Editorial
Legislature 2001: A solid body of work

The outlines of the 2001 session of the Hawai'i Legislature are now in place.

While a few last-minute surprises are inevitable, the basic picture of what will pass and what will fail is reasonably clear.

There are plenty of winners (and a fair number of losers) on the table. In these next few days, it is imperative that lawmakers nail down the good and give one last look at a handful of important measures now thought to be failing.

Here's a look at a sampling of the winners and losers heading into the final scheduled week of the session:

Winners:

• The package of government or civil service "reform" bills that emerged in the light of day over the past week: One measure would restore the right of unions to strike, another sets in motion a process by which government services can be privatized and a third creates a new universal health benefits trust fund for public employees.

At one level, these changes look to be take-aways from the unions. And if they are unilaterally imposed on the public worker unions without consultation, that is precisely what they will be.

But if they become tools for modernizing Hawai'i's civil service in a way that benefits both worker and management, then everyone wins.

It is obvious that the best way toward giving our public workers quality wages, quality working conditions and challenging jobs is to modernize the system for the 21st century. These changes, sensitively imposed, will do that.

• Retired teachers: This bill would let the state school system hire back retired teachers to fill critical vacancies. The teachers would be "double-dipping" in the sense that they would receive both pay and retirement benefits. But so what? There is a huge amount of experience and aloha out there that can be tapped. And by using retirees, the state does not build up a permanent workforce that might have to be trimmed in the future.

• Hurricane relief fund: The latest plan for this fund, which has more than $200 million in it, is to keep the principal for future hurricane emergencies and use some of the interest to help pay for wind damage mitigation measures such as hurricane clips. Smart.

• Renewable energy: This proposed law would require local electric companies to gradually increase the percentage of power they draw from "renewable" sources. If crafted properly, so that the electric companies are not forced to buy power at inflated or unrealistic prices, this could be an important tool in weaning Hawai'i from its dependence on oil for power.

• The failure of a handful of bills must go into the "winner" category, including those that would have created new mandatory penalties for crystal meth offenses, that would have allowed a gambling casino to be licensed at Ko 'Olina resort and one that would have granted bond financing assistance to private schools.

Losers:

• The so-called "clean elections" bill that would have tested a prototype publicly funded election is apparently dead. Too bad. While the idea may not be the perfect solution to the abuse of campaign financing, it at least was an imaginative and brave effort to come up with a fresh solution.

• Unionized principals: This measure would have challenged our stagnant public school system by putting principals — the key figures in any school administration — on a merit basis. They would have been removed from the union but would have had to earn considerably more than today if they could show success. This idea should be revisited next session.

• Fluoridation: While opponents of fluoridation are sincere, and often emotional, it seems clear from abundant scientific study that fluoridation of Hawai'i's water supply would have considerable public health benefits.

• Earned Income tax credit: Lawmakers flirted with a variety of tax cuts, tax hikes and tax adjustments this session. Wisely, they chose to stay away from most of the ideas.

Republicans pushed hard for repeal of the 4 percent tax on food and drugs. That had emotional appeal, but would have cut too deeply into the tax base and would have helped the wealthy as well as the poor. An alternative, to create a substantial tax credit on earned income for lower-income families, showed promise but appears to be dead.

Next session, legislators should pay serious attention to the earned income tax credit as a tool for providing relief to struggling low-income families.

Since there are several days to go in the current session (and extensions or special sessions are always possible), this is far from the final picture of Legislature 2001. But it is a good snapshot of a session that can say it produced a considerable body of useful work.