The Hawaii House of Representatives on Wednesday unanimously passed its draft of an updated state budget crafted to cover immense Maui wildfire recovery costs while maintaining fundamental services and important projects.

“Although this budget focuses heavily on the expenses of the Maui wildfire, the core output of the state must be maintained,” Rep. Kyle Yamashita, House Finance Committee chair, said in the House chamber at the state Capitol leading up to a 47-0 vote with four members excused.

House Bill 1800, the budget measure now sent to the Senate for consideration and likely changes, proposes appropriating $11.3 billion in state general fund revenue for the fiscal year beginning July 1, up 14% from a $9.9 billion budget for the same period passed last year by the Legislature.

When including other means of funding, which include debt and federal money, the draft budget for state operations totals $20.4 billion, up from $18.2 billion previously.

The pending draft of HB 1800 includes $1 billion for potential Maui wildfire recovery expenses.

“This is over 10% of our general fund budget,” said Yamashita (D, Pukalani-­Makawao-Ulupalakua). “Ensuring the safety and recovery of our communities will come with extraordinary costs to the state budget.”

Included in the proposed $1 billion appropriation is $135 million for the state’s share of federal assistance, $77 million for expenses not eligible for federal funding, $65 million for a victims relief fund, $123 million for housing costs, $500 million for other “non-congregate” sheltering and $151 million in subsidies to Maui County.

The pending budget draft would use some of what had been a $1.3 billion surplus, or carryover budget balance, that existed around the end of last year, but does not dip into the state’s $1.5 billion Emergency and Budget Reserve Fund commonly known as the rainy day fund.

Yamashita said some of the $1 billion provision for Maui wildfire recovery should be reimbursed by the federal government, though this could take years.

“We need to make sure that this budget can withstand a short-term shock,” he told colleagues.

Proposed funding for core services in the bill highlighted by House members includes $150 million for affordable rental housing development, $60 million for Hawaii Tourism Authority operations and restoration of pandemic-era cuts to the University of Hawaii.

House members also touted strong funding support for public schools, wildfire prevention, health care, agriculture, the environment and other things.

The bill includes separate funding for capital improvement projects that include $42.5 million for a mental health crisis unit at the State Hospital, $28.9 million for renewable energy, $28.3 million for state parks, $64 million to fix the leaking Hawai‘i Convention Center roof and $255 million that recently lapsed for public school improvements.

Capital improvement project spending for next fiscal year under the draft bill totals $4.5 billion, though only $149 million of that is from state general fund revenue while the balance is largely from federal funds, debt and other revenue sources.

Rep. Scott Nishimoto, chair of a House capital improvement projects committee, said the group had to make tough choices.

“There is no doubt that this was a tough budget year, and it was a tough CIP budget year,” Nishimoto (D, Moiliili-McCully) said in a floor speech.

Other capital improvement project appropriations in HB 1800 include $187.6 million for the Hawaii Health Systems Corp., $74.5 million for new or improved correctional facilities, $60 million for the state library system, $100 million for pre-kindergarten facilities and $4 billion for state airports, highways and harbors.

Some of the highlighted CIP appropriations include spending that was appropriated for the current fiscal year, where the capital improvement project total is about $4 billion.

Under the current draft of HB 1800, little to no changes are made to the budget total for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, for state operations or capital improvement projects.

However, the Legislature is considering an emergency appropriation measure, Senate Bill 582, to cover a possible shortfall this fiscal year due to expenses related to the Aug. 8 Maui wildfire that destroyed most of Lahaina and killed at least 101 people.

Gov. Josh Green swept together $200 million in December largely from unused appropriations for other things to pay for wildfire costs in the current fiscal year. Recently he asked lawmakers for another $362 million, though some of this amount is addressed in HB 1800 for next fiscal year.