The 2021 legislative session is one for the books, but there are a few more pages to write. The most important one, of course, is Gov. David Ige’s “intent to veto” list, in which he signals where he believes the lawmaking process went awry.
It was a challenging session, to be sure, with elected leaders scrambling to close huge budgetary holes left by the pandemic-
handicapped tax collections. They did get emergency aid in the form of American Rescue Plan federal COVID-19 relief funds, but even so, the full guidance for using those funds had not been nailed down when budget bills were circulating.
Those difficulties acknowledged, there are still measures that reflect a currently micromanaging impulse of the legislative branch. Funding priorities are being set that don’t align with needs and goals the departments and institutions themselves have identified.
The governor is already sending signals about bills he doesn’t like. So are trade groups, unions and other stakeholders trying to swing Ige’s inclinations their way.
There’s a reason for the messaging: The deadline for Ige to decide which bills he would consider vetoing is June 21, about a week away. Bills that are not on that list will be enacted, one way or another: The governor has until July 6 to veto, sign the measure or allow it to become law without his signature.
Among the proposals he has criticized is House Bill 862, a bill that started out as a means of abolishing the Office of Aerospace Development and its associated advisory boards. Like so many other measures, late in the game it was altered, in this case becoming a vehicle for major Hawaii Tourism Authority changes. It’s an agency that has come under legislative fire before.
Some of the changes to the HTA, under HB 862, are ill-advised — for one, the authority loses its dedicated share of the transient accommodations tax (TAT) and must seek yearly appropriations from the general fund. This could hobble efforts at long-range planning — and it’s upheaval the HTA doesn’t need at this juncture.
Even a greater disruption enabled by HB 862 was the siphoning of the counties’ share of the TAT. The bill does allow counties to add their own tourism tax, but there should have been a broader discussion about it with the mayors. Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi upbraided lawmakers in a written statement, criticizing them for “pushing a major TAT initiative in the 11th hour and in this economic climate.”
He has a valid point. That said, Ige would be hard-pressed to veto the measure, because it’s the only legislation that includes funding for the HTA.
Other legislation deserving of criticism includes elements of the budget itself, from which Ige has no power to veto individual expenditures. It’s especially flawed for making disproportionately high cuts in the University of Hawaii Manoa campus spending plan.
Further, it has added a $45 million allotment for constructing an off-campus education center in Wahiawa. This is a project that Senate Ways and Means Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz sought within his own district but that the UH itself had not even pursued as a priority.
There are bills that the governor should seriously consider striking out, however. Here are a few:
>> HB 613 appropriates the federal coronavirus relief funds allotted to public schools. Lawmakers chose to allocate some of that to be disbursed as bonuses and pay differentials for teachers.
As much as insufficient teacher salaries are a genuine concern, this represents a major departure from the practice of handling pay through collective bargaining, and it could set a troubling precedent. Predictably, other unions have objected.
Additionally, it oversteps legislative authority for the spending of these particular funds, which Congress intended as resources to address deficits caused by the pandemic. Priorities here were meant to be set by the policymakers and administrators of the school board and the state Department of Education; ultimately they can weigh the case for or against all spending, including any teacher bonuses.
>> HB 499 would allow the Board of Land and Natural Resources to extend by 40 years certain leases of public land. Critics have rightly asserted that this would tie up lands for up to a century, impeding proper stewardship of this resource.
>> HB 1348 essentially endows the Stadium Authority with powers to take the helm of developing a replacement for Aloha Stadium and the public lands surrounding it. It closes budgetary holes by having private developers front more of the costs. The entire, confused arrangement does not bode well for the state reaping what it should in affordable housing and other public goods from its own valuable land.
Digging out of the economic
ravine caused by COVID-19 was bound to have some problems, some of which can be resolved when lawmakers reconvene in
January. But correcting course
has to begin with some strategic choices, including the ones the governor will make crafting that June 21 veto list.
