Two payments to signal, two to veto and one to pare down

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By Keli‘i Akina

Hawaii’s Legislature handed 274 payments this yr — out of greater than 3,000 launched. However up to now, Gov. Josh Inexperienced has signed solely a handful of them. 

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That leaves quite a lot of payments for him to learn and determine their fates. So within the spirit of “E hana kākou” (“Let’s work collectively”), I wish to supply some suggestions that ought to make the governor’s job just a little simpler.

>> First, he ought to signal SB674, which might permit Hawaii to hitch the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact and make it simpler for out-of-state medical doctors to observe in Hawaii.

Attracting extra medical professionals to Hawaii is not only a good suggestion, it’s an pressing want. Our state is brief nearly 800 physicians, and that has precipitated huge struggling and inconvenience for Hawaii residents in want of healthcare, particularly in rural areas and on the neighbor islands. 

The physician compact already consists of 37 different states, and with only a stroke of the governor’s pen, medical doctors from each one in every of them would be capable to relocate to the islands with out having to leap by means of any of Hawaii’s tough, costly and time-consuming regulatory hoops.

I understand becoming a member of the interstate licensure compact for medical doctors wouldn’t remedy all of Hawaii’s healthcare issues, however it could be an vital first step.

>> Subsequent, Gov. Inexperienced ought to signal SB1437, a tax reform invoice that might permit “pass-through entities” equivalent to partnerships and S companies to deduct their state revenue tax liabilities from their federal revenue tax liabilities. Provided that Hawaii is taken into account one of many worst states for companies and entrepreneurs, this could be a easy method to decrease the tax burden on native companies — and without charge to the state!

The observe has been OK’d by the IRS and is already allowed in 29 different states, saving companies in these states billions of {dollars}.

>> On the “thumbs down” aspect of the ledger, Gov. Inexperienced ought to veto SB945, a heavy-handed licensing scheme that might doubtlessly run cryptocurrency corporations in Hawaii out of enterprise. 

Among the many invoice’s many main flaws, it could give the Division of Monetary Establishments director immense energy to rewrite the legislation at will. Not solely would this create a possible battle with any federal rules, however it could put an excessive amount of energy within the fingers of an unelected bureaucrat and create a paralyzing stage of regulatory uncertainty for cryptocurrency corporations hoping to do enterprise in our state. 

>> I additionally wish to see the governor veto HB525, one other huge invoice that would derail the expansion of cryptocurrency in Hawaii.

Many of the invoice considerations amendments to the state’s Uniform Industrial Code, however one part would exclude all digital currencies from the definition of “cash,” except they had been created by a authorities. This, after all, would go away all the opposite cryptocurrencies out within the chilly within the case of business fee disputes.

Apart from these 4 payments, there’s the matter of the Legislature’s proposed funds, which stands to extend basic fund spending by 23% over final yr and exceed the state’s authorized spending restrict by greater than 10%, or greater than $1 billion.

My hope is that Gov. Inexperienced will use his line-item veto energy to trim again this huge spending overreach, together with the $200 million “slush fund” that the Legislature appropriated to him, which matches towards our beliefs of transparency and authorities accountability.

Gov. Inexperienced has till June 26 to submit his intent-to-veto listing to the Legislature, however I hope this quick listing provides him a head begin on cope with all of the payments that stay on his desk. 
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Keli‘i Akina is president and CEO of Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.

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