Hawaii lawmakers have come up with a budget proposal that calls for about 7 percent less spending in each of the next two years than Gov. Neil Abercrombie had wanted.
But their plan could still get bigger, depending on what happens to a number of tax proposals in the next couple of days.
A House-Senate conference committee on Tuesday night shared the following preliminary budget figures a week after its first meeting: $5.3 billion in general funds in fiscal 2012 and $5.5 billion in 2013.
That compares with the $5.7 billion in spending Abercrombie had wanted in 2012 and $5.9 billion in 2013.
“It’s smaller than the Lingle and Abercrombie budgets because we only put back the basic government programs — fixed costs like Medicare, welfare, (pensions) and (health insurance) for public workers,” House Finance Chairman Marcus Oshiro told Civil Beat. “We haven’t addressed the governor’s ‘wish list’ or any new initiatives.”
The figures are slightly larger than the version of approved by the House in early March, and similar to the Senate version passed earlier this month.
Oshiro and Ways and Means Chairman David Ige said they want to await the outcome of several revenue-generating bills that are up for votes in conference committee Wednesday before finalizing the budget.
“We can’t do it all in the budget,” Oshiro said. “After three years of cutting about $3 billion, you can only go so far. Much of the fat has been cut out, we’re down to some actual meat. And at some places, we’re striking at the bone of some government services.”
Oshiro said once the fate of such revenue measures as the pension tax and raiding of special funds have been decided, the committee will be in a position to potentially restore some of the cuts it’s made to the budget.
“We hope we can finalize the revenue pictures of these tax measures and transfers very soon so that we can ascertain how much we can restore in critical government services and address some of the initiatives of the governor’s New Day initiatives,” he said.
Some of bills being eyed include:
-
Senate Bill 754, which would suspend GET exemptions for businesses and is estimated to generate $170 million in fiscal 2012 and $220 million in fiscal 2013.
-
SB 570 and HB 1092, which would tax pension income, repeal the state income tax deduction and itemized deductions for higher income earners. At the higher thresholds ($100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for joint filers), the bill would generate about $97 million annually.
-
SB 1186, which would cap the counties’ share of the Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT) at 2010 levels. It would also temporarily increase the TAT by 2 percentage points on timeshares, which would raise $13 million per year through 2015.
“We have come to some agreement on cuts, but I think we need to take a time out, a reality check, so that we don’t spend more money that we don’t have, and are not forced to cut more than we need to,” Oshiro said.
GET IN-DEPTH REPORTING ON HAWAII’S BIGGEST ISSUES
Support Independent, Unbiased News
Civil Beat is a nonprofit, reader-supported newsroom based in ±á²¹·É²¹¾±Ê»¾±. When you give, your donation is combined with gifts from thousands of your fellow readers, and together you help power the strongest team of investigative journalists in the state.