Lingle vetoes bill to rescind agency's fund
By Gordon Y.K. Pang and Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
In her first veto this year, Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday rejected a bill that involves $32 million lawmakers had hoped to use to help balance the budget.
Lingle urged legislators to approve a series of spending adjustments in a separate bill that would restore other expenditures to the $3.8 billion general fund budget.
Legislators said they are studying the governor's actions.
So went the latest maneuvers yesterday in the political chess match over the budget. The clash centers on the Democratic Legislature's decision to pay for raises awarded by an arbitrator to 23,000 members of the Hawai'i Government Employees Association and Republican Lingle's counterproposal offering smaller raises.
House Bill 1800, the actual budget bill, was approved by both houses on April 15. The governor has until Friday to approve it, veto it or return it unsigned.
Among the means the Legislature used to balance the budget was to repeal the Compliance Resolution Fund, which has kept the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs self-reliant, and place responsibility over it with the general fund. Dismantling the fund, through Senate Bill 2525, gives the general fund an estimated $32 million boost from its unused balance.
But Lingle yesterday vetoed the bill, calling it "a simple money grab, first and foremost."
Lingle and DCCA Director Mark Recktenwald have stated repeatedly that stripping the department of its self-reliance would kill its business-friendly atmosphere and high morale.
Whether the Democratic Legislature can override the measure remains to be seen. Last year, Lingle vetoed 50 bills. The Legislature reconvened during the summer and Democrats overrode six of them.
The Senate approved the bill earlier this month by a 16-9 vote. An override would require a two-thirds majority of 17. The House approved the bill 33-15, with three excused.
Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Manoa, McCully), said a veto override is being discussed.
"We're going to have to look at some of our guys who voted no and see if we can change any minds," he said. "And if not, I don't know what's going to happen. We're going to have to talk to leadership about it."
Meanwhile, Lingle met yesterday with Senate President Robert Bunda, D-22nd (N. Shore, Wahiawa), and House Speaker Calvin Say, D-20th (St. Louis Heights, Palolo, Wilhelmina Rise), about the possibility of restoring various expenditures that had been deleted by the Legislature to help balance the budget. Lingle wants lawmakers to restore about $8.6 million in various expenditures.
Included in the recommendations are the restoration of 66 vacant but financed positions statewide. The governor also wants restored $2.5 million for charter schools, $1.5 million in general fund support for the new medical campus at Kaka'ako and $1 million for the accompanying university health science library.
Lingle also wants the Legislature to reconsider its decision to delete the compliance resolution fund, which would transfer 276 filled positions in the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs as well as a balance of about $30.7 million into the state general fund.
Lingle said she told Bunda and Say that "I prefer" the budget bill not be vetoed, provided the adjustments are made. Language allowing for the restorations is in a proposed conference committee draft to Senate Bill 1491. No meeting date has been scheduled for the conference committee. The committee must meet and approve the changes by Friday afternoon.
House Finance Chairman Dwight Takamine, D-1st (N. Hilo Hamakua, N. Kohala), said lawmakers must now take a look at each individual request to see if money can be restored.
Lingle said deleted money can be restored if lawmakers consider her recommendation to not accept raises given to HGEA employees through an arbitrator's decision, and to instead give them and other workers lower raises. The administration has warned that the arbitrator's award would cost the state about $25 million. If also applied to the Hawai'i State Teachers Association and the United Public Workers Unit 1, who have yet to reach settlements, it would cost an additional $25.3 million, state budget officials estimated.
The governor said her plan is more manageable and she warned that agreeing to the arbitrator's numbers could have severe consequences.
"I'm suggesting to (lawmakers) that we simply can't afford what they want to pay without making some more substantial cuts," Lingle said. "If, in fact, the budget goes in as they proposed ... I'm just going to have to make restrictions and further cuts and hiring freezes and other kinds of provisions to make certain that we don't overspend."
Lingle could conceivably veto the bill that pays for the HGEA raises, House Bill 1043, and she has until Monday to do so. But it's almost certain that such a veto would be subjected to an override.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com and Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com. Or reach either at 525-8070.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly characterized the specifics of the governor's request to restore money that had been deleted by the Legislature to help balance the budget.
