June 16, 1999
Report to the Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board No. 34
As you know, the 1999 Legislative Session ended May 4, 1999. The next step in the process is whether the Governor approves, rejects, or does nothing with the bills passed by the House and Senate. The Governor has until June 25 to give notice of what bills he will veto. The legislature has the option to meet on July 12 in special session to consider bills vetoed by the Governor.
Governor Vetoes Bills:
House Bill 100 The State Budget. The Governor submitted a line-item veto on two appropriations: one dealing with operating funds for the commercial harbor on Lanai; and the other reducing the state contribution to the State Employee Retirement System (ERS) by almost $83 million.
Representative Moses Comment the $83 million dollar reduction in contributions to the ERS reflects the impact of another bill, SB 1518, which raided the state employee pension fund to finance pay raises for current employees.
Senate Bill 1518 raids State Pension fund to pay current employees raises. The Governor removed the provisions in the bill which would transfer money to the counties.
Representative Moses Comment Pension funds are special and should be treated with respect not used as a slush fund to avoid making hard economic decisions. Our retirees deserve better. Every Republican in the Legislature voted against stealing from the pension fund to balance the budget.
House Bill 310 would have required funding athletics for new schools.
Representative Moses Comment there is no reason a new school should not have an athletic program. All schools should have athletic programs.
Senate Bill 46 would have required DOE to report to the legislature how the school budget is to be spent, school by school.
Representative Moses Comment It is hard to believe that DOE will not let the community know how much will be spent at a particular school. The voters expect the legislature to keep an eye on how their money is spent.
Governor Approves Bills:
House Bill 20 requires judges to have 25 years of service, or 5 years of service after age 55, before retiring. Judges retiring before age 55 will have a reduced pension.
Senate Bill 44 exempts professional services exported out of state from the GET (general excise tax).
Representative Moses Comment Should help local firms compete more fairly on the mainland and overseas.
Senate Bill 638 reduces GET (general excise tax) pyramiding by reducing tax on intermediate/wholesale transactions by ½% per year for seven years.
Representative Moses Comment A good start, but reduction is too slow to stimulate our economy. We still need to fight to eliminate the GET on food and care.
New Laws of Note:
House Bill 1 Effective July 1, 1999, all children 4 years of age and younger in a motor vehicle must be in an approved child passenger safety restraint system (safety seat).
Representative Moses Comment lets protect our keiki one more year until they are big enough to be protected by seat belts.
Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization (OMPO)
OMPO was created to satisfy requirements for federal highway funds. Basically no project can qualify for federal funding unless a metropolitan planning organization approves it. OMPO is that planning organization for Oahu. The purpose of OMPO is to get State and County officials together to do coordinated transportation planning.
The OMPO Policy Committee is final authority to approve projects. The Policy Committee has 13 members: 5 city council members, 3 state senators, 3 state representatives (Representative Mark Moses is one), the State DOT director, and the director of the City & County Department of Transportation Services.
OMPO has various other committees, all of which are involved in the process of proposing and reviewing transportation projects. The OMPO Citizens Advisory Committee provides a forum for community input and review of particular projects.
Recent OMPO Actions of Note:
June 10, 1999 OMPO Policy Committee included four projects for inclusion in the FY 2000-2002 Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP). Three of these projects are of interest to the Makakilo, Kapolei, and Honokai Hale community:
Bus Acquisition Program. Increase fleet to 715 vehicles by 2006.
North-South Road and Kapolei Parkway. Increased mobility for area residents to H-1, and between Ewa and Kapolei. See attached map.
Widen Fort Barette Road from H-1 to Barbers Point Entrance. Had been highest priority only from H-1 to Kapolei Parkway. Now highest priority all the way from H-1 to Barbers Point.
Announcements
Neighborhood Board Elections
Congratulations to the re-elected and newly elected members:
Brent A. Buckley Jane A. Ross
M. Kioni Dudley Maeda C. Timson
David A. Gilbert George S. Yamamoto
Michael J. Golojuch Linda Y. Young
Martha M. Makaiwi
KOA Awards
Congratulations to the following individuals and organizations who recently received a Kapolei Outstanding Achievement (KOA) Award:
Community Service Award: Paula Loring
Education Award: Gentry Homes, Ltd.
Entrepreneurship Award: The Sou Family, owners of Aloun Farms
Environment Award: Ihilani Resort & Spa
Lifetime Service Award: Martha M. Makaiwi
American Cancer Society Relay for Life
June 19, 1999 Kapolei Regional Park. Spend the night camping at our park to help raise funds for the American Cancer Society. Ill be there hope to see you. For information call Dan Durbec at the American Cancer Society, 486-8420, or my office 586-8500.
Filipino Chamber of Commerce Installation Banquet
July 3, 1999 Hilton Hawaiian Village, dinner at 7 p.m. Come join Suk and I youll have fun too. Call the Chamber at 843-0322 by June 21 for reservations.
Announcements (continued)
The Estate of James Campbell donated a check for $75,000 to the Department of Education on June 2, 1999. The funds went to Kapolei Middle, Kapolei High, Kapolei Elementary, Mauka Lani Elementary, Makakilo Elementary and Barbers Point Elementary for books and computers.
Kapolei Elementary Students Win National Award
Congratulations to Kapolei Elementary Students Kalalau Cantrell, Kawika Banes, Chaleesa Adrazado, Tisha Liu, Beverly Lapuz and Raymond Enriques, and Teacher Michael OConnor, for winning a ThinkQuest Junior Platinum Award. The Team from Kapolei Elementary School was honored for designing an educational website about "How Our Hawaiian Islands Were Formed." The Hawaii House of Representatives will be presenting a certificate to the students, teacher, and school.
The Kapolei Elementary Team competed with over 1000 other teams nationwide. The Platinum Award in the Interdisciplinary Category gets each student $1500, the teacher $3000, and the school $1000.
ThinkQuest is a philanthropic initiative by Advanced Network & Services, a nonprofit corporation dedicated to advancing education through the use of computer network applications and technology. Links to the award winners can be found at:
http://www.thinkquest.org/library/99tqjr_winners.htmlRepresentative Moses is working with the City & County Department of Transportation Services:
To determine the adequacy of School Zone Signs around Makakilo Elementary School including the need for more signs or flashing lights.
To synchronize the traffic lights on Farrington Highway between the Campbell Building and the Ft. Barrette/Makakilo Drive intersection.
Based on input from the public, Representative Moses has asked the City Department of Building and Construction to investigate installing street lights on Farrington Highway between the H-1 overpass and Campbell Industrial Park. People leaving the Water Park are calling and complaining how dark that area is at night.