Question: How did Gov. Linda Lingle spend Hawaii’s share of federal stimulus funds?

Answer: The former governor did not have a free hand in determining how most of the federal money was spent.

We don’t have the space to detail how the state spent the money it received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, but you can find detailed lists on the state ARRA website — http://hawaii.gov/recovery.

It shows Hawaii receiving 188 awards totaling nearly $1.772 billion, with about $1.5 billion spent as of

Dec. 31.

That $1.772 billion reflects the final amount that the state is expected to receive, with the unspent funds to go for such things as education, transportation and university research, said Mark Anderson, the state’s lead ARRA coordinator.

More than $750 billion has been awarded to the 50 states and territories since ARRA was enacted, according to the federal Recovery Act website, www.recovery.gov.

That website shows about $1.606 billion awarded to Hawaii, with the funds falling into these broad categories as of March 14: Infrastructure, $603,045,452; education, $358,585,304; transportation, $208,238,402; research and development/science, $80,101,565; energy/environment, $79,288,314; other programs, $63,882,218; public safety, $63,713,585; health, $57,934,411; housing, $51,580,045; job training/unemployment, $21,260,876; family, $18,004,018; and agriculture, $30,700.

We noticed that state and federal figures don’t exactly agree.

Anderson explained that some awards are subject to quarterly reporting requirements and some aren’t; and not all awards to Hawaii went to state government, going instead directly to federal agencies, the counties, private entities or even individuals (unemployment benefits, for example).

For the state’s part, “We decided to track all the money going to a state of Hawaii entity, whether it was subject to the reporting requirements or not,” Anderson said.

Regarding how Lingle distributed ARRA funds, Kate Stanley, chairwoman of the now-disbanded Legislative Federal Economic Program Oversight Commission, said the former governor “had discretion of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, which was to be used for certain purposes, one of which could be education, and she chose education. That hunk of money went to the (Department of Education) and (University of Hawaii) and some to the charter schools.”

The commission was established by the Legislature to provide oversight of the distribution and implementation of federal economic stimulus program funds in Hawaii. It completed its duty at the end of December.

While the states could determine how to use the stabilization fund, they had to justify how the money was going to be used. For example, “if they use it for education, they have to make these assurances about how they’re going to improve the educational outcomes in their states,” Stanley said.

But the bulk of the funds “was appropriated by the Feds for very specific things,” she said. “The ARRA funds were not a block grant where the governor could choose what to do. They were specific appropriations for already established programs and they had specific purposes.”

ARRA was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Feb. 17, 2009, to provide funds “for job preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to the unemployed, and state and local fiscal stabilization … and for other purposes.”

Mahalo

To Koga Engineering and Construction. After the March rain and flash flooding our bicycle path was not passable. While on contract for another job in the area the “Koga Guys” used their earth-moving equipment to clear mud and debris. — Leeward Bike Commuters, Harley and JoAnn

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