June 17, 1999

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.

Senate Bill 1518 – raids State Pension fund to pay current employees raises. The Governor used a line-item veto to remove only the provisions which transfer money to the counties.

House Bill 310 – would have required funding athletics for new schools.

Senate Bill 46 – would have required DOE to report to the legislature how the school budget is to be spent, school by school.

Senate Bill 1119 – The Governor vetoed "Reubyne’s" Bill which would have shifted the burden of proving mental or emotional distress to the defendant in murder cases. If the defendant establishes they were under an extreme mental or emotional distress, the crime is reduced to manslaughter.

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).

Senate Bill 638 – reduces GET (general excise tax) pyramiding by reducing tax on intermediate/wholesale transactions by ½% per year for seven years.

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).

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.

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.

Congratulations to the re-elected and newly elected members:

Martin J. Burke Richard H. Oshiro

June 19, 1999 – Kapolei Regional Park. Spend the night camping at our park to help raise funds for the American Cancer Society. I’ll be there – hope to see you. For information call Dan Durbec at the American Cancer Society, 486-8420, or my office 586-8500.

July 3, 1999 – Hilton Hawaiian Village, dinner at 7 p.m. Come join Suk and I – you’ll have fun too. Call the Chamber at 843-0322 by June 21 for reservations.