by Senator Gary Hooser
District 7

On August 2, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman on “This Week with Stephanopoulos” cautiously affirmed what Newsweek announced on its front cover: The Recession is Over. For all those people still struggling to make ends meet in the aftermath of foreclosures, bankruptcies and job losses, this may be hard to swallow. The lack of clarity as to what lies on the horizon makes navigating the troubled waters of recovery all the more difficult. As the Newsweek story points out, it will be a “pokey, painful recovery.”

It is time to lift our heads, put our shoulders and our brains to the task and move past the siege mentality that currently hobbles both our state government and the private sector. It is time to refocus and confront the new reality.

Gov. Linda Lingle and our leaders in labor need to strike a quick and fair bargain. And we all need to turn our attention to the task of revitalizing our economy, re-energizing our education system and building a sustainable future – all while replanting the seeds of hope and optimism in our community. We live in one of the greatest places on this planet and we have within ourselves the power and the ability to reinvigorate our economy and our people.

The formula is as simple as it is demanding: A focus on energy independence, educational excellence and food security will translate into economic vitality and long-term sustainability.

The dangerous convergence of economic, environmental and security interests surrounding our near total dependence on imported oil makes the goal of energy independence the most critical issue facing our state. As a place with an abundance of natural energy resources including solar, wind, geothermal, wave and ocean thermal, the opportunity and benefits of tackling this issue are huge. Retaining, within our own economy, any significant percentage of the $7 billion or more presently exported annually for the importation of foreign oil would have a massive and immediate economic-multiplier effect. The creation of “green-collar” jobs in both the development and implementation of renewable energy strategies is a tangible opportunity.

Hawaii can be the world leader in the development of renewable energy. This is not an idle dream. It is a realizable goal. As is achieving excellence in our public education system. Pre-K through university, we have to do better by our children and grandchildren. While streamlining and improving the efficiencies of the central Department of Education administration is essential, our primary focus must be on improving the classroom experience for students. In the long term, we must increase the pay and training of teachers while shrinking class size, especially in the lower grades. Funding to support education will continue to be a challenge but must not be used as an excuse for failure or nonaction. Parents, students, businesses and communities across our state must step up to the plate even more and provide the resolve and leadership needed to achieve our goal of excellence in public education. Test scores have improved steadily over the past few years and we must maintain the positive momentum.

To achieve true long-term sustainability as an island state, we must be serious about supporting our local farmers and protecting our shrinking supply of agricultural lands. Hawaii is dangerously dependent on imported food and, with united government and public support, we could dramatically reduce our reliance on imported meat, fish, milk and produce. Our state government spends millions of dollars each year to feed students in our public schools, inmates in our prisons and patients in our public hospitals – state government should set the example and buy locally grown food first.

We are entering a new reality and a new economy. It is critical now more than ever that we work together as a community, that we set aside our differences and that we approach the challenges of the present as the opportunities for the future that they really are.

* Sen. Gary Hooser of Kauai is the majority leader of the state Senate. He has announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor in 2010.

Senator Gary Hooser will appear on KITV4 tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m. to discuss the current situation facing the Superferry.

The Superferry is halting ferry services to the island of Maui after the Hawaii State Supreme Court ruled Monday that Act 2, which allowed the Superferry to operate while conducting an environmental impact statement, was unconstitutional.

by Senator Gary L. Hooser

District 7

One of the duties of our elected officials is to stand as the voice of minorities in ensuring that all of our citizens are treated equally. The very fact that our society relies upon our state and federal constitutions in defining the rights of our citizens demonstrates that we must be more concerned with fundamental policies and core values than with the momentary stance of the majority. The rights of minorities cannot be defined solely by the sanction of the majority; they should instead reflect the ideals of our nation and our state in ensuring equality for all.

There are few among us who do not represent a group that once suffered discrimination at the hands of a well-intentioned majority. Our history is littered with examples of what happens when rights are defined solely by the majority view. Majorities once argued for the propriety of segregated schools and universities, the internment of Japanese-Americans, the exclusion of Chinese immigrants, and the denial of women’s right to vote. In each instance, the majority that withheld rights from the minority believed they were acting from the purest of motives: preserving established ways of life, protecting the weaker sex, economic stability and national security. Today we look upon those events as societal failures and historical embarrassments.

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Senate Bill 644, which requires the installation of solar hot water heaters in all new single family residential construction, has returned to life and is moving in the House of Representatives. This bill had passed out of the Senate last year but was stalled in the House by a solid wall of opposition by the Hawai`i Solar Industry Association, the Building Industry Association, Hawaiian Electric Co. and The Gas Company.

This year, with oil prices now hovering over $100 per barrel, interest has been renewed in the measure that is projected to dramatically increase Hawai`i’s energy independence, generate increased economic activity and lower the cost of home ownership.

Industry experts agree that the most efficient and cost-effective time to install a solar hot water heaters is during a home’s initial design and construction. There is also general agreement that new developers installing 1,000 solar hot water heaters in 1,000 new homes can do so far more efficiently and at a lower price than later during an individual homeowner’s retrofit.

For years, solar industry spokespersons have upheld that solar systems pay for themselves, saying that because of the systems’ immediate savings in energy costs, the homeowner actually pays less overall on a monthly basis than he or she would otherwise.

As the benefits of Senate Bill 644 become better known, there has been an increased awareness and support for passage from a cross section of residents around the state.

Rep. Hermina Morita, chair of the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee, and Rep. Maile Shimabukuro, chair of the House Human Services and Housing Committee, held a hearing on the measure yesterday and passed it out of their committees with unanimous votes in support.

According to the measure’s original sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser (Kaua`i, Ni`ihau), the bill:

1) Has zero impact on the state budget

2) Will generate immediate and significant energy savings for individuals and the state

3) Results in significant and tangible environmental benefits

4) Creates an economic stimulus by keeping millions of dollars in the state economy rather than exporting those dollars to purchase foreign oil

5) Generates a significant number of new jobs (both manufacturing the systems and installing them)

6) Reduces the net cost of home ownership (when calculating the 30 year mortgage cost of the system combined with the immediate lowering electric bill)

Interested parties can read the amended version of the Senate Bill 644, House Draft 1 on the Capitol Web site. The bill’s status and testimony are also available on the site.

Hooser thanked the Hawai`i Sierra Club for its support of the bill and for providing Google Earth images of the bare rooftops of hundreds of new homes built recently in privately-developed areas on O`ahu compared with an image of the solar systems installed on hundreds of rooftops of newly-built military housing.

The bill also appeared on the front page of today’s Honolulu Advertiser.

With minor amendments, Senate Bill 644, House Draft 1 now moves to the House Committee on Economic Development and Business Interests. The committee has scheduled the bill for a hearing next Tuesday at 8:45 a.m.