The two measures that would extend Oahu’s rail tax cleared key hurdles Tuesday after state House and Senate members voted decisively to advance those bills out of their chambers and keep mulling the best way forward.
The Senate voted 22-3 to approve Senate Bill 19, which would extend Oahu’s half-percent general excise tax surcharge an additional five years to address rail’s nearly $1 billion gap.
Several hours later House members voted 40-11 to approve House Bill 134, which would reduce the rail surcharge by half starting in 2017 — without setting an expiration date.
After those votes, lawmakers noted that there’s still a ways to go in considering whether to extend the rail tax — or what an extension would even entail. Both bills could keep advancing, both could die — or one of them could likely wind up as the "vehicle" to pass a tax extension.
This week marks the midpoint for passage of bills by the state Legislature, with House and Senate lawmakers swapping dozens of measures yesterday on an array of subjects. The legislative bodies will now consider each other’s measures.
Bills that won approval from lawmakers would launch a system of medical marijuana dispensaries and would experiment with mail-in balloting on Kauai in 2016. Other measures would ban cesspools in all new construction statewide and would establish a state system for regulating the vacation rental industry.
Also winning approval were measures to raise the minimum age for cigarette sales to 21, to create a registration system for ivory products in Hawaii and to eliminate the state requirement that ethanol be mixed into most gasoline that is sold here.
In discussions of the rail bills, several lawmakers expressed strong concerns that local transit leaders still haven’t demonstrated enough transparency, fiscal restraint or accountability to warrant an extension at this stage.
Sen. Gil Riviere (D, Heeia-Laie-Waialua) said he’s not opposed to completing the project, but he’s against writing an "endless check" to fund the project — and for effect he held up an mock oversize check made out to the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation for "any amount you want."
In the House, Rep. Matt LoPresti held up a different exhibit for effect — in support of an extension and to show how badly he believes the rail project needs to be completed. LoPresti (D, Ewa Villages-Ocean Pointe-Ewa Beach) held up a copy of recent Google Maps driving instructions. The map told him that to get to Central Oahu from the state Capitol, it would be quicker to bypass the H-1 freeway traffic and instead take Pali Highway to Windward Oahu, then head all the way back over the Koolau Mountain Range via the H-3 freeway.
Other Leeward and Central Oahu lawmakers shared similar traffic-nightmare stories, arguing that those regions badly needed rail as an alternative transportation option. Several lawmakers from Kauai and Maui added that they sometimes have shorter commutes to the state Capitol than their colleagues in Leeward Oahu.
Both the House and Senate bills would currently allow the neighboring counties — not just Honolulu — another chance to enact a surcharge if they saw fit. No other counties other than Honolulu opted to enact that tax hike by the original 2005 deadline.
The move comes after the state attorney general’s office last month recommended to lawmakers that a rail tax extension measure also include the neighboring counties. The move, according to the attorney general’s office, would help avoid potential court challenges, arguing that limiting the surcharge extension to only Oahu would violate the state Constitution.
Also advancing Tuesday:
» HB 321 would establish a statewide network of at least 26 dispensaries to legally distribute marijuana to the state’s 13,000 registered medical marijuana patients, with at least one dispensary established in each county.
The measure was sharply criticized by Rep. Bob McDermott (R, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point), who predicted marijuana legalization will quickly follow the dispensaries. "That is the dirty secret here," he said. "This is merely the infrastructure so we can come back two to three years from now and implement full legalization. That is what this is about; it’s not about helping sick people."
Lawmakers authorized medical marijuana nearly 15 years ago, but today patients still have no legal way of purchasing cannabis. They are in effect required to grow their own supply, and many are believed to rely instead on the black market to obtain their medicinal pot.
Under the bill, dispensary licenses would be issued by the Health Department starting next year, and the first dispensaries could open as early as July 1, 2017. Dispensaries would be banned from all areas within 750 feet of playgrounds, public housing projects and schools, but the counties would not be allowed to use zoning to regulate the locations of the dispensaries.
House Public Safety Chairman Gregg Takayama said 19 other states already operate dispensaries.
"I just want to point out that this measure does not legalize marijuana," said Takayama (D, Pearl City-Waimalu-Pacific Palisades). "What it does do is deliver on a promise that was made 15 years ago to medical marijuana patients, and it does so in a manner that I believe is both safe and responsible."
» HB 1075 would authorize "a private entity" to assume control of Maui Memorial, Kula and Lanai Community hospitals to operate them as a new nonprofit corporation.
Representatives of the nonprofit Hawaii Pacific Health have said they are willing to enter into a partnership with Maui Memorial to provide health care on Maui. Hawaii Pacific already operates Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children, Wilcox Memorial Hospital on Kauai and other facilities.
The bill provides for state funding of up to $32 million per year to cover operating losses at Maui Memorial, and also says the state will help fund construction projects for the new operator for the next decade.
The measure has been strongly criticized by representatives of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, who suggest the bill is slanted in a way that makes it too favorable to the new hospital operator at state taxpayer expense. HGEA has about 800 union members who work at Maui Memorial.
Rep. Richard Onishi (D, South Hilo-Keaau-Honuapo) said the measure won’t help the ailing network of state hospitals, and is "not in the best interests of the people of Hawaii."
Rep. Ryan Yamane (D, Mililani-Waipio-Waikele) said he opposes the bill because the privatization plan is "overly generous." He also worried that the new operator will cut staff wages and reduce the workforce at the hospital to save money.
The measure was supported by House Consumer Protection and Commerce Chairman Angus McKelvey (D, Lahaina-Kaanapali-Honokohau), who urged his colleagues to support the bill to allow further work to develop a measure that is fair to the unionized hospital workers while also providing the services that the community needs.
» HB 124 would hold a mail-in election in 2016 on Kauai and would test mail-in balloting on at least one additional island in 2018; all state, county and federal elections would be done by mail-in balloting after 2018.
» SB 717 would eliminate the requirement that gas sold in Hawaii be mixed with imported ethanol. Under a state mandate imposed April 1, 2006, almost all gasoline sold in Hawaii includes 10 percent ethanol, an alcohol-based fuel that can be made from sugar or corn.
» SB 1030 would increase to 21 from 18 the minimum age to purchase tobacco products or electronic smoking devices. A similar bill was approved by the state House last week.
» HB 1089 would allow neighbor island motorists to obtain vehicle safety inspections once every two years instead of annually.
» HB 837 would establish a registry of all ivory and rhinoceros horn products in Hawaii within the Department of Land and Natural Resources, after which only such properly registered products could be legally sold in Hawaii.
» HB 825 would require transient vacation rentals to register with the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
