Aloha and greetings, Governor Lingle, Lieutenant Governor Aiona, members of the judicial branch of government led by Chief Justice Moon, distinguished guests, Madame President, colleagues, and the people who are paying for all of this -- the people for whom we work, the citizens of Hawaii.

As we convene this 24th legislature, the reality is that many of our current challenges are generations old. Governor George Ariyoshi in his state of the State speech in 1979 stated that there is a great need to, "improve our economic climate in Hawaii." In his opening day speech, on January 21, 1987, Senator Dicky Wong said that he fully expected a lot of devotion to be directed to "the concerns of business and the improvement of Hawaii's business climate." He then stated "upgrading our educational system is a major priority."

Fortunately, we did not hold our breath waiting for that to happen. Our response to the daunting tasks before us cannot and must not be business as usual.

In November of 2006, the people of the State of Hawaii gave Governor Lingle, her cabinet and administration-a historic and unprecedented mandate. This session, we will be performing our constitutional duty of advise and consent concerning her nominees to the cabinet. This honorable body must provide advise and consent based on merit and performance-NOT politics and personalities. With that in mind, I am sure the Governor's nominees will receive the blessing of this institution.

Senate Republicans believe we should focus this session on three initiatives: the Family, the Economy, and the Environment.

The foundation of great societies has never resided in its armies, government, business institutions or special interest groups. The foundation of healthy and vibrant nations exists within families. We have created a package of legislation that will care for our aging seniors and the most vulnerable amongst us, the sick and the poor, thereby strengthening Hawaii's families. We have not abandoned our quest to eliminate the regressive tax on food and medical care.

We believe that the projected tax surplus is just that, a surplus. We are calling for a substantial rebate of the tax surplus to be distributed to each man, woman, and child in the state; not the token $1 of years gone by. Price gouging at the gas pump by government must cease. That is why we are joining the Governor in calling for a continued waiver of the excise tax on gasoline. This would reduce gas costs a projected 11 cents a gallon.

Continued commitment to community safety and protecting our families from the criminal element is most important. To the credit of the legislature and under the judiciary committee leadership of you, Madame President, we passed legislation that will put three-time violent offenders in prison.

It's no secret that consequences, in the form of mandatory penalties, deter crime. We would like to continue our commitment to community safety by establishing mandatory minimum sentences for crimes committed against children and families.

Government does not make a good parent. The reinstitution of parental rights and responsibilities is crucial to a healthy state. Incredibly in Hawaii, if a mother is assaulted, a much loved and anticipated unborn child can be battered and even murdered without consequence. We will introduce legislation to correct this injustice and provide safeguards for the abused and those at risk. These bills will surely strengthen families.

We believe that charter schools are part of the success story the state so desperately needs in the realm of education. With that in mind we are providing legislation that will create a charter school for autistic children. This will be beneficial to families with autistic children and more cost-effective for the public education system.

I harkened back to our predecessors' efforts to diversify our economy. The sad business headline of the January 9th Honolulu Advertiser stated that a Hawaii based business had decided to open a $220 million polysilicon production plant in Idaho. We must eliminate State government induced red tape, time, money, and taxes that chase business away from Hawaii.

We have drafted legislation that will create maritime and space launch and technology enterprise zones. These enterprise zones will provide for streamlined permitting and tax credits for revenue producing businesses. It's no secret that our island state has less recreational mooring space than most other states in the nation, incredibly including those states that are landlocked.

Our small harbors are for the most part are in the doldrums. The southeast flank of the Big Island remains the most ideal place in the world for equatorial and polar launches. The Big Island should be our planet's gateway to the stars. Though space industries were proposed years ago, the will and leadership were lacking to make it happen. Maritime and space industries are opportunities that are long overdue. Let us make our small boat harbors vibrant and launch Hawaii into the 21st century with space industries.

Government owned and/or sanctioned monopolies have created havoc in our economy. At the national level, the monopolistic Social Security System is a prime example of spending more and receiving less from a government program. Social Security would be called a Ponzi Scheme if operated by the private sector.

Here in Hawaii we have similar monopolies that are problematic, such as, the approximate two and half billion dollar Department of Education monopoly of our tax dollars. This year we have a chance to eliminate a process that protects another state government monopoly. As we have done for years, the Senate Republicans will support legislation to eliminate the conflict of interest Certificate of Need process for medical care.

My family, children and grandchildren, paddled canoes out to the Mokuluas, off Lanikai, on Christmas day. From the small beach, we looked across the tranquil ocean at Oahu. Once again we were reminded of our true blessings-our natural resources and the beauty of these islands we call Hawaii. This past year I was proud to work with Governor Lingle and President Bush in creating the world's largest marine sanctuary. The President designated the Northwest Hawaiian Island Archipelago as a national monument. Long term management and protection of our state resources in Hawaii must start now.

The ancient Hawaiians in their wisdom did not view the ocean as an alien environment. This could be the reason why they were wise enough to recognize ocean waves not as a threat but as a source of pleasure and were the first to surf. They also extended their ahupua'a system of land use to the furthest reaches of their near-shore ocean.

For years now, we have been struggling with legislation to address user conflicts and commercial exploitation of our ocean resources in a piecemeal manner. It is time to implement legislation to institute a state ocean commission to zone all state waters. For the record, this will not preempt county home rule as the ocean waters are all within state jurisdiction.

There is a growing concern in the resident community in Hawaii about the carrying capacity of the visitor industry. Recent polls indicated that approximately 80 percent of our citizens agree that 7.5 million tourists a year are enough. Problems range from user conflicts in our natural areas to excessive property tax increases in residential neighborhoods due to illegal transient accommodations, all which cause much consternation with our neighbors and friends. We are introducing legislation that will stabilize the number of visitor accommodations from hotel rooms to bed and breakfasts operations statewide.

Each visitor accommodation will have to have a license with a finite number of licenses being issued. Because of the laws of supply and demand this will be a win-win for everyone. A finite number of rooms will become more economically productive. Stabilizing the number of visitors in the state at any given time will be beneficial to our lifestyles and help conserve our natural resources.

Energy independence is so important both environmentally and geopolitically. Last session's energy package was a good starting point. We have a tough decision to make. Do we build an ethanol based economy which would be labor, land and environmentally intensive? Most visionaries see the world's ground transportation being propelled by hydrogen.

Senate Republicans want to expedite Hawaii into a hydrogen economy. The private sector is producing hydrogen cars and the only service station currently available on the island of Oahu is located on a military base. We propose legislation to create at least four public service stations by 2010. There is no doubt that Hawaii's abundant renewable energies, such as wind, solar, ocean and geothermal, can be utilized to produce hydrogen in an environmentally friendly economy. The reason I am so sure about this concept is because hydrogen is already being effectively utilized in Iceland.