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Hawaii's Voice for Healthcare

May 8, 2009

Dear Friends,

The legislative session ended today and I would like to thank you again for the honor of representing you as your State Senator.

There were tough decisions to make this year, a year in which the economic recession hit Hawaii hard, as it has states all across our country. In my deliberations on all the issues we faced this year, I fully considered your input and interests before I cast my votes.

Our largest challenge at the legislature was to find a way to balance the budget while maintaining essential state services. My goal was to avoid cuts wherever possible in essential services like health and public safety, while at the same time avoiding tax increases.

I voted against tax increases on tourism, wages, and property transactions because I felt the impact would be too great on Hawaii's working families, our tourism industry, and home owners. I was concerned that more people would lose jobs or perhaps even leave the state for the mainland. Instead, I felt a better approach was to use special funds that had accumulated in non-essential programs, and to reduce or eliminate certain tax credits that weren't helping the average citizen.

We were able to pass a landmark healthcare reform bill, SB1673, which will reinvent the community hospital system, especially on the neighbor islands. This bill will make our hospital system more stable and independent. It includes an additional $30 million over the next twelve months to keep all statewide services intact, avoiding painful cuts in services and labor.

Though the budget was tight, collaboration between the Obama administration and our state government means that significant appropriations will come to West Hawaii to improve our infrastructure and create many new jobs. We will receive over $100 million for improvements at the Kona Airport and over $50 million for regional harbor improvements.

I also fought successfully for $15 million in state funds for the new mid-level Ane Keohokalole road in West Hawaii which will open up access to the Hawaiian Homes project in Laiopua and to the community college campus which will grow in the coming years.

This session my goals as your State Senator were to preserve the healthcare system and to help craft a state budget to get us through the economic downturn, while preserving essential services, keeping jobs in Hawaii, and resisting potentially harmful tax increases. Working together, we accomplished a great deal.

Please join me on Tuesday, May 26th from noon to 1:30 pm at the Kona Community Hospital in conference room 2/3 for a Talk Story update on the session. I will be able to answer any questions you might have in person.

I look forward to working with you in the coming years to continue making Hawaii a better place to live.

Josh Green M.D.
State Senate
District 3, West Hawaii

sengreen@capitol.hawaii.gov
www.joshgreen.org

Josh Green State Senator
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