Just because Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s state budget was delivered back in December does not mean that the final bill has been submitted.
And just because he sent down emergency appropriations to be paid during the 2013 late fall, same-sex marriage special legislative session, that doesn’t mean it ended the emergency bills coming due.
Welcome to the abyss, where state problems live and fester without the money to solve them.
So far during this regular legislative session, Abercrombie has sent down $30.3 million in special emergency requests.
During the 2013 special session, Abercrombie asked for a $7.3 million emergency appropriation to fund the state hospitals on Kauai, because as the legislation said: "Without stopgap funding, the Kauai regional health care system will not be able to sustain operations through the start of the regular session of 2014, thereby placing the health care of Kauai’s residents and visitors in jeopardy."
Stopgap means the wound will reopen, and it has. The hospital system, via Abercrombie, now says it needs $18 million more and that is just to continue to pay the staff, continue paying for Kauai and make up for the Medicare reimbursements that were cut.
"The consequence of not receiving this emergency appropriation is that six of HHSC’s 12 facilities will run out of funds to pay payroll and accounts payable before the end of fiscal year 2014, some as soon as May 2014," Alice M. Hall, acting president and chief executive officer of the Hawaii Health Systems Corp., said in legislative testimony.
There is also a $7 million request from the airports division because no one ever added up all the costs involved in a new baggage system that moves checked and screened luggage from the ticket counters.
"This critical service provides system troubleshooting, repairs and manufacturer’s recommended maintenance to the baggage-handling and explosive-detection systems that is beyond the capabilities of state staff," transportation officials told the state.
There is probably more to this fumble because even the DOT says, "This cost was unanticipated as the airlines performed the operations and maintenance service in the past."
Be that as it may, it wouldn’t do to have an international airport that doesn’t put luggage on airplanes, so taxpayers are asked to handle the emergency funding.
Another part of the state budget abyss is reserved for COFA, or the Compact of Free Association, the agreement allowing citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau to migrate to the United States without regard to visa and immigration requirements. In Hawaii, the state is required to pay for their medical expenses if they do not have any money. The program helping those with developmental disabilities is short $500,000, according to an emergency bill.
All these emergency appropriations show the good and bad of our budgeting system, said one Democratic lawmaker, who didn’t want to go on the record so he could speak freely.
"The good side is that it shows a flexible system that can react to unforeseen problems," he said. "The bad side is that the requests reflect problem areas that are massive in scope and ongoing. They show that the state is poorly equipped to handle these continuing problems."
If the big problem is figuring out how to run state hospitals and airports efficient- ly, today’s task is just writing the checks to balance the books.
And, oh, by the way, the governor has a special emergency request for his own office. Abercrombie wants $132,000 to pay for his dues to the National Governors Association and vacation payouts for people who have left his staff in the last three years.
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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
