Posted on: Thursday, January 20, 2005

EDITORIAL
Legislative agenda has been set; work remains

Hawai'i legislators set out a useful and relatively straightforward agenda for themselves yesterday during ceremonies marking the opening day of the 2005 session.

High on the list were everyday matters such as traffic, housing, education and preserving public access to beaches.

But bubbling beneath the surface were a number of more difficult issues that will demand strong leadership and hard work.

Without that strong leadership, this session could get lost in pointless politics and political gamesmanship between Democratic lawmakers and an ambitious Republican administration.

This must not happen; taxpayers deserve measurable progress on these important issues by the close of the session.

Taxing problem

The problematic issues center around taxes (should they be raised or cut?) and how best to make use of what everyone agreed was a relatively robust state treasury.

There were bright lines drawn both in individual House and Senate chambers and between the two parties on these and other issues.

For instance, Senate President Robert Bunda proposed a dramatic new initiative for a statewide transit authority with powers to develop, finance, build and operate mass-transit systems in each county.

In his written remarks, Bunda said the new authority would have its own taxing powers, a radical departure from today's system. He left out that reference in his speech as delivered, but his description of that authority left no question that it would have to have its own independent financial base.

Middle-class tax cut

But at the same time Bunda was suggesting the need for new state taxes, he called vigorously for an unspecified tax cut targeted at Hawai'i's struggling middle class.

While his proposal was sprinkled with "maybes," it was clear Bunda wants relief for the "pinched" broad middle of the population that now forms the backbone of the Democratic Party.

The trick in all this will be balancing useful tax cuts that help the poor and middle class without excessively eroding the state's overall tax base.

That might not be easy, if the reaction from House Democrats is any indication.

In a news conference following the session, Bunda's tax plan was met with what can best be characterized as lukewarm politeness.

Democratic leadership said, of course, any tax-relief proposal would be soberly considered, but then they rushed on to enumerate the expensive and tax-swallowing needs facing the state in areas such as healthcare, homelessness and low-income housing, pre-school education and the like.

And while Bunda was proposing a centralized state transit authority, the House Democrats said they would rather allow the counties to levy a new tax of their own targeted solely on public transit services.

One area that will bear close watching as the session unfolds has to do with the need for housing and land policy. Most speakers urged opening up new lands, whether public or private, for affordable housing development.

That suggests pressure for urbanization on land now kept open. Lawmakers must not confuse a sincere desire to provide housing with other efforts to do away with elements of the state's long-established land use system.

The GOP view

Republicans, badly outnumbered in both the House and Senate, signaled a commendable interest in working with the majority on those hot-button issues of traffic, housing and education.

But they also struck a number of sharp policy differences.

For instance, in the Senate, Minority Leader Fred Hemmings said the rosy picture for tax collections should not be cause for a new spending binge. As surely as the surpluses have accumulated, he warned, they will drift away.

House Minority Leader Galen Fox devoted a considerable portion of his speech (in which he proposed joint minority-majority caucuses on major bills) to the problems of crystal methamphetamine. He warned that without a substantial emphasis on prevention — which includes new law enforcement tools — the ice epidemic will only get worse.

The agenda set out by our legislative leaders is ambitious and thus far on target. The task in the weeks and months ahead will be to convert this lofty rhetoric into legislative and legal reality.