HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Gov. Josh Green said he wanted to focus his third State of the State speech on the accomplishments of his administration and the Legislature over the last two years.
But he also admitted that he purposely left out one of the biggest challenges facing the state: potential budget cuts by the incoming Trump administration.
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After the speech, the governor told reporters the omission was intentional.
“I could chase the bombastic statements that come from the new president day in and day out,” he said. “I would rather chase housing, homeless solutions, and health care providers for our state.”
Rep. Della Au Belatti, D-Makiki, Punchbowl, is a leader of the progressive Democrats in the state House and says she’s not sure leaders are prepared to respond for how quickly Trump will move the rest of his agenda.
“I am extremely, extremely concerned about the cuts, particularly the cuts that are going to hit the most vulnerable communities: Medicaid, education,” Belatti said. “Those are things that we will have to look at to fund with general funds if there are cuts, so I’m very concerned that we’re a bit quiet on that front.”
The governor’s proposed budget includes a large fund to join other state’s lawsuits challenging Trump policies in court, and was among the first to sue Monday over the president’s effort to end birthright citizenship.
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“I’m very appreciative that the governor has put in $10 million to join the efforts of other attorney generals,” Belatti said. “But the reality is that if the cuts come fast and furious, we need to be prepared in our budgeting.”
“We are prepared,” the governor responded.
Green said that’s why the state has a billion-dollar surplus and why he is reducing contributions from hotel taxes and interest revenue to his proposed climate impact fund to about $200 million per year, in order to preserve money to cover cuts he expects to women’s reproductive health, homeless programs and up to $300 million in Medicaid funds.
“What is likely to happen at the federal level is significant and deep tax cuts for very wealthy people and then deep programmatic cuts for poor people (like) Medicaid,” he said.
House and Senate leaders agreed they are well prepared and promised tax cuts are not in jeopardy.
But Republicans say they are all over-reacting.
State Rep. Diamond Garcia, Minority Floor Leader, said, “What we’re doing is we’re shrinking the size of government waste, government spending, so the people of this country and Hawaii should be excited about these next four years.”
“I think across the country and the media, there’s a lot of this fear mongering about what’s going to happen,” said Rep. Lauren Matsumoto, House Minority Leader. “Let’s just see what plays out.”
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