Legislature Set to Open With New Leaders in Control

Major changes are in store for the 2007 Legislature at the State Senate and State House. Many of the top leadership positions in both the Senate and House have changed. Senator Colleen Hanabusa, formerly the Senate Judiciary Chair, is now Senate President. She succeeds Senator Robert Bunda, who served as Senate President for the last 6 years.

Committee chairs in the Senate include Roz Baker for Ways & Means, Clayton Hee for Judiciary & Labor, and Brian Taniguchi for Commerce, Consumer Protection & Affordable Housing. Senator Russell Kokubun continues as chair for Water, Land, Ag & Hawaiian Affairs; J. Kalani English ‚ Transportation; Suzanne Chun- Oakland for Human Services/Public Housing; Carol Fukunaga ‚ Economic Development / Taxation; Norman Sakamoto ‚ Education; David Ige ‚ Health; Clarence Nishihara ‚ Tourism / Government Operations; Lorraine Inouye ‚ Intergovernmental Affairs / Military; Wil Espero ‚ Public Safety; and Ron Menor ‚ Energy & Environment. Two sub-committees were also created and they are Legislative Management chaired by Donna Mercado Kim, and Capitol Improvement Projects chaired by Shan Tsutsui.

My previous committee assignments have been changed also. I'll be a member of the Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection & Affordable Housing Committee, Economic Development & Taxation, Water, Land, Ag & Hawaiian Affairs and Human Services / Public Housing.

In addition to Senator Hanabusa as President, the Senate Leadership includes Donna Mercado Kim as Vice President, Gary Hooser as Majority Leader and David Ige as Majority Floor Leader. The Senate Minority Leader remains Fred Hemmings; Paul Whalen is Minority Floor Leader and Michael Gabbard is Minority Policy Leader. Democrats retain their 20 to 5 majority in the Senate.

Speaker of the House, Rep. Calvin Say will continue house leader. There are 43 Democrats to the 8 Republicans, a loss of 2 for the GOP.

Several House committee chairs have changed, the most notable being Marcus Oshiro taking over as chair of the House Finance Committee, replacing longtime Rep. Dwight Takamine, who remains in the house with no leadership position. Other notable positions in the House include Jon Riki Karamatsu as Vice Speaker, Kurt Caldwell as Majority Leader, Blake Oshiro as Majority Floor Leader and Lynn Finnegan as House Minority Leader. The House Minority now consists of 7 female legislators to the one lone male, Rep. Gene Ward from Hawaii Kai who was re-elected after Bud Stonebraker's retirement.

Only 52.7% of Hawaii's registered voters showed up to vote in this year's general election. Voters re-elected Governor Linda Lingle, and U.S. Senator Dan Akaka to new terms. Four out of the five proposed Constitutional Amendments were also passed by the voters. OHA, BOE, legislative seats and charter issues were also on the ballot.

Go to www.capitol.hawaii.gov for more info on the State Legislature. Opening day for the 2007 State Legislature is Wednesday, January 17.

Tax Increase Will Partially Fund City's Fixed Rail

The City Administration is fast tracking the fixed rail project by holding heavily decked public hearings on possible routings for the thing. The City Council is to make a decision on which transit alternative will be chosen for Honolulu. The hand is heavily in favor of rail, all cost estimates not-withstanding.

Opponents like myself to the rail and tax scheme continue to lobby against the project by supporting new legislation like Bill 83 proposed by Councilman Charles Djou to delay the implementation of the tax. Ultimately the defeat of the rail project is the goal.

To finance Honolulu's rail project the massive 12.5% increase to the GET will be the first of several new financial burdens placed upon the taxpayers of Honolulu and the state. Further tax increases are sure to follow if rail is approved.

I have been an opponent of this tax increase and of the fixed rail transit option. I voted against the GE tax increase bill (HB 1309 / Act 247) in the 2005 legislature. The Governor let the bill become law without her signature with the "promise" that the City & County of Honolulu would administer and collect the increased portion of the tax. The city later balked at the idea and now the State Dept. of Taxation has the added task of collecting the extra tax. A webpage has been set up with information pertaining to the new tax:

http://www.hawaii.gov/tax/surcharge

Those who have to pay the added tax include all businesses and landlords doing any transactions on the island of Oahu. Neighbor island and out-of-state businesses that deliver goods or services to Oahu and have a physical presence on Oahu will be subjected to the additional tax. Neighbor island landlords who have a physical presence on Oahu are also subjected to the additional tax.

Consumers only have a few weeks to close deals new property, buy a new car, computer, HDTV set or wardrobe under the current 4.16% rate. Now is the time to stock up on essentials such as non-perishable food, supplies, paper towels, canned drinks, bottled water (the latter 2 already subjected to the bottle tax in addition to GET), batteries or anything else. Do it all before January 1 because after that nearly everything consumed on this island is going to be taxed at the higher rate. Lucky you live Hawaii!

For more information on the new tax, call the State Dept. of Taxation at 587-4242 or at their website at hawaii.gov/tax.