Senate Majority Caucus

Sens. Inouye, Hooser, Tsutsui and Baker listened to testimony during a Ways and Means Committee hearing last month.

The Senate has released its version of the state budget for fiscal year 2009. The proposal, contained in House Bill 2500, passed a vote on the Senate floor 22-2 Tuesday morning.

The Ways and Means committee handles all of the financial measures that pass through the Senate and has been working for months to prepare the 353-page proposal. According to committee chair Rosalyn Baker, the Senate’s version of the budget takes a prudent approach and reduces the general fund appropriations requested by Gov. Linda Lingle in December by $32.4 million.

Hawai`i’s economy has suffered from the effects of inflation and high oil prices over the past year, reflected most recently by the closures of ATA and Aloha Airlines.

Baker noted in a floor speech Tuesday that the state also has nearly half-a-billion dollars less in general fund revenues this year than it had last year.

“This budget does not create false impressions and should not give rise to false expectations,” Baker said, adding that her committee had crafted a version that sustains investments in education, transportation and health infrastructure, which she said are vitally important to regaining fiscal growth.

Senators and represenatives will meet over the next few weeks in a conference committee to finalize a budget proposal that they will submit back to the governor before the end of session on May 1.

The Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor has approved a bill that would protect reporters from having to disclose their information and sources.

Committee members voted unanimously this morning to pass House Bill 2557, the so-called “shield law” that has attracted attention over the past few months from the attorney general, the Hawai`i Supreme Court, the county prosecutor, the police department, the Society of Professional Journalists and numerous other media-related entities. (more…)

Over 400 children, parents and educators participated in interactive learning centers yesterday at the Capitol, demonstrating for legislators the importance of early childhood education.

Studies have shown that children enrolled in early learning are more successful throughout their later school years, and legislators are considering several early education measures this year. U`ilani Batalona and her children Pukona and Kaichah painted together at the event, which included stations in reading, science, music, art and many other subjects.

Senate Education Committee Chair Norman Sakamoto attended the event and displayed art made by Joshua Chun. Chun’s mother Tammi is the executive director of the Hawai`i P-20 statewide education partnership and is enrolled with her son in interactive early education. This year, Sakamoto (Salt Lake, `Aiea, Kalihi, Foster Village) introduced Senate Bill 2878, which establishes a statewide early learning system and a council to oversee it. The bill has passed three Senate committees and two House committees and how awaits a conference committee hearing.

The House Committee on Finance passed legislation yesterday that would propose an amendment to the state constitution to lower the age required for Hawai`i’s governor or lieutenant governor. Senate Bill 966, introduced last session by Sen. David Ige (`Aiea-Pearl City), would ask citizens on an election ballot whether or not to change the requirement from 30 to 25.

“There are many outstanding, qualified, and experienced candidates under 30 who are unable to run for the office of governor or lieutenant governor because of the current arbitrary age restriction…” the bill says. (more…)

Demonstrators gathered at the Capitol Friday to rally for Aloha Airlines. Many stood along Beretania Street holding signs that asked passing cars to honk in support.

The carrier, which has serviced Hawai`i for over 60 years, declared bankruptcy on March 20. Jonathan Aoki (left) and Claire Sugawa were among the children participating in the rally. Aoki’s mother, Carolyn, is an Aloha employee.

Officials delivered speeches at the rally pledging their best efforts to help the airline stay in business. Sen. Rosalyn Baker, chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, told the crowd that she flies Aloha to and from her district on Maui every week. Though Aloha announced it will halt all of its passenger operations effective today, the Senate is still considering two bills that would help the carrier. HB2860 exempts airlines from paying taxes on fuel sold from a foreign-trade zone for interisland air transportation. The bill passed a vote by the entire Senate this morning and legislators from the House and Senate will now meet in a conference committee to smooth out its details. HB509 would provide state loan guarantees for Hawai`i’s air carriers, and the Ways and Means Committee has scheduled decision making on HB509 for tomorrow.

Sen. Clarence Nishihara and Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland spoke with the rally’s organizer, pilot Randall Cummings, after the event Friday. “Hang in there,” Nishihara told the crowd in his speech. “…hopefully for another 60 years.”

Chipper Wichman of the National Tropical Botanical Garden on Kaua`i asked the Legislature for Grant-In-Aid help during Wednesday’s hearing.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee and House Committee on Finance held a joint informational briefing for Neighbor Island Grant-In-Aid (GIA) applicants Wednesday morning. Representatives from 57 neighbor island organizations were invited to attend, and each organization was given three minutes to testify. 

“Parents across-the-board continually seek safe places for their children, especially during those after school hours when they are working. We find ourselves competing for the hearts and minds of our children. But it is a fight we cannot afford to lose. A vibrant YMCA on Maui is a powerful and positive magnet to support, mentor and befriend our children,” Maui resident Sandy Canha said on behalf of the Maui Family YMCA. (more…)

This scanned photo, showing a ship docked at Nawiliwili Harbor, was submitted with testimony in support of Senate Bill 2526.

