Session shows disinterest in tech and clean energy

We’ve lost so many things in recent years: an airline, an interisland ferry, a second daily paper, a symphony, a refinery, Dan Ino­uye.

We’ve lost Act 221 to build a tech industry, and we seem to be losing vitality in building clean energy. We need to replace what we’ve lost.

Nevertheless, tech and energy didn’t fare well in the 2013 Legislature.

Years ago the Legislature gave the Manoa Innovation Center to the state High Technology Development Corp. on a lease that expires in 2015. The HTDC asked for an extension, but UH President M.R.C. Greenwood refused.

Rep. Isaac Choy introduced a bill to extend the lease for another 25 years. First the 25 years was cut to 10, then the bill died anyway.

Without an extension, HTDC and its 40 tech startups will have to find somewhere else.

That considered, Greenwood’s retirement is a good thing, since it will emancipate the regents from her refusal and allow negotiations in lieu of a midnight struggle in the 2014 Legislature.

Seeing the storm clouds on the horizon, the administration put $54 million in the budget to rebuild a portion of Puck’s Alley for a modified reiteration of the Manoa Innovation Center. The Legislature deleted it.

So now there’s no extension of the lease, no money for another MIC and no operating funds for the HTDC to give the startups another home. This could be a mortal blow for MIC and HTDC.

The HI Growth Initiative has been the great hope of the tech industry. It provided $20 million for startup incentives, a modest request these days, but the Legislature cut that down to $6 million.

How much is $6 million in a state budget of $20 billion? It shows our level of interest in building a tech industry. While Silicon Valley lobbies for immigration reform to bring in tech talent, we send our best and brightest away.

In fairness, the Legislature did resurrect R&D credits, but this favors defense contractors, not tech startups. And they passed a film credits bill favoring filmmakers, not tech startups.

There is no plan; these decisions are being taken in silos, responding only to self-interest. It’s not enough for officials to say they could do better if the public would only tell them what to do.

What happened on energy is also a mixed bag.

Given the $7 billion we send offshore for foreign oil every year, isn’t energy a top priority? You’d think the Legislature would move on all fronts.

PV credits were again the biggest energy bill of the session. The bill would have revised some tough rules by the Tax Office and phased the credits down to soften the statutory sunset.

None of that passed. The Tax Office rules will stay in place, the credits will not be extended and the graduated phase-down won’t happen, either. It was Legislative lockup.

A bill to require more money from the Barrel Tax to go to clean energy, as originally intended, also died. More than half the money will continue to go to the general fund, sidetracking clean-energy projects.

After years of delay on on-bill financing, the Legislature created a lending authority to finance clean-energy equipment. Reports and regulations will be required, and a number of agencies and organizations have a lot to do to get started, so don’t hold your breath.

The Legislature did pass a bill permitting landlords to install PV for the benefit of their tenants without being regulated as public utilities. This allows renters to get in on clean energy.

There was also a bill that would have required independent power producers to disclose their internal data to the PUC. What looked like greater transparency would have resulted in higher prices and fewer producers. The good news is that this one died.

Big Wind and the undersea cable are in irons, and liquefied natural gas, biofuel, geothermal and ocean energy are moving at a snail’s pace. Have we forgotten them?

At signing time, will the governor be pleased with what’s happened, or will he be wondering where his tech and energy initiatives have gone?

In Hawaii, big initiatives and projects resist direction; they evolve slowly, painfully, with a life of their own, often unaccountably forgotten before they ever really get started.

The message is clear: We aren’t excited about tech, and we’re losing interest in clean energy. Inherent in this is a lack of confidence that government can achieve these objectives.

Although the 2013 session wasn’t much for confidence, there’s always next year, with the rhetoric that will precede Election Day and the amnesia that will follow it.

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Jay Fidell, a longtime business lawyer, founded ThinkTech Hawaii, a digital media company that reports on Hawaii’s tech and energy sectors of the economy. Reach him at fidell@lava.net.