State House and Senate negotiators were still working late Thursday to reach an agreement on the state budget, a stalemate that left dozens of bills in limbo ahead of tonight’s procedural deadline to complete work before the legislative session ends.
A disagreement about how much to spend on state construction to help with economic recovery has held up the $11.2 billion supplemental budget. The House has settled on about $300 million, the amount requested by Gov. Neil Abercrombie. The Senate has suggested about $500 million but wants at least $400 million directed only at repair and maintenance projects at public schools, hospitals and other state buildings.
While the capital improvement project outlay has been the sticking point, the House and Senate are also divided about the degree of regulatory exemptions for state construction projects. The Senate has proposed streamlined permitting and procurement for smaller repair and maintenance projects for two years and a legislative oversight commission to ensure transparency in bidding and contracting.
The House on Thursday countered that streamlined permitting and procurement should be applied on a broader range of construction projects for three years.
The House also added language that would allow the state Departments of Land and Natural Resources and Transportation to exempt some projects from special management area permits and shoreline setback variance requirements, provisions that had been part of another bill condemned by the state Office of Environmental Quality Control and environmental advocates as a threat to environmental protection. The House did not include a provision that would have temporarily allowed the governor to exempt certain types of state projects from environmental review, a concept that had drawn the most severe criticism.
Senate President Shan Tsutsui (D, Wailuku-Kahului) said senators want the additional repair and maintenance money — and perhaps some targeted tax credits — to help stimulate the economy. He said he doubts senators will agree to the broader regulatory exemptions the House prefers.
“At this point I don’t think the Senate is willing to budge and give in on our position, because I think we’ve made a lot of compromises throughout,” he said.
House Speaker Calvin Say (D, St. Louis Heights-Wilhelmina Rise-Palolo Valley) said the House wants to limit new state construction spending to roughly the $300 million Abercrombie requested to contain debt service costs.
“We’re just trying to do our very best in holding the costs down on the debt service, and that was the approach,” Say said.
Budget negotiators have also been in talks about how much to allocate to replenish the state’s hurricane relief and rainy day funds — an Abercrombie priority. That decision will help determine how much money is available for other new spending.
Tonight is the deadline to have bills prepared for final votes before session adjourns Thursday. Bills with a financial component are unable to move unless there is an agreement on the budget.
Tsutsui and Say said they wanted to meet the deadline, but that could hinge on a budget deal.
“This is a supplemental year,” Say said. “It’s not the biennium year where you’re supposed to have all these measures in place.
“A supplemental year is just to react to emergencies that occur or funding of programs that were underfunded in the past.”
While lawmakers often wait until the final hours before the deadline to reach consensus on bills, the budget is usually in place. A stalemate on the budget sets up a potentially chaotic finish.
The House and Senate have yet to agree on a bill that would create the regulatory framework for an interisland electric transmission cable, another of Abercrombie’s top goals.
Lawmakers are negotiating over a tax on private hospitals and nursing homes that could attract millions in federal matching money to help cover health care costs for the poor.
They are discussing whether to place limits on a solar tax credit that many believe is costing the state too much in revenue.
They are also debating whether to extend or expand a film tax credit.
The Senate agreed Thursday night to accept the House version of a bill that would authorize temporary environmental and regulatory exemptions to speed rehabilitation of 11 state-owned bridges. The projects would be eligible for exemptions through June 2017.
The Transportation Department and the construction industry supported the bill to help repair structurally deficient bridges, but environmental advocates opposed the exemptions as too sweeping and warned of lawsuits.
The disagreement between the House and Senate on the budget is emblematic of a larger political struggle between the two chambers. Through the years, many in the Senate have believed the House has purposely held bills before the end-of-session deadline, setting off a late-night scramble of horse-trading to determine which legislation survives.
Say, who has had a stronger grip on the House than Senate leaders have had in the more factional Senate, has often used the scramble to the House’s advantage. But Tsutsui and the Senate held firm to the deadline last session after negotiations collapsed over tax policy, and several unrelated bills were left on the table.
Sen. David Ige (D, Aiea-Pearl City), chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said Thursday that the Senate was prepared to do the same this year.
“We don’t see anything that’s in conference currently that we would feel compelled to extend the deadline at this time,” he told House negotiators. “So I think it’s important that we make decisions in a timely manner so we can avoid the logjam at the end.”
