Elected leaders at Honolulu Hale and the state Capitol have been watching closely to see how their colleagues across Punchbowl Street will respond to rail’s budget crisis.
Now at least one Honolulu City Council member appears concerned that his chamber might have waited too long to weigh in on a rail tax extension.
With state lawmakers poised to cast critical rail tax votes next week on the House and Senate floors, Councilman Brandon Elefante, a staunch rail supporter, sent a letter Thursday to Council Chairman Ernie Martin urging him to consider as soon as possible Elefante’s resolution supporting a rail tax extension.
Elefante further asked Martin to consider holding a special Council meeting before April 16, a key day at the Legislature when any bills on the rail tax would cross back over to the other chamber for renewed consideration.
"It is critical that the City Council discuss and address this issue and establish a position so that the Hawaii State Legislature has a formal statement from the Honolulu City Council," Elefante wrote.
His letter comes a day after the House Finance and Senate Ways and Means committees each passed bills that would extend the rail tax, but not before those members made changes to significantly limit such an extension.
Several legislators, including Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Jill Tokuda (D, Kailua-Kaneohe), questioned why the Council had not provided testimony supporting such an extension. The Council will likely have to cast its own vote to extend Oahu’s 0.5 percent general excise tax surcharge if the state gives it that authority.
The city and the state lawmakers have been watching each other for weeks now on rail — and at times that’s made it difficult for either side to decide what to do.
Last month Honolulu City Council members refrained from approving a deal with rail officials that would allow the city to float short-term bonds to pay for rail construction costs. Council members said they wanted to wait and see whether state lawmakers would approve a rail tax extension. Waiting to see what happens at the state Capitol would be prudent, they said, because the Council could then ensure that the rail project has enough funds before it edged the city closer to a borrowing deal.
However, at the state Capitol last month, not long after those Council members decided to wait, House Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke said that it was tough for the Legislature to decide whether to support a rail tax extension this session when "at this point in time we’re not even clear if the City Council is going to authorize them to float additional bonds."
"So we’re kind of in a waiting game to see, to figure out what is the commitment of the City Council and what is the commitment of the mayor," Luke (D, Punchbowl-Pauoa-Nuuanu) added.
On Wednesday, Luke’s committee passed House Bill 134. As it’s written now, the measure would cut the current rail surcharge in half starting in 2017. Luke described the bill Wednesday as a "conversation starter" aimed at getting the City Council and Mayor Kirk Caldwell to discuss how the city could contribute more to the rail project and not rely as strongly on GET revenues.
Luke and other lawmakers have described this as getting the city to put more "skin in the game."
The House Finance measure narrowly passed 8-7.
The Senate measure, Senate Bill 19, would extend the rail GET surcharge for an additional five years to 2027. (It is now set to expire in 2022.) It passed 8-2.
The measures are expected to come up for full floor votes Tuesday.
On Thursday, speaking with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Editorial Board, Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board Chairman Ivan Lui Kwan said, "Clearly, we have to prefer SB 19" because the House measure would cut the rail tax.
Kwan also conceded that HART board members discussed political strategy in an executive session in December. Talking behind closed doors about ways to persuade state lawmakers to extend the rail tax was "probably something that was not appropriate," he said.
On Wednesday, Martin told the Senate Ways and Means Committee that he has always supported rail line extensions to the University of Hawaii at Manoa and downtown Kapolei. He said the Council would consider giving its official support of a rail tax extension.
"The orientation of the Council … is very heavily in favor of the rail project," Martin said. "If something of that particular magnitude is necessary to seek approval of this particular body, then we will contemplate taking that action."
Honolulu Star-Advertiser reporter Gordon Y.K. Pang contributed to this report.
