EDITORIAL
Legislative survey points way to session
State lawmakers often object to The Advertiser's annual survey on major issues conducted shortly before the annual session starts.
Their point: How can we be expected to take a position on issues that face 60 days of hearings, testimony, tough review, debate and compromise? If everything could be decided going in, what is the point of the session?
Fair enough. And in many cases, legislators take a bye on particular questions, either because the issue is too complicated to answer in a yes-no format or they have truly not yet made up their minds.
But who is fooling whom? Most of the issues that come up each year are not new. Lawmakers have been exposed to them either in previous sessions or during the interim. They should have an opinion.
If constituents had the chance, they would ask many of the same questions posed in The Advertiser survey. And they would expect answers.
And a close look at the survey does produce patterns that suggest which way the Legislature is headed.
On education, there is broad-based, although cautious, support for a new funding program for public schools that would distribute money on a "weighted" basis depending on student need.
This is a crucial component of the proposal to give principals more autonomy and authority to run their own school.
But the same survey shows that there is a strong division in the Legislature, largely along party lines, on Gov. Linda Lingle's proposal for a breakup of the single statewide school board.
This suggests one of two outcomes. The two sides could agree to disagree on this issue and focus on other educational reforms for which there is general support.
Or, in what would be a major mistake, they could spend the entire session fighting over this with an eye less on education than on gaining advantage for the fall election.
The same analysis appears to apply to the issue of giving counties additional taxing authority for mass transit. While a substantial number of legislators are undecided, the tide appears to be running against the tax this year.
That doesn't mean the idea should not be given a fair hearing. But once that is done, if the divide continues, the Legislature should move on to other issues rather than waste time on pointless debate.
By contrast, there appears to be substantial support for a new corrections and/or treatment facility in Hawai'i. That suggests a game plan that focuses on what kind of facility should be built and what kind of treatment should be funded over the build/no-build debate.
The point in all of this is for the Legislature to recognize it cannot solve all problems, or be everything to everyone. The better course is to take a few core issues, decide early on what is possible and then handle things well.
A few broad and brave accomplishments will serve the public much better than a lot of muddled debate over many issues.
