Big Ticket State Budget Items Begin To Make Good On Decades-Old Commitments 0 Much of the new spending supports Native Hawaiians and working people while boosting the rainy day fund.
Lawmakers and Gov. David Ige like to say it is the state budget that truly reflects their priorities, and the extraordinary budget document produced by the Legislature this year suggests Hawaii’s political class finally made it a priority to deliver on some long-standing promises.
When presented at the beginning of this year with a budget surplus of more than $2 billion — the largest in state history, by far — lawmakers assembled a spending package aimed largely at the state’s lower-income families, with a particular focus on long-neglected needs and grievances in the Hawaiian community.
The budget evolved dramatically along the way, partly because more and more money became available.
