2005 Was an Anti-Business Session;
Speaker Say Keeps Hope Alive on a HADA Bill

     Some say that the 2005 legislative session was the strongest anti-business session in three decades. Certainly by the "grave concerns" that HADA expressed seven times, one could discern that this was an alarming session for business. Such language shows HADA's strongest opposition. Most of these measures Died. But they advanced further than justified by any merits of the bills. By our tally, there was not a single dollar of the state's $3.9 billion annual budget that was allocated by this legislature for business-advanced measures. The saddest moment in this session came in a last-minute conference committee, chaired by Sen. Brian Taniguchi, Sen. Dwight Takamine, and Rep. Roy Takumi, when these members gutted HADA's proposal for $1 million for the development of a rigorous public school reading curriculum to help develop a stronger workforce. This idea, some say, would boost Hawaii's student reading scores from last place among the states...to first place, in 72 months. HADA's Dealer Day had focused on this issue. Fortunately, Speaker of the House Calvin K.Y. Say has called for high-level meetings in the interim session to address the HADA proposal.


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