The University of Hawai'i medical school is suffering, partly due to administrative changes, but mainly because of an acute shortage of cash.

There are limits to the state's capacity to fill every outstretched hand. Legislators see this, and they're wisely insisting that the institution start to work on its own cure.

Senate Bill 1283, rescued from the reject pile, is a proposal that would allow money from the tobacco settlement fund to be tapped for operational expenses at the John A. Burns School of Medicine.

It's a good thing. The school needs this shot of stability. The state derives a public benefit from its support of the medical school, considering the difficulty Hawai'i now faces in delivering certain healthcare services, particularly in rural areas.

And the economic stimulus from the development of a biotech research industry reinforces the desire for a vibrant medical school that can supply some expertise and derive private research dollars.

Still, taxpayers need to know when the campus will function fiscally on its own.

Many of the rosy expectations of self-sufficiency, which officials predicted while seeking financing for the Kaka'ako campus, were too optimistic.

Past administration fund-raising projections did not come through. Federal cutbacks have put a crimp in the research money Hawai'i can expect from the National Institutes of Health. Plans for a biotech company "incubator" have not yet borne fruit.

And the search for a new dean is not completed yet.

The school may need more time to get on its feet. But funds are in short supply all over, and some worthy health programs could use some of the tobacco money being redirected to the medical school.

SB 1283 requires an accounting within two years of how tobacco-fund recipients use the money. And although school officials have pledged to deliver a business plan mapping out how revenue will be raised from private sources, that should be made one of the bill's requirements.

It's time for the state to notch up the pressure and see that the school delivers on its promises.