Vanessa Van Voorhis – The Garden Island
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LIHU‘E – State Sen. Ron Kouchi, D-Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau, said the March 24 election of board members of the Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative will have a “tremendous impact” on diversifying the future economic base of the island.

“There’s nobody right now knocking our doors off to build a hotel,” Kouchi told members of the Lihu‘e Business Association on Thursday. “Most of our development opportunities are going to be in agriculture, high technology and in renewable energy.”

He cited KIUC’s solar energy project in Anahola. Additionally, military installations across the country, including the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua‘i, have a mandate to “go green” in future years.

“So what’s going to happen at KIUC within the next five years is going to have a tremendous impact on how successful we are in diversifying our economic base here on Kaua‘i, so I can’t tell you enough how important this (KIUC) election is going to be for the direction and the ability for KIUC to have cooperation in the government and here in the community,” Kouchi said.

He said he recently met with Richard Lim, director of the state Department Business, Economic Development and Tourism, about renewable energy.

“We might have to make changes, policy-wise, to the (Public Utilities Commission) so that it’s all driven solely by cost to the customer by giving the PUC a policy directive to take a longer-range look at the cost of energy and our energy future,” Kouchi said. “Right now, we’re not expecting oil to go down. We’re expecting it to go up.”

On the budget

Although the state currently has a $1.3 billion deficit, “We’re not going to come back to the table to increase taxes,” Kouchi said.

A December forecast estimated 14.5 percent growth for the state.  

“The governor said we have a great surplus and created an initiative to invest in Hawai‘i,” Kouchi said.

But earlier this month, the forecast was revised to 11.5 percent. Each percentage point is equal to about $40 million in revenue for the state.

“So we immediately went from this great surplus to about $130 million less than we thought we had,” he said, but added that the state is still in a sound financial position even at 11.5 percent.

“The Council of Revenues will meet again in March to give us our final number, but we’re being conservative. If it goes below 11.5 percent, that’s that. If it stays at 11.5 percent, we’re OK. Anything above 11.5 percent, then we can consider reinvesting in Hawai‘i,” he said.

Kouchi also attempted to clarify the status of Hurricane Relief and Rainy Day account funding.

“In case it wasn’t clear to everybody what they said about the Hurricane Relief Fund, the $75 million, and putting $25 million back into the Rainy Day Fund, it wasn’t with proceeds from the sale of the bonds and putting that back into the account,” he said.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie in December announced the state’s largest general obligation bond sale in history of $1.3 billion.

“There were so many people interested in buying state of Hawaii bonds, they were able to actually tack on a premium to the buys,” Kouchi said.

“So that’s $100 million in cash, and so if we go from 14.5 percent to 11.5 and stay there, and $130 million, the quick math is about $90 million in savings and  $100 million in cash, so we have $190 million to work with going forward. So that means we’ve got $60 million to deal with, but a lot of it should be committed back to the Hurricane Relief Fund and keeping a Rainy Day Fund,” he said.

County matters

Kouchi said Kaua‘i, like all counties in the state, is fighting to keeping a portion of its hotel tax revenues, which the state has been eyeing to meet its revenue needs.

Beach liability insurance for counties is another matter being addressed.

“The beach liability at the county is (expiring) this year, but what we’re trying to do as the Kaua‘i delegation is not just continue the beach liability coverage for the county but try to pass it without a sunset so that the county doesn’t have to keep coming back every four or five years to get permission from the Legislature,” he said.

He said lifeguards, as public safety workers, should have their own collective bargaining unit, which would “make it a little easier for them to negotiate their issues.”

• Vanessa Van Voorhis, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or by e-mailing vvanvoorhis@kauaipubco.com.