2011 House Bill 1529 (Relating to state planning)
- Introduced by Rep. Mark M. Nakashima (D) on January 28, 2011, establishes a task force to review and update the Hawaii state planning act and the planning, programming, and budgeting system; requires annual reports to the Legislature; the task force ceases to exist on 6/30/15.
Firstly, a thought about how the state is being run: This legislative session, 3,224 bills were introduced, ranging from tax increases and/or loss of tax exemptions, to strange bills such as the state mandating labels for frozen bread or criminalizing the possession of duck or goose liver.
Each and every year, with so many different kinds of bills being introduced by so many lawmakers, the question comes to mind: Is there an overall plan for what state lawmakers are supposed to be doing as elected officials?
Shouldn’t there be accountability and transparency when it comes to taxpayers’ money? Why isn’t it more important to provide necessary services than it is to grow government? Shouldn’t government be protecting and safeguarding people, rather than turning them into criminals for what they eat, or trying to modify their behavior based on the mentality that lawmakers must mandate the kinds of grocery bags or outdoor bulbs that can be used, or what kinds of drinks people should drink?
What about individual choice and responsibility?
House Bill 1529 seems to give hope to the idea that there should be an overall plan for state government. Unfortunately, the idea is to set up a task force to be convened by the governor and made up of mostly lawmakers to review and report on what is going on with the state.
Instead of having 11 of the 15 members be from within government, what about a task force made up of mostly experts outside the system who know about accounting, economics and business practices? What good does it do to examine the “planning, programming, and budgeting system” of the state if the report is to come from the very people who are running the system now?
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