TV: A Better Day with Senator Sam Slom

Senator Sam Slom talks with Rep. Colleen Meyer who worked in his Hawaii State Senate office this session.She was in the State Hawaii State House of Representatives from 1995-2008, and was a member of Kahaluu Neighborhood Board #29 from 1992-1995. Elise Anderson is a graduate of Princeton University AB, English Language & Literature and has worked in the legislature for a few years.

State Budget Approved by Conference Committee

More than 350 bills were put into conference committee after the House and Senate voted to “disagree” on all of them shortly after they passed the Second Crossover deadline earlier this month. Dozens of other bills have been “agreed” to by both houses (meaning amendments made in each house were amicable to the other). Those bills were voted in final reading in both the House and Senate, after which they went up to the Governor’s office for final approval.

Senator Slom was assigned to 236 conference committee bills. The Conference Committee process started last week and continues until tomorrow, April 26. Passage of most bills depended on the vote of the state budget, HB 200, which cleared conference committee last night (April 24).

April 23, 2013: Floor Action – Session Day #55: Senator Slom voted against SB 1193 SD1 HD1 on the Senate floor today. The bill repeals the GET exemption for goods sold to common or foreign carriers; ships, airplanes engaged in interstate or foreign commerce for consumption outside the state. The measure presents a tax increase for the cruse and airline industries.

Conference committees for the State Budget bill (HB 200), the Judiciary Budget (HB 197) and the budget for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (HB 222) passed their respective bills last night. Senator Slom voted in the affirmative on all 3 budget bills – he approved HB 200 with a “WR” vote despite the budget bills many shortcomings.

Top photo: Senator Slom was a member of the conference committee that voted on the State Budget bill.

Previous Days’ Reports

April 22, 2013: Floor Action – Session Day #54: The Senate advised and consented (23 to 2) to the nomination of Barry Mizuno to the University of Hawaii Board of Regents. Senators Slom and Ruderman were the 2 senators voting in opposition to the nominee. The Senate also confirmed several other individuals to a number of boards and commissions, passed several House Concurrent Resolutions and one bill (SB 883) on Final Reading. Senator Slom voted against SB 883 which funds pay raises for State Law Enforcement officers.

Senator Slom’s bill, SB 286 “Relating to Reapportionment” was deferred once again by the conference committee. Ditto for HB 622, which aims to protect journalists – deferred one more day.

About 2 dozen people showed up to protest against SB 1171 “Authorizes the phased review of certain projects by the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ State Historic Preservation Division to ensure consistency between state and federal law. Removes language that provided the Governor with the option to request the Hawaii Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to report in cases where an agency, officer, or other person is dissatisfied with a decision of the Hawaii Historic Places Review Board.” — For example if this bill was law today, the rail project could move ahead without a full archeological review for the entire route. Environmental and Hawaiian cultural groups oppose the bill. See photos below:

Photos on the SB 1171 protest taken by Noelani Bonifacio.

Senate Minority Alternative Budget Update

The following information relating to the Senate Minority Alternative Budget now takes into account the Senate Draft (SD1) of HB 200, which is now going through the conference committee process.

1. Current Budget Drafts – Biennial Appropriations for the Fiscal Years 2014 and 2015.

Table 1: 1. Current Budget Drafts – Biennial Appropriations for the Fiscal Years 2014 and 2015.

2. Graphical Representation of each Budget Draft

3. Potential Impact on Taxpayers

During the next two weeks, as part of the conference committee process, the House Finance committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee will attempt to reconcile the differences of their respective State Operating Budget drafts. In addition to the budget, the current conference committee discussions also address some very important proposals. These important legislative proposals such as collective bargaining, early childhood education and mandatory contributions for the state employee’s health insurance fund, forebodes the average taxpayer in Hawai’i to evaluate how these measures impact their Hawai’i and the Hawai’i of future generations.

The following table highlights what the additional tax burden would be for each average family in Hawai’i under each respective budget draft:

This table highlights what will happen if the state would pay for the annual required contribution for the state employee’s health insurance fund, the additional payroll for collective bargaining, and the future long-term costs for early childhood education.  These payouts highlight what the potential fiscal burden would be for each family in Hawai’i. This comes to an additional $646 or $1,195 in taxes per family in order to sustain the operating expenditures under both the House and Senate budget draft.

It is clear that Hawaii’s current path is unsustainable. The only budget that does not rely on any future tax and fee increases, in order to sustain current operating expenditures, is the Senate Minority Alternative Budget. Even with adjustments for collective bargaining and early childhood education, the Senate Minority Alternative Budget leaves the state treasury with a general-fund surplus of $463.4 million. This surplus could be used to lower the tax burden for Hawaii’s’ struggling taxpayers with as much as $1,040 per family.

Notes

[1] Annual Required Contribution to pay off the unfunded liability for the state employee health insurance fund: $500 million.

[2] Additional estimated biennial costs for collective bargaining: $177 million.

[3] Estimated long term annual operating costs for early childhood education: $100 million.

Hawaii State Salary Commission Vote to Increase Legislators’ Pay

By State Senator Sam Slom, March 29, 2013
Originally published in the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board Report 3-25-13.
This article has been updated.

The Hawaii State Salary Commission on Monday (March 25) recommended large raises for legislators, judges and the Governor (GM 254). Pay for state legislators will rise from $46,272 to $55,896 starting on July 1.

The pay raises cannot be justified in this economy but there are no hearings and no votes. (Former State Senator Bob Hogue & I were the last lawmakers to vote “no” to salary increases years ago when we could still vote.) I warned against, and voted against, establishing a Salary Commission.

The Salary Commission issued the 250+ page report this past weekend. It can be downloaded from this link: . Upon the submission of the report, the commission shall be dissolved. (Hawaii State Constitution Article 16, Section 3.5)

Members on the salary commission included:

Name	Nominated by
Michael P. Irish, Chairperson	Chief Justice – Judiciary
Mark R. Fox, Vice Chairperson	House Speaker
Chad R. Buck	House Speaker
Lyn Flanigan	Governor
Lynn Heirakuji	Governor
Stephanie N. Iona	Senate President
Robert T. Wu	Senate President

2013 Salary Commission Report (PDF)

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March 28, 2013: Floor Action – Session Day #40

No bills, resolutions or Governor’s messages were voted on.

Hawaii Medal of Honor Ceremony

A joint session of the State Senate and State House was held later in the day for the purpose of honoring Hawaii based soldiers who were killed in the line of duty during the past year. Photos and links to the presentation follow below:

Fallen Ware Heroes Honored by Legislature
Hawaii Legislature Honors Fallen War Heroes