Much like the boy who when presented with a pile of manure gleefully exclaims, "Great, there must be a pony in here somewhere," I’m excited about this coming legislative session. This could be the year much is resolved.
Of course, this also could be the year that much is talked about and nothing done, but we have already had decades like that.
First, there are unresolved issues within the bureaucracy that need to be fixed. As you might expect, "fixing" means "paying," because both the state’s health fund and pension plan need billions, if they are to be brought into balance.
Because the state is showing a surplus of more than $300 million, there is a chance to stow away significant amounts that would go to paying for medical and pension costs.
Legislators will also be able to deal with the self-inflicted fiscal wound caused by granting big tax credits to those putting solar panels on their roofs. Private homes are part of the issue, but the real money drain is opened by businesses also claiming multiples of the tax credit that critics say are throwing the budget out of whack. So far, Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s reaction has been to simply limit the tax credits.
Watch for this to get much more complicated as the solar lobby and attached environmental forces push back.
The opportunities for the legislative session, which opens Wednesday, rest with the newly shifted balance of power in the Legislature.
Although Democrats hold a mega-majority of votes in House and Senate seats — 68 out of 76 — there are new people in charge. Speaker of the House Calvin Say has been supplanted by former Speaker Joe Souki, and in the Senate, legislative veteran Sen. Donna Mercado Kim is now in the leadership spotlight as Senate president.
Souki’s return to power is complicated because he arrives as the head of a coalition with the seven House Republicans.
A wily legislative pro, Souki is already saying he is looking at ways to get more state money by borrowing some of the city’s surplus, created by the stockpiled millions held to fund the delayed heavy rail system. Souki says he is in favor of "borrowing" the money for a few years, to help fund state projects.
Souki also would like to exam the state’s marijuana laws, with an eye toward either making the penalty for possessing a small amount like a parking ticket or simply removing any penalty.
And, after years of watching the under-funded state Office of Elections fumble elections, there is support both from legislators and the Abercrombie administration to replace the polling-place precinct system with a complete vote-by-mail system.
Perhaps Abercrombie’s most difficult job will be to convince lawmakers to put up the millions needed to bring the state’s digital operations out of the late Pleistocene era with a modern, networked information system. This is a tough sell because even though the bureaucracy functions with stone tools and sharp rocks, Abercrombie has yet to explain how a costly new system will add value for Hawaii citizens.
And finally, this year has mostly supporters in places of power for another go at legalizing gambling.
Souki, Kim and Abercrombie appear willing to do something, but whether that is enough to convince a majority in the House and Senate is very much an open question.
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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
