Hawaii needs to build a lot more homes and tourists need to spend a lot more money to keep the economy growing in the coming years.
That was the message to lawmakers from some of the state’s top economists during a daylong briefing Tuesday at the Capitol.
With the Legislature set to convene Jan. 17, members of the House and Senate money committees, chaired by Rep. Sylvia Luke and Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, called on Eugene Tian, the state economist; Carl Bonham of the University of Hawaii’s Economic Research Organization; Laurel Johnston, Gov. David Ige’s acting budget director; and others to paint them a picture of Hawaii’s financial future and discuss budget priorities.
“There are a lot of short-term ups, but it looks like we should be prepared for some long-term downs,” Dela Cruz said after the briefing. “There’s no doubt that if we don’t take some action the budget will be much, much tighter in future years.” Continue reading “Civil Beat: “Economists: Financial Challenges Are Looming For Hawaii””
