Posted on: Friday, April 29, 2005
EDITORIAL
Legislature must act despite tight budget
As the 2005 Legislature moves to a close, lawmakers are warning that substantial pay raises for public workers may make many of their more ambitious ideas difficult to achieve.
That's unacceptable. A tight budget is no excuse for inaction.
Even if some programs need to be phased in incrementally, basic decisions and commitments must be made this year in key areas such as environmental protection, affordable housing and tax relief for low- and moderate-income Hawai'i families.
In fact, much of the most useful legislation this year has no substantial cost implications. This includes campaign spending reforms that would place new restrictions on out-of-state and corporate contributions. Tie that in with equally strong restrictions on union contributions and a law to break the connection between political contributions and nonbid government work and you have a reform package to be proud of.
And one of the most sweeping measures still alive would have no direct impact on the state budget — but it would hit the budgets of individual taxpayers.
That is the plan to give counties the option to increase the excise tax by as much as 25 percent to pay for transit alternatives. The focus, obviously, is on O'ahu, where there are plans to build a multi-billion-dollar transit system.
Reject Senate plan
At the last minute, the Senate threw a curve ball into negotiations by proposing a new plan in which the state would increase the excise tax from 4 percent to 5 percent, kick a portion of the $400 million-plus raised back to the counties for transit, use some to pay for tax relief for low-income families and keep the rest in the general fund.
This idea should be a non-starter. There has not been nearly enough discussion of an across-the-board tax hike to justify such a move at the last minute. In fact, there is strong and understandable opposition even to the optional county tax.
If the Legislature does the right thing and passes the optional county tax, it should come with two strong conditions:
On the other side of the tax issue is tax relief, one of the core items on the legislative agenda of both the governor and the Democratic leadership at the beginning of the session.
There is talk now that the size of union pay increases makes any real tax relief all but impossible. That's a bad bargain — both socially and politically.
If budget constraints mean tax relief for lower-income families will have to be phased in gradually, so be it. But that commitment should be made this year.
Be creative
A few measures designed to ease the affordable housing crunch and deal with the problem of homelessness remain alive. There are cost implications here, but creative use of state lands, tax incentives for those who build affordable units and expedited permitting and land-use policies should work.
The soaring price of real estate in the Islands makes it imperative that something be done to produce more housing for average families who are being priced out of the market.
It's disappointing that two pressing social issues did not yield results this year. One is universal preschool, and the other is long-term care for the elderly.
There is talk of an interim task force to look into the preschool issue. At minimum, that task force must be required to come up with viable legislation for next year. The time for studies is over; the long-term value of universal preschool is more than well established.
Pass 'Legacy Lands'
Finally, an idea that is modest in its current scope but far-reaching in implication deserves enthusiastic approval this session. The idea, spawned in the House, is to begin collecting a trust fund (most likely out of the conveyance tax on high-end real estate sales) to purchase and preserve so-called "Legacy Lands." These include beach access areas, scenic views and mountain trails.
It is a small but important step. Once these treasures are lost — that includes historic buildings and sites — they are lost forever.
