LIHU‘E — Gov. Neil Abercrombie, during his State at the State address Tuesday, highlighted the state’s better financial position and many private and public initiatives, while criticizing the opposition to the Public Lands Development Corporation’s lack of aloha. In Abercrombie’s
LIHU‘E — Gov. Neil Abercrombie, during his State at the State address Tuesday, highlighted the state’s better financial position and many private and public initiatives, while criticizing the opposition to the Public Lands Development Corporation’s lack of aloha.
In Abercrombie’s 5,956-word State of the State address, Kaua‘i was only directly mentioned once, regarding a “future” partnership to enhance service to war veterans.
Abercrombie said that “in the future,” the state will partner with the Hawai‘i Health Systems Corporation to develop a multi-service veterans center on Kaua‘i and other Neighbor Islands.
“These veterans deserve our full support to recognize and appreciate all that they have done for our communities, our state and our country,” he said.
Of course, other programs that Abercrombie discussed will have impacts on Kaua‘i.
Speaking before the state Legislature, Abercrombie said that, two years ago, “our administration had just taken office amidst an extremely difficult fiscal and economic outlook.”
The administration faced a $1.3 billion potential budget shortfall for Fiscal Biennium 2011-13, he said. But, as a result of collaborative efforts, shared sacrifice and judicious administrative action, the year-end general fund balance for FY 2011 was $126 million, and for FY 2012 it was $275 million, according to Abercrombie.
“For this year, which ends in approximately five months, we are again looking at a healthy positive balance,” he said.
Kaua‘i County Council Chair Jay Furfaro, who attended the event at the state Capitol, said Abercrombie’s address painted a little more satisfactory picture than his address two years ago did.
“Part of the message today was the sense that the state is at somewhat at a financial recovery but not enough to really satisfy the liabilities still related to the employee retirement fund,” said Furfaro, adding that the recovery will be a slow process, with about 20 percent improvement in covering that liability.
Abercrombie said that to pay down this liability would require the state to put up more than $500 million every year for 30 years, which is an impossible number to meet all at once. He proposed to address this liability by budgeting $100 million starting next fiscal year, with plans to continue to pursue payment in coming years.
Furfaro said it seems the state is moving on with reinstating the original negotiating compensation packages, after Abercrombie announced that the state is in a financial position to defer the 5 percent pay cut to state employees, which was some of the good news.
“Much of what the governor talked about dealt with some new programs dealing with incentives for keiki development, incentives for more independent farming activity,” Furfaro said.
Abercrombie, who included $32.5 million in the state’s budget for an Executive Office on Early Learning for a school readiness program, said that leaving children unprepared for school puts them a crippling disadvantage in the future.
The governor also said the administration will work to increase access to capital for local farmers and ranchers by expanding the state Department of Agriculture’s loan programs.
Furfaro said that “all-in-all, it was a pretty good message” about the repositioning of the state with the economy’s improvement, especially for some of the public workforce.
“But staying real focused and nurturing that financial picture was what I really got out of the governor’s message today,” Furfaro said.
PLDC, LNG,
minimum wage
Abercrombie spent much of the beginning of his State of the State address talking about opposing views, a model of dialogue, “the virus of absolutism,” trying “a little harder to practice aloha with each other,” political slogans and bumper stickers, and how the level of discourse in public policy discussion needs elevation.
And then he topped it all with a comment on the PLDC, which has been the administration’s main source of criticism in the last six months.
“The Public Land Development Corporation is but one example of an attempt to answer the struggle to come out of the worst recession in memory,” he said. “What we cannot do is allow controversy over the answer to this or any other challenge to pre-empt asking or facing up to the questions before us.”
The state’s minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, and it has not increased in more than six years. Abercrombie said he will be proposing a bill to increase the minimum wage by $1.50 to $8.75 beginning in Jan., 2014.
He also talked about his proposal to create the “HI Growth Initiative,” a state investment program focused on building an environment for innovation which supports entrepreneurial high-growth businesses and creates high-wage jobs. With a $20 million budget, the program would engage with the private sector to startup and grow creative and innovative companies.
Regarding energy production, Abercrombie praised the Liquefied Natural Gas technology, and said this is a resource that would allow the state to purchase fuel from domestic sources, rather than from foreign companies.
“LNG will reduce energy costs, and reduce our carbon footprint because the resource is abundant, available, and the technology exists for us to use it now,” said Abercrombie, asking the Legislature to move forward with LNG implementation in the state’s energy grid. “There is no time to lose.”
As far as renewable energy tax credits, the “lack of clarity and confusion by some gaming the system” created an uneven playing field for the renewable energy companies, which resulted in the unsustainable growth of the tax credit. “I have asked my Department of Taxation to work with the Legislature to find the appropriate balance, and the proper amendments to the tax credit so that we can make the law fair for everyone, and maintain a sustainable incentive for the long-term,” he said.
Visit governor.Hawai‘i.gov/2013-state-of-the-state/ for the complete text of Abercrombie’s address.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
