Fund raiding may hurt many
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser staff writer
Longer waits in some state offices. More miconia and mongoose invading nature reserves. Reduced enforcement of state tobacco laws. Bigger potholes. Fewer opportunities to get a state ID card. Less help for victims of domestic or spouse abuse.
A legislative move to divert money from special funds could have all these effects and more on thousands of people and programs often on the front lines of problem-solving in Hawai'i, according to workers and others involved.
Although many of the funds have obscure bureaucratic sounding names (like the Strategic Development Corporation Revolving Fund or Compliance Resolution Fund), the money they generate helps thousands of everyday people, including state parks users or those trying to quit smoking, supporters said.
"A lot of the people we serve are the elderly, the handicapped or kids too young to get a driver's license," said Veirtta Hite, supervisor of the state ID office, one of the programs that could see money from its special operating fund diverted to the general fund under a bill approved this week by the state House.
The state has more than 1,800 similar special and revolving funds containing nearly $2 billion, money that is used to pay for everything from inspecting seafood to maintaining highways. Many were created as repositories for fees and fines paid by the people who use the services the most, but they have been tapped repeatedly in recent years as the state tries to balance its budget without raising taxes.
The most recent effort (SB1491) would divert millions of dollars from 25 of the special funds. They include money for animal quarantine, Aloha Stadium, public housing, historic preservation, neighborhood housing, spouse and child abuse programs, driver education, probation services, state parks and natural land reserves.
Less outreach for ID cards
Diverting money from the state identification fund could delay plans to expand the program from its current location in Honolulu to neighborhoods throughout O'ahu, said Liane Moriyama, head of the Hawai'i Criminal Justice Center, which supervises the ID program.
"There will be less opportunity to reach out to the people who really need the card," Moriyama said. That ultimately could lead to some longer lines at the downtown location, she said.
"It's an old story. The government is always diverting money from one place to another," said Todd Lavigne, a Hilo businessman who had to go back twice and wait an hour before picking up his state ID card yesterday. "They throw all the balls in the air and then try to juggle them so that nothing falls down."
The fund diversions could have long-lasting impact on the state environment, said Keren Gundersen, project coordinator for the invasive species committee on Kaua'i, which receives money from the Natural Area Reserve Fund, one of those targeted by the Legislature.
"We go after plants, insects and animals and we do prevention, control and elimination of invasive species," she said. Some of the group's most recent projects have been aimed at preventing the spread of the noisy coqui frogs, mongoose and red fire ants into reserves on Kaua'i.
"I know they have to balance the budget, but I don't see how they can cut programs that benefit the environment," said John Leong, who was a Youth Conservation Corps volunteer in the 1990s and now supervises the program, which uses money from the natural reserve fund to employ more than 70 people in year-round and summer programs. "If we lose our special environment, what makes us any different from San Francisco or New York?"
Legislators' rationale
Lawmakers argue that tapping into the special funds makes sense when they have surpluses over their day-to-day or yearly needs; the extra money should be spent where it's needed, they say.
However, big funds like the tobacco fund or the highways fund, which is used to build and repair state roads, need flexibility that extends beyond an annual budget, supporters say. For instance, earlier raids of the highway fund have been blamed for the accumulation of potholes and other problems on many roads. The diversion of money forced the Transportation Department to delay maintenance work, which often is planned out 10 years or more in advance.
"When you get right down to it, there are no excess funds," said Randy Kennedy, who heads the natural area fund for the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Funds can build up over the course of a year, leaving lawmakers the impression that they are ripe for picking, Kennedy said. However, most of the funds are obligated to programs that need to know how much they will be receiving in the coming year, he said.
"If they take money out of the fund, it's going to result in layoffs and we won't be able to hire people for the summer programs," he said.
Dipping into tobacco fund
Anti-tobacco activists said they are worried that the legislative action to divert funds from a special tobacco enforcement program will be only a prelude to a much bigger money grab from the $50 million tobacco settlement fund, which supports dozens of programs across the state to help teenagers, pregnant women, immigrants and others quit smoking.
"We've had some promises that they won't touch the tobacco money, but once they start going fishing, you don't know where it will stop," said Deborah Zysman, director of the Coalition for Tobacco-Free Hawai'i.
Reach Mike Leidemann at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
