Hawaii Senate President Donna Mercado Kim says it’s time for “reassessment and reinvestment.”

“After several years of belt-tightening, we’re greeting this session with a rosier economic outlook,” she told the packed crowd in Senate chambers.

But she said Hawaii should proceed with caution. New labor agreements with the unions will be a big cost, Kim added.

We still have lingering fiscal concerns and potential new ones, among them possible cutbacks in federal funding, and many are looking to the state to make up the difference. Add to this the backlog of repair and maintenance needs for schools, parks, public housing, state buildings, and our infrastructure. There are initiatives to establish a state-run early education program, a new prison, and more affordable housing, as well as proposals for more grants-in-aid and other public support.

Despite all of these demands, and the anticipation of better economic times, I hope, first and foremost, that there will be NO new tax burdens thrust upon our citizens … that we will not automatically open the taxpayers’ pocketbooks to every budget request, every new proposal, every capital improvement project.

— Nathan Eagle