DLNR budget may get big boost
By Tara Godvin
Associated Press
Gov. Linda Lingle wants to boost funding by 72 percent for the state agency responsible for protecting Hawai'i's environment, parks and monuments.
Even though the state promotes Hawai'i's glorious green mountains and crystal blue waters to prospective visitors, funding to protect the Islands' natural resources has long been a problem.
Lingle's administration proposes increasing the Department of Land and Natural Resources operating budget to $102 million in fiscal year 2008, which begins July 1, and $103 million in 2009. That compares with about $60 million in 2002.
"Those are numbers that people I don't think ever imagined before," said Peter Young, chairman of the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Young said that he felt it was clear the state had the right combination of need, plans and the financial means to expand enforcement of Hawai'i's natural resources laws.
Among the programs benefiting:
The change is among the recommendations of a state audit of the department released this year, Young said. The audit had said that the state's environmental protection officers are spread too thin, are inadequately trained and lack the equipment they need to do their jobs.
House Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell, D-24th (Manoa), said lawmakers and Lingle's administration agree on what the problems are — including the need to beef-up enforcement — and the solutions may be similar but there will likely be disagreements on the finer points of the budget. The House, which gets first crack before the Senate at working on the budget, will likely look favorably on increasing funds for enforcing the state's laws.
"There's is no doubt that that is something very bold and we believe something that is much needed," he said. Last year the department asked for a record-breaking $92 million operating budget for 2007. Lawmakers ended up approving $94 million for the year.
