Whatever doesn't pass out of the House or Senate is essentially dead for the session, though contents of those failed measures could always see new life in other bills before the session adjourns May 3.

Much of the potential for controversy lies in the larger, 51-member House.

Contentious bills include prohibiting genetically modified coffee, giving psychologists the power to prescribe drugs, defining Kona coffee and changes to workers' compensation laws, including new limits on an employer's ability to end benefits.

Lawmakers in the House will also be taking a close look at a bill aimed at curbing real estate speculation in the state by increasing taxes on sales of homes owned less than two years. If, for example, a property is held by a seller for less than six months, the tax would be 60 percent of the capital gains tax on the sale, with the proceeds from the tax going toward the Rental Housing Trust Fund.

Money from the fund is used to encourage developers and to assist nonprofits in building housing affordable to lower-income families.

Lawmakers have amended the real estate bill to specifically target those who speculate in Hawai'i real estate and not those who must sell their homes due to emergencies, such as health problems or military relocations, said Maile Shimabukuro, chairwoman of the House Human Services and Housing Committee.

Speculation has caused property taxes to go up and prices to become inflated, she said.

"Whether you're from here or not, if it's not your residence and you sell it in less than two years, we're going to tax you a lot in this bill," said Shimabukuro, D-45th (Wai'anae, Makaha, Makua), noting that she hopes the bill isn't watered down in the Senate.

In the Senate last week, a bill requiring an environmental review for the plan to link the islands with a private ferry service passed its committee. The measure will now be voted on by the full Senate.

The bill, however, will likely face hurdles in the House where Transportation Committee Chairman Joe Souki has said he does not plan to hear the proposal. Souki, D-8th (Wailuku, Waihe'e, Waiehu), has said the measure unfairly singles out the Hawaii Superferry.

Among the most important bills to be moving forward are those dealing with taxes, said House Minority Leader Lynn Finnegan, R-32nd (Lower Pearlridge, 'Aiea, Halawa).

Those bills include an increase for the standard tax deduction, an exemption from the general excise tax on certain essential food items and the specifics of tax rebate mandated under state law after two years of bumper state surpluses.

Finnegan said she was happy to see that many of the ideas presented in Gov. Linda Lingle's package to promote technological innovation in the islands still survive. However, she said she was disappointed that a science-focused scholarship program included in the package isn't advancing.

Some of the session's most contentious bills have already been cut, including a measure that would have granted benefits to same-sex couples through civil unions and another that would have allowed terminally ill adults to end their lives.

The civil union bill may not have advanced after five hours of testimony, but it did start discussion in Hawai'i about the issue, said Rep. Blake Oshiro, D-33rd ('Aiea, Halawa Valley, 'Aiea Heights), vice chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

The euthanasia bill, however, has come around a number of times through the years without becoming law.

Of about 85 percent of the five hours of testimony this session on that bill was against the measure, said House Health Committee Chairman Josh Green, D-6th (N. Kona, Keauhou, Kailua, Kona).

"Sometimes issues don't become law," he said.

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