Jeff Coakley recently posed the question, “What else are these Reps doing behind our backs?”
His focus was marijuana, but we need to be vigilant on many fronts. The good intentions of our legislators always results in more taxes, fees and regulations shrinking the private sector and jobs. Government produces nothing. The bigger it gets, the more taxes it needs.
The Hawaii State Teachers Association is pushing again for an increase in the GET because they just can’t manage on the $1.9 billion they already get from the single largest expenditure in our state budget — education.
Rail proponents will likely extend the GET surcharge to 2027 for the massively over-budget project, and what the heck, 10 percent of that money goes to the general fund so it’s a twofer! Have you been to Oahu recently? Those monolithic concrete buttresses for the rail are ugly! A blight on the land, and the City Council just realized it will have to be maintained once it’s built.
Josh Green believes raising the minimum wage from $8.50 to $16 would solve the homeless problem. Obviously, this guy never ran a small business. Last week in reference to the Powerball mania, Sen. Lorraine Inouye said a lottery “could be a good thing if a significant portion were dedicated to education or a struggling health care system.” Ditto for Josh Green and Rep. Richard Creagan. When will they get that throwing more money after failed policies and programs will never work?
Back to Coakley’s final query, “What else are these Reps doing behind our back?”
Well, they have a strong penchant for taking up things late in the session or in special session or buried in committeedom without the light of day, anything that seems controversial or opposed by “We The People.”
For instance, I’ll bet you didn’t know that last session every single Hawaii legislator except Sam Slom voted to grant illegal aliens Hawaii driver’s licenses. Oh, they shrouded it in the usual excuses, this time road safety, but they all took the side of illegal aliens over citizens, essentially establishing Hawaii as a sanctuary state.
You’ve heard the nightmare of trying to get or renew a license, but these undocumented Democrats, as Slom calls them, can now walk in with as little as a utility bill and get a license. This with homelessness such a problem, all the nonprofits scratching for funds and our schools always competing in the lower tier. Can voting, public assistance, housing subsidies, etc., for these 40,000 illegal aliens be far behind?
So pay attention because the new legislative session is underway and for the next four months they will be working hard at what they do, raising taxes, fees and regulations all in the guise of good intentions.
Michelle “Mikie” Kerr is a resident of Waikoloa
My Turn opinions are those of the writer and not West Hawaii Today