This was written before the 2024 edition of the state Legislature said “Pau, enough” and closed the books for the year, so there is some peril in first saying that it is really finished, and second, in judging the work product.

I’ve watched decades of past legislatures singing “Hawaii Aloha,” only to undot the I’s and uncross the T’s and decide that a wrapped-up budget needed unwrapping before it was really complete.

So acknowledging the period before the gavel comes down for a scheduled close in May, there is some hesitancy in calling this year’s legislative work complete, without reminding readers to remember past legislative wizards like the late Tony Kunimura, state Finance Committeechairman and one-time Kauai mayor, who physically tore up an agreed budget; or the late Sen. Nadao Yoshinaga using white-out to take his name off a signed budget conference committee report.

If the session does end on time this coming Friday, and with a new state budget in hand, it is all to the good of the state.

The session did not start out with much optimism.

The reason why is that the state is still in the throes of coping with the disastrous Lahaina fire that leveled a prime neighbor island tourist center.

State financial reports from last month said: “Hawaii’s real gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2023 (latest estimate available) recovered to 97.7 percent of the same period in 2019.”

Economists said “Hawaii is one of three states in the nation that have not fully recovered from the 2020 recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The other two states are North Dakota and Louisiana.”

In published reports, though, Gov. Josh Green says things are turning up.

Green said that the new budget “appears to fund our people’s main priorities, and we hope and expect that pending bills will provide sufficient support for Maui’s recovery and tax relief for families in Hawaii who are struggling the most.”

Still James Tokioka, state business and economic chief, said “our economy is going to grow slowly in 2024, and while it is not a recession, it will be slower than our growth last year and slower than the nation’s economic growth.”

Add to that the expectation that it will take seven years for local tourism to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

So this week when state lawmakers stand to praise their budget prowess, remember that they are reaping the benefits of a 6% growth in personal income, and that government contracts in 2023 reached an all-time high of $5 billion.

We are spending more, but there are still no indications of new growth.

Like the famous Lahaina banyan tree, progress will be measured in new buds and branches coming off decades-old Hawaii icons, such as tourism — not new growth from newly planted industry and business.

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