A bill that aims to reduce cruise ship emissions at a Kaua`i harbor is moving through the state Senate. Senate Bill 2526, introduced by Sen. Gary Hooser (D-Kaua`i, Ni`ihau), addresses health problems and pollution that Niumalu-area residents attribute to cruise ships’ bunker fuel burning near Nawiliwili Harbor.

Rep. James Tokioka (D-Lihue, Koloa) introduced a similar House Bill 2919, but the House committees on Transportation and Tourism and Culture deferred action on the measure, effectively killing the House version for this session.

Environmental groups and many Kaua`i residents had sent written testimony in support of the legislation, asking for a timely solution to what they described as a tangible black residue covering their homes and dangerous fumes around the harbor.

Kaua`i resident Carl Berg testified on Senate Bill 2526. Pictured are Sen. Gordon Trimble, Sen. Gary Hooser, the bill’s introducer, and Sen. Ron Menor, chair of the Senate Energy and Environment committee.

Carl Berg, a resident of Nawiliwili Bay, environmental scientist and former Department of Health employee, said he did not think the DOH’s past tests were accurate because the tests measured only ambient air and did not sample the harbor’s most-polluted areas.

“This is not acceptable. We smell it, we see it, it’s on our windows and we’re getting sick,” he said last Thursday. (more…)

Sen. Jill Tokuda introduced two bills this session to to promote outreach and educational programs regarding the endangered Hawaiian monk seal species. Senate Bill 2464 designates the seal as the state mammal and Senate Bill 2465 designates the third Saturday in April as Hawaiian Monk Seal Day. The bills received testimony in unanimous support from over 50 parties. Students from five schools attended the bills’ hearing, including those from St. Andrews Priory School, pictured above.

The Hawaiian monk seal is one of only two native mammals in Hawai`i. (Photo courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

 
Sen. Norman Sakamoto, Education Committee chair, discusses legislation with committee member Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland during a session recess.

The Senate Education Committee received referrals for 90 bills this session. Over the past few weeks, the committee held public hearings and determined which of the 90 bills would best serve Hawai`i’s education system. Bills are now being heard by their final committees before they will be voted for on the Senate floor and passed to the House of Representatives. Education Committee highlights so far this session include:

Addressing the Teacher Shortage
Each year, the state of Hawai`i hires around 1,600 new teachers. However, approximately 50 percent of those teachers leave their jobs within five years. Teachers from the baby boomer generation have also started to retire, further expanding the state’s teacher shortage. The Education Committee passed Senate Bill 3252 earlier this month, which proposes a multi-faceted program to increase the number of education graduates in the state and aims to keep them in the profession once they begin teaching with more professional support. The bill also passed its last Senate committee, Ways and Means, last Friday.

Student Input
On Feb. 11, the Education Committee invited high school students to testify on bills of high interest to them. The committee expected around 20 students, but over 60 attended. Students overflowed the room and followed the proceedings on a television monitor outside. They testified on legislation concerning alternative energy, physical education, recycling and fine arts in their schools. Students from outer islands remained to testify until they had to leave for the airport.

Securing Educational Funding
Senate Bill 3251, introduced by Education Committee Chair Norman Sakamoto, originally proposed a 1 percent general excise tax increase for education funding and tax relief for low-income families. Sen. Sakamoto and the committee gathered lots of information and held many meetings to develop the language of the bill. The committee amended the bill to create a task force that will first determine how much money is needed to fund specific educational programs instead. The bill passed its final committee hearing last Friday.

E-Books
School textbooks typically cost between $60 and $90. Because of a textbook shortage in many Hawai`i schools, Sen. Donna Mercado Kim and Education Committee Vice Chair Jill Tokuda introduced Senate Bill 2254 this session, aiming to reduce both the textbook shortage and the weight in children’s backpacks with e-books. E-books are text documents published in digital format that can be read on laptops, pocket computers and e-book reading devices. According to the bill, one gigabyte of storage space in an e-book can contain 200 illustrated reference books, 350 legal volumes or about 2,500 novels of 600 pages. The bill directs the Department of Education to conduct a study that considers substituting e-books for textbooks. The Senate Education Committee voted to pass the bill last Friday.

 
Because of the first decking deadline Friday, the Senate Ways and Means Committee is hearing a larger number of bills than normal this week. This morning’s agenda contained 59 bills. Pictured from left to right are Sens. Tokuda, English, Hooser, committee Vice Chair Tsutsui, committee Chair Baker, and Sens. Kim, Fukunaga and Menor.

 
Sen. J. Kalani English introduced Senate Bill 2034, which would fund generators to power Maui homes using energy from ocean waves.

Senate Bill 2034 could send Maui waves straight for generators with enough power for 1,600 homes. The bill, introduced on Jan. 16 by Sen. J. Kalani English (D- East and Upcountry Maui, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Kaho`olawe), appropriates $20 million in revenue bonds for the Austrailian-based renewable energy company Oceanlinx to build two wave-powered turbine generators about a half-mile off Pauwela Point on Maui’s north shore.

