The last few weeks of any Legislative Session seems to always be the most stressful.  This year has probably contained more drama than others due to the tremendous challenges faced by the Legislature in trying to resolve our massive budget deficit.  Over the past week, we have been attending the Budget Conference Committee hearings and monitoring other Conference hearings at the Capitol. PHOCUSED has expressed concern over what appears to be a very major difference in positions between the House and Senate money Committees.  Both Committees have offered up a variety of different revenue generating measures.  Each of these options have been met with extreme opposition from special interest groups and were opposed by many members in both Houses.  Initial agreement from both Conference Committees was reached on those bills needed to raise the revenues to balance the budget. However, the measures failed to garner enough support in the full Senate. As a result of the deferral and recommitment of those bills to the Senate Ways and Means Committee, the funding the money Conference Committees expected to have to balance the budget is approximately $165 million short.  This is very significant because if the additional revenues are not agreed to by both houses, they will need to make further cuts to essential services for the vulnerable in our community.  This is unacceptable.  We are doing everything we can to encourage the Legislators to have the courage to find the revenues they know they need to balance the budget without having to make further draconian cuts.

 

On Monday we staged a very successful PHOCUSED presence at the Capitol.  I believe our efforts have been successful in bringing attention to the need for funding. This past Thursday on the Island Insights show, both Rep. Marcus Oshiro and Senator Donna Mercado Kim, the Chairs of the money committees, stated they felt that funding for the health and human services needs of our state were their priority.  We hope their actions will follow their words and see a funding proposal soon to find the needed revenues for the essential services presently not being funded.  It remains to be seen how they will resolve this major problem.  The Budget Conference Committees will resume negotiations officially on Monday at 7:00 pm.  Much work needs to be done over the weekend, and we hope they will have a plan in place by Monday.  One thing is sure, the plan to override the expected vetoes of the Governor before the end of session is no longer viable. They have missed their deadline to pass those measures in time for the ten day veto requirement to be in use.  We will either see an extension to the Session or they may need to call for a special session to come back to override the expected vetoes. However, there does not appear to be much support for a special session, so we are really not sure what will happen at this point. Stay tuned.

On Monday SB 2469 the "Rainy Day Fund" bill is scheduled for a hearing at 2:00 pm in Conference room 229.  We have been working closely with Senator Chun Oakland and are very hopeful that for those programs not funded directly in the budget bill, they may have a chance of receiving some funds through this effort.  This however has never been done at this level before. There are many questions we have on how this will work. We also do not know if in fact the key Leaders in both houses will support using any portion of the rainy day fund. 

Again - stay tuned.