Legislature, District projects, Vaccination, Meetings

The Legislature crossed a major bill deadline–Second Decking– the last day for bills to cross from the non-originating house back to the other house.  This “decking” gives the members 48 hours to review the bills and decide whether to pass them back to the originating house.  What’s next? Conference on bills where senate and house versions of a bill get reconciled if they are to pass.  Any bill or resolution that hasn’t made it past this deadline must wait until the 2022 session to move.  The Hawaii State Capitol website continues to be the most useful tool in tracking bills that are still alive and moving, which provides a variety of reports and lists that allow you to track bills and various legislative deadlines.  To find out more about the second decking deadline and what’s to come in the final weeks of the Legislative Session, visit the Legislative Reference Bureau’s Public Access Room website. If you have any questions about any of the district or other bills, call us at 808-586-6740 or email our legislative staff at k.vatalaro@capitol.hawaii. Below are some of the bills that have survived the second decking and are crossing to the other house:

Senate draft of Executive Operating Budget approved
The Senate voted to pass an amended Senate version of HB 200, the state’s operating budget for the next two fiscal years. Despite an original projected deficit of nearly $2 billion, the Senate unanimously approved the bill, which includes $1.6 billion in federal aid to the State from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and $15,991,265,341 in general funds for the fiscal biennium beginning July 1, 2021, and ending June 30, 2023.  Some highlights:

• Adds $5,400,000 in FY22 for General Assistance payments to maintain $388 a month payment for 6,675 individuals (using ARPA funds)
• Adds $750,000 in FY22 and FY23 for State Rent Supplement Vouchers that provide up to $500 a month to cover rental costs for 280 households (using ARPA funds).
• Adds $312,445,695 in FY22 and $407,554,305 in FY23 for the new Unemployment Insurance loan (using ARPA funds).
• Increase federal fund ceiling by $16,433,850 in FY22 and $16,429,850 in FY23 for rental assistance services.
• Adds $12,374,692 in FY22 and $34,069,588 in FY23 for Medicaid payments.
• Adds $10,800,000 each year for Homeless Services (using ARPA funds).
• Adds $2,231,420 and 33 permanent Enforcement Officers, 6 permanent Administrative Support positions and 2 permanent Education and Program Specialists for Conservation and Resource Enforcement.
• Adds $1,459,440 and 30 previously defunded positions for Conservation and Resources Enforcement.
• To see more highlights, click here

Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Projects – I requested several CIP projects for our district to be included in the Senate’s CIP budget. While it is still up to negotiation between the Senate and the House, the following are in the Senate’s proposed budget:

• $50,000 for Jefferson Elementary School Building R classroom air conditioning improvements.
• $675,000 for Lunalilo Elementary School covered walkways hazard mitigation, construction, reconstruction or improvements.
• $3.5 million for McKinley High School improvements at various historic classroom buildings.
• $9.8 million for Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor design and construction to replace floating docks, finger piers, and other related improvements.
• $3.15 million for Waikiki Master Plan improvements including sand restoration, refurbishments of derelict groins, and construction of new groins, with offshore sand dredging, with beach sand placement.

Helping our kupuna

• HB490: Crimes Against Seniors – enhanced penalties for crimes against seniors from 60 years and older.
• SB838: Services for Kupuna – gives more flexibility in providing kupuna care and kupuna caregiver services.
• HB1283: Provides for dementia training to first responders.

Help for our harbors

• SB79: Authorizes removal of abandoned vessels within 72 hours at the owner’s expense and makes abandonment a petty misdemeanor.
• SB795: Updates fees charged by small boat harbors, including how fees are calculated; with fees to be used to enhance our harbors statewide, including the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor

Improving condo operations

• HB599: Clarifies that condo associations may conduct electronic meetings and electronic or mail voting during a state of emergency.
• SB 329: Authorizes the condo association board to dispose of abandoned property 30 days after notifying the owner; or to dispose immediately if owner is unknown.

Providing equitable treatment on income and revenues

• SB793: Repeals subminimum wage requirements for disabled workers.
• HB286: Authorizes the Department of Taxation to require real estate investment trusts to annually report assets and revenues generated.

Increasing government efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency – To address our budget challenges, we also focused on cutting government costs and streamlining government operations and accountability. Over 10 bills are moving and some that may interest you below:

• HB526: Requires the state procurement office to establish a past performance database to assess the performance of government contractors.
• SB1329:  Requires construction bid protests to be addressed expeditiously by establishing time limits.
• SB246: Establishes a state government realignment commission to review the state executive branch departments
• SB1018: Requires the Department of Health (DOH) to establish a two-year reorganization pilot project to make DOH use resources more efficiently and effectively.
• HB1149 & HB1318: Administratively merges the functions of the Land Use Commission and the Office of Environmental Quality Control into the Office of Planning for greater efficiency and sharing of resources.

• HB103: Requires approval of the legislature to for governor’s extension of 60-day emergency periods.
• HB573: Allows the legislature to more closely examine the governor’s use of emergency federal relief funds

Measures to help our community did not make the deadline and must wait another year
Unfortunately these measures did not make it out of the senate or house committees. See below link to the status sheet to see the last committee that failed to hear the bill:

• SB327 / HB296: Restricts the hours of leaf blower use in the Waikiki special improvement district residential zone.
• SB792 / HB288: Increases the fines for installation of a noisy muffler (did not pass House)
• SCR77: Requests DOH to convene a task force to consider noise mitigation solutions to early morning trash collection
• SCR75:  Requests the Office of Planning to convene a task force to work on sea level adaptation and resilience plan for Waikiki

Kakaako Roads Receive Pothole Makeover After Years of Neglect

Ala Wai Pedestrian Bridge (Ala Pono): Send your comments on the Draft Environmental Assessment

Ala Moana Condo Project “Hawaii Ocean Plaza” stalled
A controversial plan to build a 400-foot tall condo and hotel project near Ala Moana Center on Kapiolani Blvd is facing a new obstacle. In March 2018, the Honolulu City Council approved developer Johnson Fang’s Hawaii Ocean Plaza project as long as the builder obtained the necessary building permits within two years. That deadline was extended another year, which ended last week with no further extensions. The Hawaii Ocean Plaza plans call for 175 hotel rooms and 216 condos under the city’s transit-oriented development (TOD) program. Because the TOD deal lapsed, the developer has to go back to the City Council to get the zoning variances that were lost. That could take months — maybe years — and could cost millions of dollars in delays.
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City Installs Cameras Near Ala Moana and Kuhio Beach Park Restrooms
The City an and the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) have partnered to install 75 security cameras across four City park locations on Oahu – which includes Kuhio, Ala Moana and Kapiolani Parks — to enhance security and deter vandalism., The newly installed machines effectively triple the number of surveillance cameras at City parks on Oahu. For more info, click here.