Generators that look similar to this one would be placed about a half mile from Pauwela Point. Photo courtesy of Oceanlinx.

English, whose district includes Pauwela Point, said he was concerned with the initial idea because he thought the turbines might be intrusive to the coastal view or to the popular surfing area known as Jaws, but soon realized there would be no problem. (more…)

In an effort to avoid tragedies like today’s school shooting in Illinois, state senators adopted Senate Bill 2902 yesterday.

The bill requires the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace at University of Hawai`i-Manoa to expand its staff, research and operations.

“We live in an era that will be remembered for the war in Iraq and violence in our schools and neighborhoods, as in the case of the Virginia Polytechnic and State University killings,” Senate Education Committee Chair Norman Sakamoto said in a report dated Feb. 12. “The legislature continues in its dedication to promoting peace and peace education in Hawai`i through supporting peace education programs.”

This afternoon, a gunman killed five students, wounded 16 others and then killed himself at Northern Illinois University. The incident was the fourth shooting at a U.S. school within one week.

“We are living in unsettled times and it is essential that our students learn how to recognize and address conflict before it leads to tragic consequences,” Matsunaga Institute for Peace’s Interim Director Carole Petersen said today.

Petersen said that the institute’s graduates will go on to be professional mediators or will apply their conflict resolution skills to careers in education, social services, government or business.

Senate Bill 2902 also provides $10,000 for Hawai`i case studies in peacemaking in the 2008-2009 school year and for planning an international conflict resolution conference in the Asia Pacific Region.

Kaua`i High School senior Briana Bailey testified yesterday opposite DOE Assistant Superintendent Randolph Moore on Senate Bill 2166, which she drafted during the 2007 Secondary Student Conference.

High school seniors are among the writers of Hawai`i’s legislation. During a two-day Secondary Student Conference that occurred in November, student representatives drafted resolutions that were made into bills and introduced in the state legislature this session.

Several high school students from Kalaheo, Kailua and Kaua`i high schools were among those who followed their legislation to hearings yesterday before the Senate’s Education and Energy and Environment committees.

Senate Bill 2274, which appropriates funds for a task force within the Department of Education to conduct an analysis and create a school recycling program, passed the hearing with amendments.  

Kaua`i High School senior Briana Bailey was responsible for drafting Senate Bill 2166, which asks for grants for alternative energy utilities on public school campuses. The state Department of Education and Bailey were the only parties to testify during the hearing, and SB2166 passed with amendments afterward.

“It is the Task Force’s hope that this approach will guide all of us as we collectively determine the preferred long-term future of our state,” Sen. Russell Kokubun said.

Hawai`i has a new map for its future. This afternoon, state officials and legislators launched the Hawai`i 2050 Sustainability Plan, which calls each individual to act in the best interest of the state’s economy, environment, social well-being and culture.

“The informed and responsible person can determine what proucts and services are purchased, what kind of energy is used, how much water is consumed and how the environment is managed,” the plan says.

Charts and tables in the plan are based on more than 10,500 resident responses and give a detailed analysis of Hawai`i’s current conditions. 

The plan names these benchmarks to be completed by 2020:

1. Increase affordable housing opportunities for households up to 140 percent of median income
2. Strengthen public education
3. Reduce reliance on fossil fuels
4. Increase recycling, reuse and waste reduction strategies
5. Develop a more diverse and resilient economy
6. Create a sustainability ethic
7. Increase production and consumption of local foods and products, particulary agriculture
8. Provide access to long-term care and elderly housing
9. Preserve and perpetuate the Kanaka Maoli and island cultrual values

Senate Bill 2833 also passed review by the Senate’s Commerce, Consumer Protection and Affordable Housing Committee this morning. The bill names a number of issues that the Sustainability Plan will deal with, including Hawai`i’s deterioration of public infrastructure, lack of affordable housing, a threatened island ecosystem and vulnerability in a global energy market. The goal of the bill is to establish a council that will implement and evaluate the progress of the 2050 plan.

Sen. Russell Kokubun (D- Waiakea Uka, Kalapana, Volcano, Kahuku) introduced SB2833, which is part of the Senate Majority bill package. Kokubun also chairs the Sustainability Task Force, which includes Sens. Gabbard, Menor, Tokuda and formerly included Sens. Chun Oakland, Hooser and Hemmings.

According to Sierra Club’s Hawai`i Director Jeff Mikulina, an incandescent light bulb produces 130 pounds of greenhouse gas per year, compared with 30 pounds from a fluorescent bulb and 12 pounds from an LED bulb.

The Senate Energy and Environment Committee is considering separate bills to eliminate both incandescent light bulbs and polystyrene containers in the state of Hawai`i. The committee heard testimony yesterday from many concerned parties, including the Sierra Club, Hawai`i Foam Products, Hawaiian Electric Co. and the Department of Health. (more…)