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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 2:47 p.m., Monday, July 11, 2005

Honolulu rail project back on track

Advertiser Staff

A Honolulu rail project may have been salvaged today after House and Senate leaders agreed to make changes in a county mass transit tax to get the support of Gov. Linda Lingle.

Lawmakers promised to introduce a bill next session requiring the counties, not the state, collect any new tax revenue.

Lingle had warned that she would veto the bill if lawmakers did not make the change immediately. The governor, a supporter of "home rule," had objected to the state collecting the tax and keeping 10 percent of the revenue for administrative costs.

Under the bill, counties would have the option of adding a 0.5 percent surcharge to the state's 4 percent general excise tax to pay for transit projects.

The deal was apparently reached after closed-door meetings today between Mayor Mufi Hannemann, state lawmakers and advisers to the governor.

The mayor cut short a trip to Japan over the weekend to return to Honolulu and lobby for the bill after it looked as if it were in peril.

The governor said at a news conference today that she would let the bill become law without her signature.