Gov. Green plans to veto controversial first responder campus

HONOLULU (KHON2) — The governor plans to veto a proposal for a controversial first responder campus project. It’s part of a list of items that were struck down from the state budget.

The state legislature approved $72 million into the budget that could go into building a first responder technology campus in Mililani that would serve as the main headquarters for county, state and federal agencies.

The project would include training areas, housing, a hotel and even a helipad. The governor said one of the problems is that it’s not clear how much it will actually cost.

“We want to be really clear because we learned lessons from the rail, which started at one cost and then got gigantic; and a lot of people don’t want that to happen again. So, we’re being careful,” said Governor Josh Green, M.D.

The main reason for the cut in funding, the governor said is because the Council on Revenues reduced its forecast, which happened after the budget was passed.

The funding was also inserted into the budget at the last minute which drew criticism from some lawmakers. Green said the project could end up costing hundreds of millions of dollars, and it doesn’t make sense to rush into it.

“I don’t want it to be hurried. I think everyone felt concerned that we were hurried at the end; and if we’re going to be hurried, it better be on much smaller things that I can fix quickly rather than something that we can’t come back from,” said Green.

Senate Ways and Means Chairman Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, a big proponent of the project, sent a statement that said, “I will be working with the governor during the interim to address the State’s needs to relocate and modernize our First Responder’s critical infrastructure next session.”

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency gave a tour of its facility to demonstrate the need for improvements. But Green says there’s too much at risk to move forward with the project as is.

“We do need to upgrade what we do for HI-EMA. We do need to have a lot of extra capacity to deal with cyber security, but we also have to do it within our means,” said Green.

HI-EMA sent a statement saying, “We recognize that the Governor had a fiscal duty to make cuts… We look forward to working with all the parties to find a solution.”

The following is a list of other items on the governor’s veto list:

• Reducing $4 million in FY24 from Enterprise Technology Services for Relocation of Data Center; leaving $1 million.
• Reducing $1.05 million in FY24 from Department of Accounting and General Services Public Works Division for Proof of concept and master planning.
• Reducing $500k in FY24 for Enterprise Technology Services relocation of Mapunapuna Baseyard.
• Reducing $50M in FY24 for the First Responder Tech Park.
• Reducing $1.5M in FY24 for East Kapolei Infrastructure; leaving $500k.
• Reducing $18.5M in FY24 for Kakaʻako Street Upgrades.
• Reducing $42M in FY24 for Kalaeloa electric upgrades; leaving $5M.
• Reducing $61M in FY24 for Iwilei-Kapālama infrastructure; leaving $25M.
• Reducing $88.8M in FY24 for irrigation infrastructure; leaving $5M.
• Reducing $5 million in FY24 from Department of Agriculture Mitigation and Population Control of Feral Animals (Department of Land and Natural Resources will undertake this work).
• Reducing $2M in FY24 for Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism Hawaiʻi Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies for energy tech, microgrid, and other related programs; leaving $2M.
• Reducing $33M in FY25 for Broadband Federal Matching; leaving $33M in FY24 for state match.
• Reducing $500M in FY25 for the Emergency Budget Reserve Fund; leaving $500M in FY24 to meet reserve target.
• Reducing $50M in FY24 for Hawaiʻi Green Infrastructure Authority solar energy storage loan program; leaving $50M in FY24 to launch program.
• Reducing $12M in FY24 for the Department of Defense; plan, design, construction, and equipment for new headquarters.
• Reducing $120M in FY24 for Teacher Housing; leaving $50M in FY24 to launch program.
• Reducing $3M in FY24 for Department of Human Resources and Development Computer Equipment.
• Reducing $5M in FY24 for Department of Law Enforcement Training Center for New Building.
• Reducing $5M in FY24 for Department of Land and Natural Resources for forestry resource management; leaving $20M in FY24.
• Reducing $25M in FY24 for State Parks renovations and improvements; leaving $25M in FY24.
• Reducing $100k in FY24 for Kawehewehe Waikīkī Boardwalk.
• Reducing $60.2M in FY24 for Department of Land Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation.

“The challenge we face with crafting the State budget is that it’s built upon “point-in-time” revenue projections. From March to May, the Council on Revenues forecast dipped a total of $292M and $302M in FY24 and FY25 respectively,” said Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means Donovan Dela Cruz (District 17 – Portion of Mililani, Mililani Mauka, portion of Waipi‘o Acres, Launani Valley, Wahiawā, Whitmore Village).

Sen. Dela Cruz went on further.

“The reduction in expected revenues places the Governor in a difficult position, requiring him to make tough fiscal calls on what can stay in the budget and what will need to wait and be worked on next session,” added Sen Dela Cruz.