Hawaii lawmakers unveiled a state construction budget for the next two years that totals more than $3.4 billion in projects to be funded with state, federal and other funds, including injections of funding into affordable housing, airport projects and school construction.
Lawmakers also approved a bill for automatic recounts in elections when the margin of victory is one-quarter of 1% or less, but rejected a proposal to provide up to a week of family leave to working grandparents to care for their ill grandchildren.
The House and Senate also failed to agree on a proposal to disclose the names of police officers who are suspended or fired for misconduct, which will not pass this year.
An array of issues are still unresolved heading into the final days of this year’s session, including proposals to increase the state minimum wage and to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. The session is scheduled to adjourn Thursday.
Major items that are authorized in the new state construction budget include $15.2 million to buy land in the Mililani Tech Park for a community arts and theater center, and $20 million for construction of the East Kapolei Middle School.
The construction budget also would set aside $67 million over the next two years for the Dwelling Unit Revolving Fund to help develop affordable housing, $20 million for the high-rise Pohukaina Elementary School in Kakaako and almost $20 million for a new gymnasium with locker rooms at Roosevelt High School.
Also included in the construction budget are various amounts of funding for design or construction of girls’ locker rooms at Aiea, Baldwin, Kaimuki, Maui, Mililani, Radford, Waiakea, Waianae and Waipahu high schools.
Last year the ACLU of Hawaii helped to launch a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state Department of Education alleging the department discriminated against female athletes in violation of Title IX, also known as the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act. That law requires gender equity in education, including in athletics.
For Hawaii island the construction budget includes $22.7 million for a four-classroom building at Haaheo Elementary School and $14.9 million for a new classroom building at Kealakehe Elementary School.
The construction budget also earmarks $170 million next year for the new mauka concourse at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport and $105 million for other improvements at the airport over the next two years.
Also included is $107 million for Honolulu harbor improvements and $8 million for security and other improvements at Maui Community Correctional Center, where inmates rioted last month.
Police misconduct
On the proposal to make public the names of police officers who have been suspended or fired for misconduct, a House-Senate conference committee neglected to meet to discuss House Bill 285 until just 90 minutes before a deadline to halt all negotiations on bills Thursday.
Lawmakers then left the brief meeting on the bill to prepare a new draft, and returned 75 minutes later to report that the new draft was not ready. Members of the committee then expressed concern that they had too little time to deal with the controversial issue, which has come up in almost every session for years.
House Labor Chairman Aaron Johanson, House Judiciary Chairman Chris Lee and Senate Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs Chairman Clarence Nishihara finally decided to defer the issue until next year.
“We’ve only got 15 minutes left, so we’re running against the clock here,” Nishihara said. “This is an important issue. We should do it right, and maybe to do it right, we have to come back next year and try to do it right, with more time.”
The bill is strongly opposed by the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, which contends that publicly releasing the names of officers who have been suspended or fired for misconduct “adds absolutely nothing” to the existing disciplinary procedures for officers.
The names of other public employees who are suspended or fired are public record once the grievance process is complete.
Recount bill
Another conference committee gave tentative approval to Senate Bill 216, which would require a recount of votes in any election if the difference between the winner and the closest runner-up is 100 votes or less, or 0.25% of the total votes cast.
The House and Senate Judiciary committees decided during conference committee meetings to narrow the margin of victory that would trigger an automatic recount. Previous versions of the bill required a recount if the difference was equal to or less than 0.5% of the total votes cast.
Common Cause Hawaii said in its testimony that automatic recounts are a better alternative than special elections, which it said are a waste of time and money.
The 2018 election between Councilman Tommy Waters and former Councilman Trevor Ozawa for Honolulu’s District 4, which Ozawa won by 22 votes, would have triggered an automatic recount instead of a special election if the bill had been law.
The League of Women Voters of Hawaii also supported the bill.
