Legislature heading for home stretch
| • | Bills poised for final voting at the Capitol |
Advertiser Staff
After months of struggling to fit their vision of government to the money available to pay for it, state lawmakers wrap up the 2003 Legislature this week with final votes on hundreds of bills.
A tight budget picture and a soft state economy, a situation made worse by fears about the Iraq war and other factors, dominated much of the debate during the four-month session.
Case in point: Early on, leaders of the Democrat-controlled House held a press conference to promote a bill that would have given a tax credit to employers who hire high-wage earners. But that and several other tax credit measures went down in flames because lawmakers said the state could not afford them.
Lawmakers, however, were also reluctant to take steps to increase the revenue stream.
A bill that would have increased the excise tax by one-half cent to pay for education programs was supported by the Senate but killed by the House.
The same fate met a bill that would have given the counties authority to impose a 1 percent sales tax in exchange for giving the state back hotel room tax dollars.
Among the biggest disappointments for Gov. Linda Lingle in this, her first session, was the rejection of her centerpiece initiative for overhauling the public school system — putting on the ballot a constitutional amendment asking voters to decide on replacing the existing statewide school board with seven elected local boards. Lingle said she will try again next year.
One bill that is reaching the House and Senate floor this week, and is being closely watched, would establish a $120-a-year tax for a long-term-care program while creating a tax credit for long-term-care insurance policy holders.
Tax credits for the Ko Olina resort and marina and for new and remodeling construction for hotels were granted, but credits to help a motor sports facility in Kalaeloa and airliners with their landing fees were rejected.
Two labor measures could affect workers — one allowing them to use a portion of their sick leave days to care for ill family members and another giving those working eight hours or more at least a 30-minute break.
House and Senate lawmakers will also vote on measures to require unannounced inspections for adult residential care homes, raise the minimum age for entering kindergarten, and set up a commission to review and recommend salaries for the governor, lieutenant governor and other executives in the administration.
