Democrats chastised for budget remarks
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
The House of Representatives approved the state's supplemental budget bill yesterday, the last measure to be approved before the Legislature's self-imposed midnight deadline for bills to "cross over" from one house to the other.
But a House Finance Committee report accompanying the budget bill that contained scathing criticism of the Department of Budget and Finance and other administrative agencies, as well a decision by Democrats to trim $11.2 million from the state hospitals budget request, left the Lingle administration and House Republicans fuming.
House Bill 1800 was approved 43-5, with three lawmakers absent. All five opposing votes came from Republicans and a number of other GOP House members also voiced serious reservations.
Later, state budget director Georgina Kawamura and House Republicans held a press conference to chastise the Democrats. The brouhaha signaled an escalation in the increasingly thorny relations between the administration's budget staff and the Democratic majority as they wrestle with a spending plan for billions in taxpayer dollars.
The supplemental budget plan approved yesterday includes a $3.9 billion supplemental budget for the state general fund in fiscal year 2005, which begins July 1. Democrats hailed the inclusion of $19 million for programs to tackle the crystal methamphetamine epidemic, $8.3 million for education reform programs, and $400,000 to jump-start the state's Rx prescription drug program.
The budget represents only a $1.7 million increase from the administration's supplemental general fund request. The governor's package was about $70 million more than that allocated for fiscal year 2004-2005 by lawmakers in last year's biennial budget.
House Finance Chairman Dwight Takamine, D-1st (N. Hilo, Hamakua, N. Kohala), said the plan incorporates more than 80 percent of the governor's budget plan.
GOP calls report 'an insult'
But House Republicans took exception to the harsh language in Standing Committee Report No. 774, which criticized the administration for "heading in the opposite direction" of sound budgeting principles. The report said the plan will allow expenditures to exceed revenues over the next several years, leading to an $80 million deficit by fiscal year 2006.
The report said the administration's actions "undermine the ability of the Legislature and the general public to fully evaluate the budget proposal of the administration to determine whether it meets the constitutional requirement to be balanced."
It further referred to "the administration's inexperience with the budget" in reference to its decision to impose spending restrictions last year.
Rep. Mark Moses, R-40th (Makakilo, Kapolei, Royal Kunia), called the report "an insult not only to this body but to the people of Hawai'i who demand that we treat the governor and her staff with respect."
Rep. David Pendleton, R-49th (Kane'ohe, Maunawili, Enchanted Lake), said the tone of the committee report was "outrageous," "uncalled for" and "unprofessional."
Lingle staff defends skills
Kawamura was just as angry during her press conference following the session. She called it a "direct insult" to label her staff as inexperienced when she, deputy budget director Stanley Shiraki and Budget, Program Planning and Management Division chief Neil Miyahira have 65 years of state and county budget-crunching between them.
"We would challenge any House legislator ... or House budget staff to have more experience than we do," she said.
Kawamura also said the Lingle administration inherited a $215 million general fund deficit when it came into office in 2002. That deficit was reduced to $16 million in 2003, without raiding either the Rainy Day Fund or the Hurricane Relief Fund, she said.
Kawamura disputed the Democrats' claim that the budget would have an $80 million deficit by 2006, stating that the budget is balanced.
She acknowledged that expenditures do exceed revenues in the two budget years, but charged that the committee failed to consider in its equation the projected carryover balance, the money that remains unspent at the end of a cycle.
"The committee is intentionally misleading the public," Kawamura said. "Our administration's guiding principal is to have structural balance, meaning that our recurring expenses are matched by recurring revenues."
Democrats not apologetic
The report also criticized the Department of Human Services and Department of Labor and Industrial Relations for failing to respond to formal inquiries made by the Finance Committee.
Both human services director Lillian Koller and labor director Nelson Befitel said they have been responsive to requests for information from the committee.
Koller acknowledged that her agency has been tardy with some reports, but said that the information was contained in previous documents made available to the committee.
Takamine made no apologies for the report's tone.
"I think that we're on a learning curve in terms of the Legislature working with the governor, the governor and her administration working with the Legislature," he said. "And I think both sides need to work together if we're going to do the business of the people."
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.
