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The question now arises as to how the spending ceiling became a product of Hawaii’s 1978 Constitutional Convention.
An amendment to the state’s Constitution approved that year required that the Legislature establish a ceiling for appropriating general fund revenues, excluding federal contributions, to limit the growth rate of spending in relation to the state’s economic growth.
In 1980 the Legislature defined the ceiling as equal to Hawaii’s average personal income growth over the prior three years.
This year’s lawmakers failed to provide detailed spending disclosures (“Legislature criticized for ‘wild spending binge,’” Star-Advertiser, May 21).
A while back, I overheard someone say that Hawaii is noted for having the highest political corruption level in the country. This of course infuriated me, but now I am gradually watching more friends and family moving away because Hawaii is no longer for the locals, and the people making all this possible — you guessed it — are our own local leaders, both political and nonpolitical.
Aloha!
Patrick N. Custino
Kaneohe
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