OK. The words you need to know to understand the 2007 session of the state Legislature are in hand:

They are: (drum roll) "Innovation" and "sustainability."

These are over-arching concepts to cover much of what the Legislature and the administration hope to accomplish in the coming months. Fundamentally, it is an effort to keep the economy strong, growing and resistant to the traditional outside influences that have dictated our fortunes for decades.

Gov. Linda Lingle set the stage for this conversation Friday in a marathon news conference in which she formally unveiled a $30 million (minimum estimate) "innovation and sustainability" initiative.

What it boils down to is a long list of ideas and initiatives (many of which are already under way in one form or another) to shift Hawai'i's economy away from land development and into what, for a better term, might be called the knowledge economy.

There's a strong emphasis on high-tech and on adding more science, technology, engineering and math educational opportunities into our public schools.

These are "carrot" initiatives designed to turn the economic ship of state at least a few degrees off present course. Lingle's formal package did not include anything in the way of "stick" disincentives for continued land development, although she did say earlier last week that her administration intends to take a tougher stand on so-called "fake farms" that urbanize agricultural land.

Lingle was the first to acknowledge that the package does not include much in the way of startling ideas or controversial proposals. Rather, it is an attempt to stitch together many of the initiatives under way in our schools and business community in a coherent way. That, and she would apply a relatively modest amount of state money that can be leveraged to make things happen.

Business guru, author and Campbell Estate trustee David Heenan described the package as "old wine out of a new bottle." He didn't mean that in a critical way, but to make the point that what Lingle and her administration are up to is identifying good ideas, pulling them into a focused policy format and advancing them under the banner of a coherent economic philosophy.

Will this work? Some legislators (Democrats to be sure) were already muttering that this is same-old-same-old with a new PR gloss. But they can't be too critical since many of the ideas originated in the Legislature over the years.

Also, Democrats will be coming up with their own ideas about "sustainability," which — when the bark is stripped away — deal with "sustaining" the quality of life Democrats have created for themselves and their supporters in the decades since statehood. That means protecting the rights and benefits of the middle class, keeping the unions happy, encouraging agriculture (the political home base of many Democrats) and watching out for the environment.

Reach Jerry Burris at jburris@honoluluadvertiser.com. Read his daily blog at blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com.