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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Election-year legislative session begins

By Lynda Arakawa and Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

As the curtain rises on the 2004 Legislature today, lawmakers are under increased pressure to produce results that voters will both appreciate and remember during the fall elections.

State workers at the Capitol waited to get their photo identifications yesterday. Opening-day festivities begin today for the 60-day session.

Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

Education reform and a comprehensive plan to deal with the state's long-festering crystal methamphetamine problems have been oft-cited as the top priorities on legislators' to-do lists.

But with different approaches to both issues, the major drama may revolve around whether Democrats and Republicans can find enough common ground to enact meaningful lawmaking on either point.

Today's opening-day festivities at the State Capitol for the 60-day session that runs into May will include speeches by Senate President Robert Bunda and Speaker of the House Calvin Say. Both are expected to outline their visions for this session that will be played out with lawmakers mindful that they may face scrutiny by voters in the Sept. 18 primary and the Nov. 2 general elections.

House and Senate Democrats, in particular, may be feeling political heat. They are hearing Gov. Linda Lingle, Hawai'i's first Republican governor in 40 years, vowing to help Republicans capture more legislative seats.

There are 36 Democrats in the 51-member House and 20 Democrats in the 25-member Senate. All representatives in the House and half of the Senate are up for election this year. And while majorities in both houses may be the GOP's ultimate goal, a more easily attainable step may be to capture more than one-third in each chamber — three more seats in the House or four more in the Senate.

That would allow Republicans to block the override of any vetoes Lingle may send down.

On the education front, Lingle and the GOP have called for decentralizing the school system into local school boards, which most Democrats, the Hawai'i State Teachers Association, state schools superintendent Pat Hamamoto and school principals have opposed. There appears to be more agreement, however, on implementing a "weighted" student spending formula in which specific dollar amounts are assigned to each student.

Even the pundits disagree on how the education issue will play out this session.

Longtime political observer and pollster Don Clegg said recent analysis shows a majority of the public has embraced Lingle's call for local school boards and other educational reform, but he does not think it will matter much.

"The Democratic majority, when push comes to shove, will close ranks and will do what they've done in past legislative sessions," Clegg said. "They will accede to the pressures of their major lobbyist-supporters, namely the public sector unions, including the teachers union."

But former Democratic legislator Jim Shon believes that outside of local school boards, which the governor has said repeatedly is the most significant way to reform the school system, Lingle and the Democrats agree on many education-related issues.

He said he expects there can be significant legislation passed this session. Shon said neither the governor nor the Democrats want to create new tax burdens for the public. Meanwhile, he said, there appears to be consensus on pushing for more financing based on weighted student formulas, as well as agreement that principals should have both more authority and accountability.

Another issue sure to generate heated debate will be how the state should address Hawai'i's crystal methamphetamine problems.

A House-Senate task force headed by Democrats recommended spending $21.6 million, largely on substance-abuse treatment, intervention and prevention programs. The task force has not said where that money can be found in the state budget but said it would leave it up to the House Finance and Senate Ways and Means committees.

Lingle and Republican lawmakers have criticized the recommendation, saying it was merely throwing money at the problem. She also said she wants the adoption of other law enforcement measures that the task force didn't recommend, such as allowing "walk and talk" airport investigations and easing laws on tapping private phone lines.

One of the more controversial recommendations from the task force is requiring health insurance companies to treat substance abuse as an illness and remove lifetime caps on treatment. Lingle has not articulated a position on that proposal.

Democrats also want to tweak the Hawai'i Rx program, which aims at providing lower-cost prescription drugs to low-income residents. Changes include limiting participation to people earning an income less than 350 percent of the poverty level.

Lawmakers also want the state to be authorized to secure further discounts by entering into rebate agreements with drug manufacturers. Lingle, who has opposed the Hawai'i Rx program earlier, has indicated she would support improving the prescription drug program.

Some lawmakers are expected to propose giving the counties additional taxing authority to pay for mass transit programs, although there appears to be little support to raise taxes this year. Many county officials want the authority, saying it will give them financial independence and prevent them from raising property taxes.

But raising taxes is a historically unpopular idea in the Legislature and is especially avoided during an election year.

Some lawmakers also want to revisit the issue of capping state gasoline prices. Some want to change the state gasoline price-cap law, which was passed in 2002 and takes effect in July. The change would tie the maximum gas price to prices nationwide rather than just to those on the West Coast.

Lingle and the GOP, however, want to repeal the law entirely before it takes effect.

There will also likely be another attempt at extending tax credits to encourage hotel and commercial construction and renovation, although Lingle killed the measure by vetoing the proposal last year, saying it would cost the state too much money. The hotel construction tax credit passed in a special session after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and expired last year. A smaller credit will be in place until the end of 2005.

Another issue expected back again is the high-technology tax credits known as Act 221, which expires in 2005. Both Democrat and Republican lawmakers support extending the tax credits in some form, indicating a compromise will resolve last year's fight.

Last year the administration wanted to scale back the tax credits, while House Democrats resisted.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com. Or reach both at 525-8070.