Legislators set sights on 2014

Although the state Legislature is a part-time institution, most lawmakers will say their work does not end when the gavel comes down on closing day.

“We’re going to spend this interim really vetting an agenda for next year,” Rep. Scott Saiki (D, Downtown-Kakaako-McCully), the House majority leader, said Friday. “Fiscal reforms are going to be important.”

He credited House Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke with helping to set a sound fiscal approach. Luke (D, Punchbowl-Pauoa-Nuuanu) said her goal is to continue to curtail government growth and use excess money to invest in reducing future debt.

“I think Sylvia was on the right track,” Saiki said. “She’s going to be looking at things like vacancies. They’re going to vet special funds, trust funds. She’s looking at areas where funds are not really accounted for.”

After adjourning for the year last week, Senate President Donna Mercado Kim already was thinking about issues to tackle in 2014.

“I will be sending out a memo in the next couple of days requesting the (committee) chairs to identify an interim (initiative), and hopefully some of those projects will be part of our majority package next year,” Kim (D, Kalihi Valley-Moanalua-Halawa) said Thursday, closing day of the 2013 session. “While the session ends, our work really does not end.”

Most lawmakers say the outlook is not as bleak as in recent years, when sizable budget deficits forced cutbacks in programs and limited spending. Public workers were asked to chip in through 5 percent across-the-board pay cuts.

An improved economic outlook allowed lawmakers to start paying down future obligations and replenish reserves that had been depleted to help close past budget holes.

“I think we’re going to try and build on what we have now,” Gov. Neil Abercrombie said in his assessment of the session. “We have a positive balance in our budget. We are no longer facing deficit spending in our budget. The Legislature has stepped up to my call for addressing unfunded liabilities.

“I think we’re going to have a very, very positive evaluation by the accrediting agencies across the country with regard to our fiscal ability.”

Other top challenges for lawmakers include environmental issues.

While the state has done well to increase the number of solar power arrays statewide, through tax credits and other programs, Kim said the sheer number of solar and photovoltaic arrays being installed will lead to the issue of what ultimately happens to the panels.

“One of the issues is going to be how do we dispose of them,” Kim said. “Where do they go? Do they go into our landfills? What’s going to happen for companies who may not be around 20 years from now? So we’ll be looking at that.”

One issue lawmakers hope to tackle in 2014, an election year, is the minimum wage. Proposals to raise the $7.25-an-hour minimum wage failed as House and Senate negotiators got hung up on a tip credit, the amount below minimum wage that employers may pay for gratuity-intensive jobs such as valets, waiters and waitresses.

“We’re not happy with that,” said House Speaker Joe Souki (D, Wai­hee-Wai­ehu-Wai­luku). “The House position was that the request for that increase in the tip credit was a little too substantial, was a little too much.”

The Senate had proposed a tip credit of $2, compared with a 35-cent credit sought by the House. The current tip credit is 25 cents.

Abercrombie, in his State of the State speech in January, asked lawmakers to consider a $2 increase in the hourly rate.

“I’m going to try and get it raised,” Abercrombie said last week. “Everybody’s worthy of their labor, and I think that the legislative process in this instance, unfortunately, didn’t work as positively as I would’ve liked and so we’re going to try and do everything we can to make sure that in the next legislative session the issue of wages that reflect a pono idea — the correct idea — of how we should value people’s labor is respectfully addressed.”

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Star-Advertiser reporter Sarah Zoellick contributed to this report.