Lingle bills making progress
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
The narrow defeat of judicial nominee Ted Hong in the Senate on Friday was perhaps the most bitter blow Gov. Linda Lingle and her Cabinet has suffered so far in this year's legislative session.
But 33 days into the 60-day session, the Republican Lingle and her legislative agenda appear to be gaining some measure of success in the House and Senate, where Democrats rule.
The Democrats say they've let most of Lingle's 101 proposals get an airing.
"Maybe about 85 percent of all her bills that were submitted were given the opportunity of a public hearing," said House Speaker Calvin Say, D-20th (St. Louis Heights., Palolo, Wilhelmina Rise), although he acknowledged that many of them aren't controversial and are more "housekeeping" measures.
He estimated that as much as 70 percent of them made last week's first cross-over deadline, a critical internal deadline for measures to be approved by one of the houses and transmitted to the opposite side.
Senate President Robert Bunda, D-22nd (N. Shore, Wahiawa), said he wasn't keeping track of Lingle bills but estimated "a significant amount of the administration's bills are being moved along."
But some of Lingle's flagship measures failed to make it out of the House Education Committee, including her cornerstone education proposal to reshape the public-school system by dismantling the statewide Board of Education in favor of smaller, locally elected panels.
Senate Republicans also say it hasn't been entirely rosy for the administration. Senate Majority Leader Fred Hemmings, R-25th (Kailua, Waimanalo, Hawai'i Kai) said a number of measures introduced by Democrats seek to erode the power of the governor's office.
On education, Hemmings said many of the education reform measures proposed by the Democrats this year would actually allow the Department of Education to "become the fourth branch of government."
But overall, on the high-profile measures, Lingle has been batting about .500 in keeping those bills alive at the Legislature, with Democrats holding 36 of the 51 House seats and 20 of 25 Senate seats.
For example, House Bill 2002, the Democrats' omnibus education package, contains a weighted student spending formula and other ideas espoused by Lingle and her hand-picked Citizens Achieving Reform in Education.
In law enforcement, the Lingle administration has been trumped by the Democrats with the majority in both houses hailing their mirror-image, anti-ice packages, which are heavy on prevention and treatment. Lingle and the Republicans say the proposals don't go far enough and instead have touted a series of get-tough law enforcement measures.
With Attorney General Mark Bennett in the lead, the major focus has been on bills easing restrictions on wire-tapping laws and a constitutional amendment restoring the controversial "walk and talk" and "knock and talk" drug investigations, which essentially enable law enforcement to ask suspects for permission to search them without a court warrant or probable cause.
The Senate, on the advice of Senate Judiciary Chairwoman Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha), gave its nod to the wire-tapping bill but left the "walk and talk" measure in committee.
The administration has been less successful in its attempt to push through measures on workers' compensation reform designed to ease the burden on small-business owners faced with rising policy costs. Proposed as an all-encompassing reform package, the Senate majority refused to hear it. In the House, Labor Chairman Marcus Oshiro, D-39th (Wahiawa), split the bill into nine separate measures.
Labor Department officials contend that in the end, only one part of their original plan made it out of committee. The proposal allows those who successfully investigate fraud to be entitled to a share of any fines levied and recoup costs incurred.
The most significant section of the package, which would have required employees to see an employer-approved doctor or physicians' group for the first 120 days after an injury, stalled in committee. The Democrats said that two other bills that moved out of the House also address workers' compensation reform.
Lingle has been able to achieve some success pushing through reforms in business and human services, Say said.
He noted that House Democrats are working with the administration, for instance, in clearing up apparent loopholes in Act 221, which provides generous tax credits for those who invest in high-tech ventures.
The Department of Human Services, Say said, had success in getting through the House a bill that clarifies and expands the agency's ability to use alternative means of bringing children into the formal Child Protective Services system.
Say also noted that the House left the governor's supplemental general fund request 80 percent intact.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
