Several bills introduced by Hawaii Island legislators died in the final hours of conferencing Friday. ADVERTISING Several bills introduced by Hawaii Island legislators died in the final hours of conferencing Friday. Among the measures were funding for rat lungworm research,
Several bills introduced by Hawaii Island legislators died in the final hours of conferencing Friday.
Among the measures were funding for rat lungworm research, a proposal to create a new community economic district in Hilo and an airports reorganization plan.
Friday was the last day to submit fiscal bills before their final reading and vote.
The rat lungworm measure would have provided up to $695,000 in funding for research at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Professor Sue Jarvi and her lab have thus far done research using grant money.
“We took that all the way to the end,” said state Sen. Kai Kahele, D-Hilo, on Saturday, adding that he was “pretty shocked” the bill did not pass. “We just kept postponing it (the final conference) and postponing, hoping for something.”
Rat lungworm has received a higher-than-usual profile this month as more cases were reported outside of the Big Island.
Two new cases also were confirmed in East Hawaii earlier this week.
“I was really disappointed that I wasn’t able to give Sue Jarvi a call yesterday afternoon,” Kahele said.
He also was surprised that one of the main priorities for East Hawaii legislators, a measure creating the first-ever Neighbor Island community economic district in the Waiakea Peninsula and Kanoelehua Industrial Area, had failed in the final hours of yesterday’s session.
A bill introduced by Rep. Richard Onishi, D-Hilo, Keaau, Kurtistown, Volcano, to create a new planning district specific to the Waiakea Peninsula, did move forward.
“Hopefully that’ll make an impact in East Hawaii and the Banyan Drive area in particular,” Kahele said.
A bill introduced by Sen. Lorraine Inouye, D-Hilo, Hamakua, Kohala, Waimea, Waikoloa, Kona, would have created an airport corporation to handle management, planning and marketing for the state’s airports. These functions currently are spread across multiple agencies.
Earlier this year, Inouye, who introduced the bill for a second consecutive year, told the Tribune-Herald it was among her top priorities and would be a way for capital projects to move forward more efficiently.
The Hawaii Department of Transportation also supported the bill’s passage. But, as was the case last year, the bill died in conferencing.
“Without systemic changes, the public should not expect significant changes at our airports,” DOT director Ford Fuchigami said in a statement. “That said, we will continue to manage with the resources we have available for the 34 million passengers who fly to and from Hawaii’s 15 airports each year.”
The Friday session was dominated by discussion of a midmorning proposal from the House of Representatives to increase the state hotel tax (transient accommodations tax, or TAT) in order to pay for Honolulu’s rail system. Under the initial proposal, the distribution of TAT funds to the counties would have been reduced by $13 million, with that amount instead going to pay for the rail.
“The room was packed — talk about drama,” Kahele said.
Under the plan that ended up passing, the TAT will increase from 9.25 percent to 12 percent, and Honolulu County will pay the $13 million. Still, Hawaii County will see about a $2 million drop in revenue because the amount of TAT funds shared will drop from previous levels (Kahele also had introduced a measure to maintain the current levels but that did not pass).
“All of our bills were being shoved to the late afternoon … everyone’s focus was on rail,” he said. “That really took up a lot of people’s energy.”
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
