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Today’s topic: the state’s money.
The plan? Spend it if you got it.
To be truthful, at the state Capitol there appears to be more and more money to spend every time you look at the budget.. Thanks to the continuing help from federal aid and predictions that the good times will keep on rolling in, this is not a time of worry.
Starting with Gov. Josh Green and the Legislature’s money committee honchos — Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee and Rep. Kyle T. Yamashita, chair of the House Finance Committee — Hawaii’s financial leaders have rarely seen such bright skies.
As of press time, just the spending part of the budget has been made public and it is all happy talk. Still awaiting final votes are a series of planned tax cuts aimed at helping consumers and families.
As it stands, the two-year $21.7 billion planned for just the general fund operating expenses is making this a budget that will be an easy “Yes” vote.
This year started with the state truly rolling in dough. According to published reports, it began as a $2 billion general fund budget surplus for this fiscal year.
Programs all cost money and Hawaii is starting some new ones. Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who when she ran the House Finance Committee was someone who truly understood the state budget and was not prone to giving money away, now is steering a preschool program budgeted at $38.8 million that will get matching federal funds to expand public and private preschool and early learning opportunities to 3-year-olds.
Good news and big surpluses are one thing; they come and go. State programs and tax cuts, however, are mostly with us forever. New preschools come with built-in supporters and those new parents turn into very akamai new voters wanting more services, especially when kids No. 2 and No. 3 show up.
Former Gov. George Ariyoshi used to bemoan his fate regarding the state budget. He would say that everyone he met was someone who knew that their issue was the most important one in the state. Farmers needed state water and land, school children needed textbooks, parents wanted teachers, educators wanted raises and old folks were in need of hospitals and special services.
No one says, “Nope, I’m good, no need to give me or my family anything.”
So Green, Dela Cruz and Yamashita have mostly known only the good side of Hawaii’s budget. If they talked to governors such as Ben Cayetano or Ariyoshi, they would know that sometimes the money stops, the economy shrinks and programs are just pukas in the budget. So today’s good times are just a point in time, not a guaranteed existence. And has anyone seen the new stadium?
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.
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April 30, 2023 at 05:11PM
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On Politics: Lawmakers must be steady, not heady, on budget - Honolulu Star-Advertiser
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