Legislature races to meet critical deadline

STAR-ADVERTISER / 2002

By HNN Staff, Daryl Huff and Ben Gutierrez for Hawaiʻi News Now

Friday marked a crucial deadline with major decisions debated all day on the House and Senate conference committees.

It’s been a day of frenzied deal-making, but we are learning the final fate of many of the issues we’ve tracked since the session began in January.

The budget also includes $120 million for so-called Green Fee projects funded by higher hotel taxes. Lawmakers rejected many of the recommendations from the Green Fee Advisory Committee and put in their own projects.

“I had a mix of emotions, and what we are leaning on is that we all did everything that we could to make sure that this funding really centers community in Aina, in its efficacy and in its impact. There were a lot of projects that were included,” said Carmela Resuma, a member of the Green Fee Advisory Committee.

Click here to watch the full segment aired by Hawaiʻi News Now on May 1.