Construction budget must not slip away

State lawmakers have every right — indeed a duty — to go over budgets submitted by the governor with a critical eye.

So the state House's decision to pare down Gov. Ben Cayetano's ambitious $900 million construction program is well within its rights and responsibilities.

But in their caution, we fear the House lawmakers threaten a tremendous opportunity to take a bold step that would not only jump-start our economy but make an important contribution to the long-term social and economic health of the state.

As the budget moves forward in this legislative session, lawmakers should look seriously at the policy underpinnings of Cayetano's proposal and restore most, if not all, of it.

Cayetano's plan was to set in motion a massive $900 million construction program, with the bulk of it focused on education. The House cut that to about $350 million — a substantial sum, to be sure — but not all that much above the normal pace of construction spending.

Significantly, the House cut the budget for public education in half and eliminated money for a new campus at West O'ahu for the University of Hawai'i.

One of the arguments for reducing the Cayetano plan is that the state is simply incapable of spending the money fast enough to use up all that bonding authority. That may be true, but the answer to this problem is not to cut back on needed construction, but to speed up the process.

Under its autonomy powers, the University of Hawai'i showed it was able to move with unusual alacrity in seeking out and awarding bids for its planned medical school and health and wellness center in Kaka'ako. There's no reason that sense of urgency couldn't be applied elsewhere.

It is popular to blame DAGS, the Department of Accounting and General Services, for the sluggish bureaucratic pace of construction projects in the state. But that is somewhat unfair, since DAGS only enforces the rules and regulations and laws that have been set up by the policy-makers.

So the answer is for legislators to seek out ways in which the process can be speeded up, particularly in these difficult and unusual times. This could range from small things, like allowing individual schools to contract directly for routine repair and maintenance projects through larger changes, such as eliminating the complex DAGS review of projects that occur again and again.

A classic example of this second point is the construction of portable classrooms, all of which are identical yet each of which has to go through virtually the same review as a one-of-a-kind project.

To accompany the big money, legislators have to create an urgent administrative and procedural climate that echos the all-out effort of the United States to rebuild Europe after World War II with the Marshall Plan.

Clearly, everyone recognized then this was no time for business-as-usual. That goes equally well for the state of Hawai'i today.

With interest rates at record lows, there is no better time than now to borrow for badly needed construction and repair programs. And there is no better use for the money than in bringing our education facilities up to first-rate status.