LIHU‘E — It will be deja vu for Kaua‘i’s lawmakers in the upcoming state Legislature when they lobby for state monies — $950,000 — to fund the Wailua Emergency Bypass. The money, approved three legislative sessions ago and blocked by
LIHU‘E — It will be deja vu for Kaua‘i’s lawmakers in the upcoming state Legislature when they lobby for state monies — $950,000 — to fund the Wailua Emergency Bypass. The money, approved three legislative sessions ago and blocked by two governors, may be on its way to Kaua‘i by midyear in the form of new funding.
The original funding for the bypass had been first appropriated in the 2009 Legislature, but former Gov. Linda Lingle denied releasing the money due to budgetary constraints. In the 2010 Legislature the funds were moved to a different source, which is the reason the current administration won’t release the money.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie took office Dec. 6, 2010, and in the following month he denied releasing the funds. Abercrombie’s staff is now saying he is willing to release the money, as long as it comes from the right means of financing.
“We’ve met with the Kaua‘i lawmakers, and the monies were not appropriated properly in the bill,” state spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said this week.
When the funds were originally appropriated, in 2009, the means of financing on Act 162 — signed on June 29, 2009 by Lingle — indicated the money would come from the state General Obligation Bond Fund, categorized as “C” funds in the bill.
A year later, Act 180 moved the money to the Revenue Bond Fund, categorized as “E” funds, which Sen. Ron Kouchi, D-Kaua‘i, Ni‘ihau, saidmight have been an oversight.
“The monies cannot be released until the changes to proper “C” funds,” said state Deputy Chief of Staff Blake Oshiro. “It can be re-authorized this (legislative) session.”
Kouchi said “there’s no chance” the original funds will be released. If not used, the funds approved in 2009 will expire June 30.
But Kouchi also said Abercrombie would be willing to release the new funding if a new request is approved.
Kouchi, along with Rep. Jimmy Tokioka, D-15th District, Dela Cruz and Oshiro, have indicated that a request for a new funding will be made in the upcoming legislative session.
“The lawmakers are going to come back and appropriate for this project,” Dela Cruz said. “There’s a correction that needs to be done so the governor can appropriate for this project.”
‘County highway’
Dela Cruz said “E” funds are set aside for state highways only, and the bypass, a county highway, doesn’t fit the definition for those types of funds.
“Wailua Bypass is not a state highway, it’s a county highway,” she said. “They need to ask for funds not using the state highway monies.”
Kaua‘i County spokeswoman Beth Tokioka, however, said there’s no such thing as a county highway.
“Donalyn’s statement that this road is a county highway is incorrect,” she said. “First, the county does not own and maintain highways, only streets and roads. Second, the roadway is located partly on state land owned by the Department of Hawaiian Homelands and partly on private property owned by Grove Farm.”
Furthermore, the county has no interest in having ownership of the land, Tokioka said.
“The county does, however, have an interest in being a partner in creating this alternate roadway in the event the state highway is shut down,” she said.
Dela Cruz said improvements to the bypass would not benefit the state highway. “It benefits the county highway,” she said.
But in the Jan. 27, 2011, letter from Abercrombie to Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. — a letter which Dela Cruz said had not gone out and which Oshiro said was issued by the governor — the project is described by the governor as traffic relief to Kuhio Highway.
“I understand that the project will repair the cane haul roadway from Wailua to Lihu‘e, Kaua‘i, to allow traffic t o deviate around Kuhio Highway when the highway is impassable due to major traffic accidents,” Abercrombie said in the letter.
In the following paragraph Abercrombie stated the funds for the project would not be released because in the previous year there were no major traffic accidents which created a need for a traffic re-route through the bypass, and that if an accident does happen, the bypass can be used.
‘Willing to reconsider’
Oshiro, however, said that since the letter was sent, Abercrombie has heard from Kaua‘i residents about the need for the funds and the bypass. “He is willing to reconsider,” Oshiro said of Abercrombie.
Dela Cruz also said the Abercrombie administration wants to help, but before that happens, the Kaua‘i representatives have to submit a budget request to the next session of the Legislature.But as of right now the money sits in the wrong fund, according to Dela Cruz.
“Just because somebody asks for money, we can’t say, ‘Oh yeah, we are going to give it to you,’” Dela Cruz said. “It has to come from a certain funding source.”
The Kaua‘i County Council on May 12, 2010, unanimously approved a county match of $950,000 for the project, bringing the total funds to $1.9 million. Former Councilman Daryl Kaneshiro said in that meeting that besides paving the bypass, the funds would be used to install guardrails and other safety features.
“There are many other items that need to go in besides just fixing the road or paving part of the road,” Kaneshiro said, according to the meeting’s minutes.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
