March 27th Luncheon Panel Program: Mid-term Legislative Report

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March 27th Luncheon Panel Program

Downtown Forum – Mid-term Legislative Report

ThinkTech Hawaii will present our 2014 Legislative Mid-term Report featuring Bob Toyofuku of Hawaii Advocates as moderator with a panel of leading state finance officials at the Downtown Laniakea YWCA on Thursday, March 27th from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm.

The panel members are as follows:

  • Sen. David Ige – Chair, Senate Ways and Means Committee
  • Rep. Sylvia Luke – Chair, House Finance Committee
  • Rep. Aaron Ling Johanson – House Minority Leader; Co-Vice Chair, House Finance Committee
  • Kalbert Young – State Budget and Finance Director

Flash: Just when we thought the state had a $844 million surplus, the Council on Revenues projected zero growth for this year, leaving the state with $478 million less to spend next fiscal year.

How much do we really have and how are we going to spend it, or not? What effect will our current $40 billion of unfunded liabilities have on all this?

So all is not necessarily rosy going forward. Surely this picture will not be lost on a legislature that was concerned about spending the $844 million in the first place. What can we do to improve our fiscal health?

Now, in an election year, what are the real priorities that are going to determine the state’s expenditures in the final result of the 2014 Legislature?

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