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.

Senate Minority Alternative Budget Press Conference Video

Senator Sam Slom and Paul Harleman from the Senate Minority Research Office talk about the Senate Minority Alternative Budget. More details about the alternative budget at this link: http://senateminority.wordpress.com/issues/budget/

The State Budget, Shield Law Amendment Bill, & More

April 5, 2013 : Floor Action – Session Day #45: The State Senate congratulated Hilo Hattie, the Hawaiian apparel retailer for achieving their milestone 50th anniversary. Recognized on the Senate floor were Felix Calvo, VP of Sales & Marketing, Terri Funakoshi, Executive VP of Merchandising and Mark Storfer, Executive VP and COO. Senator Sam Slom, Senate President Donna Mercado Kim and Senator Wil Espero are also pictured.

The Senate voted to confirm Danna Holck and Kali Fermantez to the Oahu Island Burial Council (GM 587, GM 588). Four resolutions were also adopted with Senator Slom voting against SCR 166 “Requesting the convening of a task force to study the sociaal, economic and religious impacts of enacting marriage equality in Hawaii.” Senators Baker and Thielen also voted “No”. Senators Ihara, Kidani and Kouchi voted “with reservations”.

Committee Report: The Senate Ways & Means committee voted to “hold” HB 903 which would have placed a tax on owners of “individual wastewater systems” (cesspools). The vote was 12 to 1 in favor of “holding” the bill. Senator Slom voted with the majority.

Senator Sam Slom and Senate Minority Budget Director Paul Harleman were on the Rick Hamada radio program early that morning to discuss the State Budget and the Senate Minority Alternative Budget.

April 4, 2013: Floor Action – Session Day #44: A number of bills were up for third reading during the day’s floor session. Senator Slom voted “with reservations” on the state’s $23 billion State Budget bill (HB 200 SD1). During the long floor discussion, Senator Slom also made reference to the Senate Minority Alternative Budget proposal which reduces general fund spending by $300 million.

Senator Slom voted against HB 865 SD1 which will start a pilot program to lease public school lands for “public purposes”. The measure also creates a new “school facilities special fund”. Senator Slom votes against all and every new special fund.  The bill was passed 22 to 1.

Slom also voted “no” on HB 919 (civil service exemptions – controlled substances), HB 527 (enlisted personnel, uniform maintenance allowance) and HB 1314 on beer labeling. All 3 bills were passed with Senator Slom being the only voting against them.

Later that afternoon the Senate Public Safety and Military Affairs (PSM) committee conducted an informational briefing focusing on recent prison escapes and policies implemented by the Dept. of Public Safety to prevent future prisoner escapes. Public Safety Director Ted Sakai was subjected to numerous questions put forth by the senate committee.

The “General” John Rogers memorial request resolution (SCR 137 / SR 97) passed out of the Senate PSM and TEC committees on April 4.

April 3, 2013: Floor Action – Session Day #43: The Senate Minority Caucus under the leadership of Senator Sam Slom unveiled the Senate Minority Alternative Biennium Budget for 2014 – 2015. See separate item on this topic.

Twelve bills unanimously passed third reading on Senate floor votes during session that day. Senator Slom voted with the majority on every measure.

The Senate Judiciary and Labor committee scuttled HB 622 and made it a very bad bill after it was amended in committee late last month. The current law which sunsets by the end of June shields reporters and other individuals from having to disclose their news sources and materials to the courts. The JDL committee has narrowed the scope of the law’s coverage with the latest draft (see separate item). Senator Slom voted “with reservations” on the SD1 version of HB 622 with the hope that the bill can be amended in conference committee.