State lawmakers have wrapped up negotiations on a $13.7 billion budget for the coming year that includes a financial bailout for Wahiawa General Hospital and $160 million to rebuild much of the Hawaii State Hospital for the mentally ill.
However, lawmakers refused a request from Gov. David Ige to pay $4 million to prop up the finances of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center. Earlier in the session lawmakers also rejected a proposal to increase the state cigarette tax to help fund the financially struggling cancer center.
To help cope with the state’s housing shortage, House and Senate leaders agreed to provide more than $97 million in next year’s budget from the general treasury, conveyance tax revenues and other sources to help finance affordable rentals. That was less than Ige had proposed, but some housing advocates hailed the appropriation as a significant step in providing more affordable housing for Hawaii residents.
Last week lawmakers announced they would also authorize spending of an extra $12 million next year to fund homeless shelters and pay for outreach and other services for the homeless. According to federal statistics, Hawaii now has the highest rate of homelessness per capita of any state in the nation.
The new budget also includes $31.5 million for the state to buy prime agricultural lands between Wahiawa and Waialua from Dole Food Co. The company has listed more than 18,000 acres for sale, and lawmakers want to purchase the best of those lands to lease out to farmers to increase the state’s local food production.
Senators initially had wanted to spend $107 million to buy about 8,000 acres, but that request was pared back dramatically during last-minute negotiations over the budget.
Those budget details emerged Thursday after Senate Ways and Means and House Finance Committee leaders completed the bargaining over the contents of the new budget and released highlights of the document. The budget now goes to the full House and Senate for final votes before next week’s scheduled adjournment.
Under the new budget, the state would once again spend more money than it collects in taxes and other revenue next year, but lawmakers did not immediately know how much revenues would lag behind expenses. The Ige administration projects the state will also spend more money this year than it will collect in revenues, which requires that the state draw on its cash reserves to cover its costs.
Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Jill Tokuda (D, Kailua-Kaneohe) said the budget was an effort to find a “multifaceted approach” to solving the state’s problems.
“How do we make sure that it’s not just about putting Band-Aids on things?” she asked. “It’s about longer-term solutions — housing units, health care, mental health care — and I think that’s what you’ll see” in the document.
Supporters of Wahiawa General Hospital staged a major lobbying effort at the Legislature this year, with an estimated 10,000 people signing petitions, testifying, writing letters and lobbying for the hospital bailout.
Hospital officials asked lawmakers to put up $3 million this year to rescue the private, nonprofit facility and provide another $3 million to support the hospital next year. They say revenue at Wahiawa in 2015 abruptly dropped by $7.5 million after the Queen’s Medical Center-West opened in May.
Lawmakers finally included $2.5 million in the budget to support the facility, and Wahiawa General Hospital Board Chairman Dr. Randall Suzuka said in a written statement the hospital staff is “deeply grateful.”
“The additional $2.5 million will allow our hospital to continue operations as we review options to strengthen the hospital and provide critical medical services to our community,” Suzuka said in the statement.
The cancer center had also requested funding, but House Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke said lawmakers wanted to know how the center will support itself in the future.
“This year we just felt that it just didn’t have any kind of sustainable plan,” said Luke (D, Punchbowl-Pauoa- Nuuanu). She said the University of Hawaii has “a huge amount” of general and special funds it can draw on to support the cancer center, “and if the university wants to make it a priority, they can continue to do that.”
When asked to comment on that decision, interim UH Cancer Center Director Jerris Hedges said in a written statement that “it was an interesting legislative session. We will await further instruction from (UH) President (David) Lassner.”
Meanwhile, lawmakers were able to find $3 million to provide additional support for UH athletics. The athletic program had a $3 million shortfall, and Lassner had asked the Ige administration and lawmakers for the extra funding to help pay for travel for university athletic programs.
Lawmakers also announced that the new budget authorizes the Ige administration to prepay nearly $82 million to help cover future health benefits for public employees and retirees. Ige had proposed that the state prepay $164 million toward the future health fund obligations.
