This year’s version of the state budget belongs to Gov. Josh Green — not that he owns it, but an unheard-of $200 million in state money is designated to Green to spend essentially as he sees fit.

The committee report attached to the budget bill says that “the governor is authorized to transfer up to $200,000,000 in general funds appropriated in department administration and budget division … to other state agencies for government operations.”

That means Green controls $200 million in state money with no strings attached.

Asked if he ever had that power, former Gov. John Waihee said he never had free control without some legislative guidance over so much money, although his staff was able to plan in advance how to spend appropriations.

For Gov. Neil Abercrombie, the answer was more specific: He doesn’t like the idea.

“It says it is completely up to him, which is a bad idea,” Abercrombie said.

“I never got anything like that,” he added. “Everybody is going to have a request and they are all going to be good ideas and what about existing state departments — are they all going to be dreaming up new ideas?”

A veteran legislative leader, who asked to speak unidentified so she could speak freely, said the $200 million to Green was “an abdication of the Legislature’s control over the power of the purse.”

“It begs the question of what is happening with the state’s money,” the lawmaker said. “There are still underfunded programs; so what about our schools?”

A May 7 Honolulu Star- Advertiser report by Dan Nakaso said that state Rep. Amy Perruso, Democratic whip and chair of the House Higher Education and Technology Committee, was one of six Democrats who voted against the budget in protest on the last day of the session, along with two Republicans.

Green has no limit on how he can spend the state money, although he is required to file a report on how it was expended, a provision which Abercrombie characterized as “eyewash.”

House Speaker Scott Saiki said there are other unspecified safeguards in the budget.

According to Perruso, the exact details of how the discretionary spending became reality was “a mystery,” according to the Star-Advertiser report.

Other portions of the budget bill go into some detail on how state money is to be spent. For instance, the budget bill, House Bill 300, notes in a provision giving $20,000 to the Ewa Beach Lions Club, that it’s “to perpetuate long standing traditions for Ewa Beach and provide a sense of pride and cultural identity.”

So far, the fellow with all that money, Governor Green, has yet to either defend the appropriation or spell out plans for how it will be spent.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com