The House Finance Committee voted to approve a proposed new two-year general treasury budget Wednesday that trims about $500 million from Gov. David Ige’s proposed spending plan, but Chairwoman Sylvia Luke refused to disclose the details of most of the cuts.
Luke did say she trimmed about $80 million that had been budgeted to pay down part of the unfunded liability for future health benefits that have been promised to public worker retirees and active employees.
However, she told an audience gathered in a packed hearing room Wednesday morning she would not disclose details of what was included in the budget or cuts that were imposed until sometime after the committee voted on the measure.
The committee went on to vote unanimously in favor of the proposed House budget, which totals $13.9 billion next year and $14.1 billion the following year, including all funding sources.
In an interview after the vote, Luke (D, Punchbowl-
Pauoa-Nuuanu) said she was unable to immediately recall specifics of the other $420 million in budget reductions. Committee members said they have access to worksheets that detail the cuts made in the proposed House budget, but also declined to release those specifics.
The House communications staff then issued a news release Wednesday afternoon that listed nearly 60 specific spending items that were included in the draft House budget, but included none of the details of the cuts the House is proposing to Ige’s spending plan.
Ige submitted his proposed two-year budget in December, but in January the state Council on Revenues adjusted its forecast of state tax collections for this year downward, to 3 percent growth from 5.5 percent. The council is a panel of economists tasked with projecting state tax collections each year.
That shift in the council’s projection means the state will have about $150 million less to spend this year than Ige expected. It also means the state will have less money over the next two years than Ige expected when he drafted his two-year budget.
To compensate for those losses, Ige sent lawmakers a list of proposed budget cuts in February. That list for next year included reducing payments for the unfunded public workers health care liability by $74 million, and reducing school funding under the weighted student formula by $18 million.
Other cuts proposed by Ige for next year include trimming funding for the Hawaii Strategic Development Corp. by $5 million; reducing charter school funding by nearly $1.3 million; cutting subsidies for Maui County hospitals by $9.5 million; and reducing systemwide support for the University of Hawaii by $10 million.
It is still unclear which of those proposals — if any — were incorporated into the House draft of the state budget for next year.
Luke did say in an interview that her draft budget reduces Ige’s proposed budget by more than $291 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1, and by nearly
$208 million the next year.
In a statement issued by the House communications staff, Luke added that “all core programs are retaining their funding, but with the predicted slower economy, it is better to make adjustments to requests for increased spending than to send an inflated budget over to the Senate, where it would then need to be cut.”
Luke’s staff also distributed a list of $2.9 billion in construction projects that would be funded under the House’s proposed budget. Construction projects are budgeted separately from the state operations budget.
Those projects include:
>> $77 million for a new East Kapolei Middle School.
>> $19 million for health and safety repairs to Aloha Stadium.
>> $15.2 million to rehabilitate the reflecting ponds surrounding the Hawaii State Capitol and waterproof the facilities below them.
>> $63 million for construction of a new Kihei High School.
>> $28.3 million for a new Pohukaina Elementary School.
>> $12 million for repairs and renovations of Maui County hospitals.
>> $18.3 million for a ferry pier at Lahaina boat harbor.
>> $30 million for Honolulu Airport restroom renovations.
>> $33 million to add a third lane on Fort Weaver Road from Geiger Road to Keoneula Boulevard.