The remarkable Hawaii budget surplus continues to bestow blessings across the state.

The state’s good fortune remains because there are still more dollars coming into the treasury.

According to a Hawaii Public Radio report last week, “The state’s $1.5 billion rainy day fund is the largest it’s ever been.”

At the same time, back in January when the Legislature convened, the state was flush with carryover funds — that’s money unspent or allocated in previous budgets.

Hawaii’s budget is not alone. Budget surpluses have become a national trend. In fact, Hawaii is one of 34 states on track to further increase the size of their rainy day fund balances, according to data from the National Association of State Budget Officers.

Hawaii mirrors many other state budgets that are “driven by one-time expenditures of prior-year surplus funds.”

Despite the economic losses from the Maui fires, the Hawaii budget shows a strong recovery effort with an accompanying shower of federal money pouring down on the state.

The state Council on Revenues in its latest report predicted that the continued budget surplus “will boost growth and mitigate some of the immediate impacts of the fires.”

This action comes with Gov. Josh Green’s decision to flag a series of bills for possible veto because of their impact on the state budget.

Green cautiously warns in his discussion of possible vetoes that “The state will need to cover a drop in its projected revenue and will also need to find ways to cover a massive income tax cut that will ramp up over the next eight years.”

Another possible Green veto is a bill giving $450 million to the Maui recovery: He isn’t against spending the money, but indicated that he would rather put it into a major disaster fund. The action makes sense for the governor because then he doesn’t have to ask permission to spend. He alone is in control of the money.

In his discussion regarding possible vetoes, Green explains that it reflects “Our need to prioritize Hawaii’s crippling high cost of living, the state’s affordable housing crisis and Hawaii’s families impacted by the Maui wildfires.”

While the governor is cautious about state spending, the budget surplus gives him more than just a little wiggle room.

Plus, the revenues council is not urging that the state throttle back spending, saying it “expects general fund growth to benefit from the economic impacts of a strong labor market and a strong outlook for the construction sector” in the next three fiscal years. In good times, the operative thinking is to spend it if you have it.

Indeed, if there is any budgetary advice to give Josh Green as he moves through the summer, it would be to try to stop smiling so much every time you pick up a state economic report.

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