A new law allowing hospital privatization will likely lead to a public-private partnership between Kona Community Hospital and The Queen’s Medical Center within five years, and the construction of a free-standing emergency room near the Kona International Airport.
That’s according to State Sen. Josh Green, D-Kona, Ka‘u, who also told West Hawaii residents Tuesday evening that he lost his chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Health because of his opposition to developer Carleton Ching heading the department that oversees state land and waters.
Green’s remarks came as he and state Rep. Nicole Lowen, D-Kailua-Kona, gave a recap of the last legislative session in Kailua-Kona.
“I had 18,000 emails against and 150 for,” Green said of Ching. “Not a bad person, but not the right one for the job.”
A bill that will allow Maui hospitals to privatize was a step in the right direction for the state’s failing hospitals, the state senator said.
“We did make sure we guaranteed jobs for a six-month period,” he said. “Essentially all of those workers are going to be able to keep their jobs because of the workforce situation in Hawaii.”
Green said he has engaged Queen’s executives in discussions on plans for a freestanding ER, which he called comparatively inexpensive, realistic, and his goal for the next two years.
His concern about the security of medical marijuana dispensaries was the chief reason for his deadlock with the House in the end stages of negotiations on the dispensary bill, Green said.
“I’m concerned about how the licenses are spread out; we need to be very careful,” he said. “I didn’t want it to be demagogued by mainland interests that are backed by organized crime.”
Lowen said a successful bid for $2.5 million in funding for a federal inspections facility at the airport will pave the way for international arrivals, bringing tourism dollars to West Hawaii and also helping relieve backlogs of passengers needing processing in Honolulu. A $1.2 million appropriation for a certified commercial kitchen at Kona Pacific Public Charter School will not only serve the students but allow local farmers to add value to their products in a certified facility, she said.
As chair of the Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection, Lowen successfully pushed a bill to increase the state’s renewable energy goals to 70 percent renewable by 2040 and 100 percent by 2045. It extends the current clean energy goal of 40 percent renewable by 2030.
“We could be the first state in the nation not to use carbon-producing fossil fuels to generate power,” Lowen said.