New laws that provide raises for tens of thousands of state and county workers and to ensure that family caregivers get extra support from hospitals are among the measures that take effect today as the new state fiscal year begins.

Other measures that took effect at midnight provide tens of millions of dollars in state subsidies for three Maui County hospitals that are slated to be privatized today, and will offer a new source of funding for the state Department of Education’s initiative to cool public school classrooms.

State lawmakers earmarked funds for settlements and arbitration decisions that provide pay raises and additional fringe benefits for public workers that will cost the state $102 million in the fiscal year that begins today and $239 million in the year that begins July 1, 2018, according to state Director of Finance Wesley Machida.

The public workers who won those raises and extra fringe benefits include the state’s public school teachers, university faculty and staff, public school principals, registered nurses and technical and scientific staff.

Also covered by the new agreements and settlements are white-collar supervisors, blue-collar supervisors and white-collar nonsupervisory employees working for the state and counties.

Also taking effect today is the CARE Act, a new law requiring that hospitals in Hawaii allow patients to designate a family caregiver when they are admitted to the hospital. The law also requires hospitals to offer the caregivers instructions on the medical tasks they will need to perform at home after the patient is released.

The AARP Hawaii lobbied for the new law, and AARP State Director Barbara Kim Stanton said it is designed to make it easier for families and hospitals to work together.

“It is our hope that the law will empower caregivers and hospitals to form a partnership for the best possible care,” she said in a written statement. “Health care works best when everybody works together and consumers are empowered.”

The AARP has launched a public awareness campaign to try to ensure families know about the new law and some of the resources available to them.

A plan to privatize three Maui County hospitals is also slated to take effect today, and the new budget includes substantial sums of money to help make that transition happen.

Lawmakers last year authorized privatization of Maui Memorial Medical Center, Kula Hospital &Clinic and Lanai Community Hospital, and the state reached an agreement last year to have Kaiser Permanente operate all three.

Lawmakers included language in the new state budget that takes effect today to provide more than $33 million in operating subsidies, $6 million in subsidies for construction projects and as much as $10 million in extra “working capital” to Kaiser Permanente as it takes over the operations of the three hospitals today.

The state has also budgeted $30.6 million for one-time severance payments to many of the 1,400 Maui County hospital workers who will lose their state jobs in the turnover of the facilities. Most of those workers are expected to be quickly rehired by Kaiser to work in the same hospitals.

Gov. David Ige has said that privatizing the hospitals will save the state $260 million in hospital subsidies over the next decade.

Other measures that take effect today include:

>> A law that provides $250,000 in each of the next two years to help repay educational loans for qualified medical health care workers who promise to work in rural areas. The new law is expected to allow an additional 15 to 20 new health care providers a year to work in underserved areas across Hawaii. Workers who are eligible under Act 58 and can apply for help with their loan repayment include primary care and behavioral health physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, psychologists, social workers, licensed professional counselors, marriage and family therapists, and certified nurse midwives who work for nonprofit organizations.

>> A law that taps into the state’s $150 million green energy loan program to help lower electrical bills at Hawaii’s public schools as the state presses ahead with its “cool schools” initiative. Act 57 gives the state Department of Education a $46.4 million, interest-free loan to improve energy efficiency at schools.