Hard Choices: Abercrombie and the Legislature
01/19/2011
Chad Blair/Civil Beat
Today, opening day of the 26th Hawaii Legislature, Gov. Neil Abercrombie will listen to Senate President Shan Tsutsui and Minority Leader Sam Slom announce their ideas for the state.
He'll also hear from Minority Leader Gene Ward in the House and (probably) whoever is elected House speaker. Willie K and the Society of Seven will perform.
It will be a festive occasion — especially if the House finally settles its leadership dispute.
But, civil unions aside, the biggest story of the 2011 Legislature and the Abercrombie administration is the budget and the $843 million budget shortfall projected through June 30 and over the next two fiscal years.
Abercrombie has already laid down parameters that may crimp lawmakers' ability to make ends meet. The governor, after all, has said he will not raise the general excise tax, will not take from the counties' share of the transient accommodations tax, will not implement furloughs, will not delay tax refunds and will not cut warm bodies.
Yet, other new Democratic governors from California to Illinois to New York are looking at those very things. In addition to tax increases, on the table are sacred cows like reductions in spending on education and cuts to public employee union benefits.
Those last two — involving teachers and students and labor unions — are anathema to Hawaii Democrats and a governor who is a former educator and union organizer.
Yet, the state's biggest expenses are education ($2 billion) and the health and pension benefits of active employees and retirees ($1.7 billion). Employee salaries and benefits account for 60 percent of the state's general fund.
Civil Beat looks at the hard choices faced by Hawaii's governor and Legislature, and what others states are doing.
