the auditor to look into the status and progress of rail’s completion.
Whether a state audit of rail takes place because of the House resolution, the Senate bill, or some other measure, it would nonetheless occur after a vote has already taken place in this legislative session on whether to extend the rail tax.
