Honolulu Rail Board Cancels Monthly Meeting After Failing To Reach Quorum
Issues on the board agenda included a proposal at the Legislature to extend the excise tax surcharge that provides most of the funding for the unfinished rail project.
The board of directors for the Honolulu rail authority canceled its regularly scheduled meeting Friday after the board was unable to muster a quorum.
Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation Chairwoman Colleen Hanabusa publicly announced the cancelation 73 minutes after the board meeting had been scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m.
“You have all my apologies, because I’ve never had this happen where we had a scheduled board meeting and we have not been able to secure quorum,” she said. HART is governed by a 13-member board, nine of whom are voting members.
Hanabusa said the board will try to move to Feb. 27, “but we would have to check everyone’s availability at that time.”
The board had been scheduled to consider a dozen issues related to the $10 billion Honolulu rail project, including the annual performance assessment of HART Executive Director Lori Kahikina.
Also on the board agenda was a review of several proposals pending at the Legislature, including a bill to make permanent the controversial half-percent excise tax surcharge that provides most of the funding for the rail project.
The excise surcharge is scheduled to expire at the end of 2030, but would extend the surcharge indefinitely. That bill was introduced by House Finance Committee Chairman Kyle Yamashita, but has not yet been scheduled for a hearing.
The excise surcharge now generates nearly $300 million per year for the Honolulu rail project, and the preamble of HB 2781 says the intent of the bill is to spend that money after 2030 on social services and public education, including universal preschool.
Rail supporters including former Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell have long advocated for making the excise surcharge permanent, but they have argued the surcharge revenue should be used to cover either the rail operating costs or the cost of extending the rail line to more locations in Honolulu.
