Tax hike not ruled out in Hawai'i's war on ice

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

It's unlikely that state taxes will be raised to pay for $21.6 million in programs Hawai'i needs to fight the crystal methamphetamine epidemic, but all sources of money should be considered, according to key members of a legislative task force on ice.

"We're not sure ... we're going to have the support to raise any form of taxes, but that doesn't mean that we didn't recognize that it is a potential source," said Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha), one of the 18-member panel's three co-chairs.

Tapping into reserve or special-purpose money, such as the so-called "rainy day fund," hurricane relief fund, or tobacco settlement fund should not be ruled out either, she and co-chairs Sen. Melodie Aduja and Rep. Eric Hamakawa said.

In a 189-page report released yesterday after six months of hearings throughout the state, the task force recommended a vast expansion of drug-abuse prevention, intervention and treatment programs.

The multipronged approach would also shift more treatment costs to private insurers, allow families to force members into treatment without filing criminal charges, and toughen prison sentences for selling and manufacturing the drug.

"Ice is a bad drug, it's killing our people, it's tearing down our communities, and what we need to do, after hearing what people had to say, was to address this epidemic as a health-related problem, not necessarily a law enforcement one," said Hamakawa, D-3rd (Hilo, Kea'au, Mountain View).

Aduja said the state should have acted earlier, but must now do its best to thwart the ice plague.

"We are late, true, but now we're going to take an active stance ... we will make the choices in education and prevention, in treatment and rehab, and in Drug Court," said Aduja, D-23rd (Kane'ohe, Kahuku).

Pam Lichty, president of the nonprofit Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i, said she was pleased with many of the report's recommendations.

"They really heard what people were saying," she said. "So many recommendations have been coming up repeatedly but had been falling on deaf ears."

Lichty said she was especially glad that the report recognizes drug abuse as a public health issue. But she cautioned that there are many types of treatment and education programs, and not all are effective for everyone.

$22 million 'seems a little high'

The task force made no specific recommendations about where the cash for programs should come from but said House and Senate committees that focus on money would be in a better position to explore those issues later.

Senate Ways and Means Chairman Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Manoa, McCully), said the proposals would be weighed along with calls for increased spending in other areas, such as education.

"Twenty-two million (dollars) seems a little high to me, but I haven't really gone through all the details of the package yet," he said. "If it's all pretty reasonable stuff and it's what people want, then we'll see."

House Finance Committee chairman Rep. Dwight Takamine, D-1st (N. Hilo, Hamakua, N. Kohala), was equally circumspect, but said it's too early to rule anything out.

The called-for spending is far more than Lingle has earmarked to fight ice next year but includes some elements the administration has proposed, such as the expansion of Drug Court programs. The administration had no immediate comment on the report but is expected to unveil its own package of ice-related proposals soon.

The report opposes or falls short of endorsing the expansion of some law-enforcement powers the administration has voiced support for, such as easier police wiretaps of private phone lines, but not all members of the panel are opposed.

Prosecutors say the state wiretap laws impose so many requirements on authorities that they are rarely used, and state Attorney General Mark Bennett has called for them to be relaxed.

The laws require a court hearing on a request for a wiretap warrant, in which a court-appointed lawyer represents the interests of the public to oppose a warrant, and a judge decides whether to grant one.

The task force "is willing to consider changes to the wiretap laws," the report says. "However, further information is required about examples of where law enforcement has lost prosecution opportunities ... "

But the report directly opposes a state constitutional amendment to revive "walk and talk" programs at airports, in which officers question and sometimes search passengers deemed "suspicious," without their consent or explicit probable cause.

The practice, which was approved by the U.S. Supreme Court nationwide, was declared unconstitutional by the Hawai'i Supreme Court in 1992.

Wiretaps, 'walk and talk'

Aduja said she would sponsor legislation independently from the task force that would allow wiretaps to be authorized without court hearings, which police say are cumbersome and could tip off targets of an investigation. She said she would also seek to authorize "walk and talk" approaches.

To ensure taxpayer money is not wasted, Hanabusa said treatment providers and others who receive state money should be required to quantify the effect the money has through strict new reporting standards.

The report also calls for the removal of lifetime caps on treatment covered by insurers, so that serious substance abuse is treated in the same manner as mental illness.

Cliff Cisco, senior vice president for HMSA, the state's largest health insurer, had yet to review the report but said the call for parity was not unexpected.

"We'll just have to wait and see how much they ask for," he said.

Task force leaders hailed the report as an important bipartisan effort, but its unveiling was clearly dominated by Democrats.

Two of the panel's four Republican members attended a hearing to adopt the report, and none participated in a news conference later. Actual bills to enact the recommendation are to be introduced as part of the Democrats' legislative package.

Political fight ahead?

Sen. Fred Hemmings, R-25th (Kailua, Waimanalo, Hawai'i Kai), unsuccessfully urged the task force to postpone adopting the nonbinding report until all its members had a chance to read it.

He said the panel had been even-handed in gathering information and conducting hearings, but that he had no illusions the battle over ice would not become a politicized fight with the Republican administration.

"I do think there will be a turf battle on this issue, and I'm just praying we can find some common ground so that we can do what's really needed for the people of Hawai'i rather than what's necessary for any political entity," Hemmings said. "One thing we all agree on is that this is a serious epidemic and it's been that way for a long time."

The report can be viewed at www.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessioncurrent/lists/ice_finalrpt.pdf.

Advertiser Staff Writers Lynda Arakawa and Gordon Y.K. Pang contributed to this report. Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.

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