A contentious but at times comical scrap between Rep. Jessica Wooley and Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz has left in limbo $175 million in revenue bonds to preserve agricultural land.
The state budget contains the revenue bond money for the Agribusiness Development Corp. to potentially acquire farmland owned by Dole Food Co. in Wahiawa. But a separate bill was needed to create a special fund in order to deposit the proceeds from the bond sales, the revenue from leases on farmers that would have backed the bonds, and the money to cover debt service on the bonds.
Wooley, lead House negotiator on the bill, had wanted the state Department of Agriculture, not the Agribusiness Development Corp., in charge. Dela Cruz and Luis Salaveria, the state’s deputy budget director, explained that the Agribusiness Development Corp. was the agency identified in the state budget.
Wooley finally agreed, but she suggested other late amendments that would have adjusted the definition of "important agricultural land," a move opposed by the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, so senators walked away from the negotiations Friday afternoon as an internal deadline approached.
Senate Vice President Ronald Kouchi (D, Kauai-Niihau) had joked earlier in the week that the leadership should charge admission to the conference committee clash. He teased Dela Cruz that he and Wooley were bickering like a married couple.
Dela Cruz (D, Wheeler-Wahiawa-Schofield) complained that Wooley (D, Kahaluu-Ahuimanu-Kaneohe) was being deliberately obstinate by raising a series of evolving objections.
Wooley said she was willing to compromise by using the Agribusiness Development Corp. instead of the Department of Agriculture, but she was concerned about what might happen to the Dole land, so she wanted to clarify the definition of "important agricultural land."
"I thought we were pretty close," Wooley said Monday. "Obviously, we didn’t quite get there."
There was also a political undercurrent. Wooley, chairwoman of the House Agriculture Committee, is an environmental advocate who is strongly supported by the Sierra Club Hawaii chapter and other environmentalists who have been critical of Dela Cruz, who was behind the failed Public Land Development Corp. and other development-related legislation.
Many environmentalists have also banded with good-government advocates in opposition to a procedural tactic at the Legislature known as "gut and replace." House Bill 747 originally would have provided a tax exemption for processing livestock but had morphed in the Senate into the Agribusiness Development Corp. bill through "gut and replace."
After negotiations fell apart — and the $175 million in bond money was left on the table — Dela Cruz tried to retaliate. He and Sen. Michelle Kidani (D, Mililani-Waikele-Kunia), who had inserted the bond money into the budget, voted against a school redevelopment bill, nearly taking it down. Senate negotiators narrowly approved the school bill in a 3-2 vote, while House negotiators were a unanimous 5-0.
Dean Okimoto, president of the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, said farmers supported the bond money for the Dole land acquisition but did not want lawmakers to tinker with the definition of "important agricultural land," especially under the pressure of conference committee negotiations with a deadline approaching.
"I thought this might be the only opportunity we had to purchase the Dole lands," he said.
Sen. Clarence Nishihara (D, Waipahu-Pearl City), lead Senate negotiator on the bill and chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said he hopes the bill will be proposed again next session so the bond money can be used. But he said he would prefer that the legislation first go through Dela Cruz’s Senate Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing Committee, giving Dela Cruz jurisdiction and potentially sparing him from another round with Wooley.
"He can take the lead on it," Nishihara said.
