Homeless-shelter bill advances

Bills surviving in the state Legislature would if approved fund a homeless shelter for Kaua‘i, and lower class sizes in grades three through five in the public schools, according to state Sen. Gary Hooser, D-Kaua‘i-Ni‘ihau.

Escalating homelessness and the crisis of affordable housing are issues that law-makers are addressing on many levels, he said. “Kaua‘i is the only county without an emergency shelter. A facility here is badly needed,” Hooser said.

“MaBel Fujiuchi and her staff at KEO (Kauai Economic Opportunity, Inc.), the county administration and housing department, and many other dedicated people on the island, are working diligently to make one a reality,” said Hooser.

Bills alive in both the House and Senate that survived the halfway point in the session, where bills either cross over to the other body or are essentially dead for the year, would fund the Kaua‘i homeless shelter and transitional-housing projects on Maui and the Big Island, he continued.

State Rep. Mina Morita, D-Kapa‘a-North Shore, and state Rep. Michael Kahikina, D-Nanakuli, introduced the measure in the House.

Several bills that have passed out of the Senate promise to enlarge upon last year’s Reinventing Education for All Children of Hawai‘i (REACH) act, which included a class-size cap for kindergarten through second grade in public-school classrooms, Hooser said.

Hooser introduced a Senate bill, and a companion bill also still lives that was introduced in the House, to progressively extend class-size reductions, one grade at a time, through the fifth grade. “This bill is a continuation of our statewide pursuit of educational excellence,” Hooser said.

“Considerable research has shown that students in smaller classes out-perform those in larger ones, participate more actively in class, and are less likely to be referred to special education,” he said.

The cap for kindergarten through second grade is 20 students, though some classes may have one, two or three more than that, compared to 30-plus students in grades three through five, in public schools.

Hooser reported that, although success is never guaranteed until the end of the session, he, along with state Reps. Morita; Ezra Kanoho, D-Lihu‘e-Wailua-Koloa; and Bertha Kawakami, (D-Po‘ipu-West Kaua‘i-Ni‘ihau; are hopeful that funds for a number of important Kaua‘i projects will survive the entire legislative process and pass into law.

Included are funds for design and construction of the Kaua‘i Community College One Stop Center; development of the final, “gap-income” housing phase of the Kalepa Village rental apartments in Hanama‘ulu; and completion of a master plan for Ha‘ena State Park.

How vacation rentals and bed-and-breakfast operations may be impacting the supply of residential rentals concerns a lot of people, Hooser said. “Up until now, it’s been difficult to accurately assess the number of these units, and whether they might affect our overall housing shortage, because the (state) Department of Taxation lumps all of its transient accommodations tax (TAT, or hotel-room tax) revenues together,” he explained.

The Senate bill would require department officials to break out revenues received from these types of establishments, “so that we can get a clearer picture of that aspect of our visitor industry,” said Hooser.

In other matters, the state Senate approved a bill to raise the state minimum wage to $7 an hour in January 2006, and $8 an hour in January 2008.

Other education bills still alive would encourage recruitment and retention of teachers by offering several new incentives, including educational-loan forgiveness.

A bill that would end the practice of those on the Neighbor Islands voting for all Neighbor-Island state Board of Education candidates and increase the number of BOE members from 13 to 17 is also still alive, Hooser said. The bill would allow Kaua‘i voters, and those on other Neighbor Islands, to vote exclusively for their own island’s BOE candidates.