Senator Sam Slom Member Feed

Hawaii Open Budget Initiative Press Conference on March 4, 2015

Senator Sam Slom and Representative Gene Ward introduce the Hawaii House and Senate Minority's launch of the Hawaii Open Budget Initiative website, which allows anyone to interact with the state budget figures.

Click through to view the video.

Hawaii Open Budget Initiative: A bold step towards fiscal transparency

Today, Senator Sam Slom and Representative Gene Ward held a joint press conference to launch the Hawaii Open Budget Initiative, a nonpartisan effort to make the state budgeting process accessible to the public by putting state budget facts and figures online, in real time, on the Hawaii Open Budget Initiative website: http://hawaiiopenbudget.com.

Senator Sam Slom says, "State departments and agencies are required to disclose information, but they usually publish information in static format, like in a PDF. With the Hawaii Open Budget site, people will for the first time be able to work with the numbers to create their own version of the budget and envision their ideal state economy."

Representative Gene Ward says, "Hawaii's government holds its budget like a poker player holds his cards...close to his chest and turns a card over only when he has to. With this budget website, all bets are off the table and the people of Hawaii win."

Hawaii lawmakers are taking this step toward fiscal transparency just in time for Sunshine Week, which is "an annual celebration of access to public information" slated for March 15-21, 2015.

Among the Hawaii Open Budget's main objectives is to educate the public about the state budget process by making the information readily available in a dynamic format and encouraging interaction with the numbers. Lawmakers are confident the site will allow people to gain insight into the decisions they have to make, and see the consequences behind decisions to increase taxes, cut spending, propose a tax credit or grant a tax exemption. There is even a "Balance the Budget" interactive tool where people can choose which proposed laws they want to enact to balance the state budget.

To learn more, visit the Hawaii Open Budget Initiative website or connect

Senate Minority - Opening Day Remarks by Senator Sam Slom

On January 21, the legislature opened its 2015 session and Senator Sam Slom delivered the following speech on behalf of the Senate Minority.

"Senate President Kim, Governor Ige, our Military, distinguished guests and overburdened Hawaii taxpayers, on behalf of the entire Senate Minority: Aloha!

First, let me reassure all of you who have been worried, that I remain a Republican-I'm not switching parties- and will continue to represent the loyal, but responsible, opposition to harmful legislation, while advocating reasonable alternative legislation to solve problems and ease the economic burdens on our citizens.

It has become increasingly difficult to stand up and speak out against the status quo and call for change in Hawaii. Yet it must be done. There are some who would silence any dissent. Sometimes there are severe political, media, economic and social consequences for speaking out. Ask former UH Chancellor Tom Apple. Ask me.

With a New Year, we remain hopeful with a new Administration we may actually get some positive change.

We now have a Governor, who was one of us in the Senate, whom I respect -with an engineering and not a community organizing background. As he said, government can't do it alone; people must get involved and do some of the "heavy lifting" to solve our problems still left over from years past.

Our job is to restore and encourage the public's confidence in our process, and to be more transparent and accountable ourselves, while empowering our citizens. We have to do more than just talk or make speeches; we need appropriate action. We can do this.

The public feels disconnected because we haven't done a good enough job. There haven't been consequences for bad behavior in government. We hav

The Senate Minority weighs in on the sustainability of the General Fund

Senator Sam Slom says, "If we make bad assumptions now, they will have long term negative effects on our state."

Today, the Senate Minority Office published a report questioning the sustainability of the state's General Fund, and considered the following four key factors affecting the state's financial plan:

Continuation of executive spending restrictions (imposed by the previous Executive Administration);
Revised projections of General Fund revenues by the Council on Revenues from 3.5% to 4.5%;
Expiration of collective bargaining agreements in June 2015, and related costs of renewing these contracts; and,
Overall long term General Fund expenditure growth estimated at 2.3% despite actual growth of 4% over the last decade

In its report, the Senate Minority urges that adjustments be made to the Executive Biennium Budget for fiscal years 2016 and 2017, in order to avoid dangerously low cash reserves that could negatively affect the state's bond rating and lead to new or increased taxes to bail the state out in the future.

Sen. Slom said, "Hawaii is at an economic and fiscal tipping point. For years, the Legislature has ignored certain figures or made assumptions based on false or misleading indicators in creating a financial plan for the state. This has led to a reactive rather than proactive approach to the budget, as each poor decision catches up with us at some point. If we keep ignoring financial realities eventually the state is going to find itself in a desperate situation financially. We have to start planning responsibly, and our Executive and Legislature should be open, honest and forthright with the public, government departments and unions."

The Senate Minority report was partly prompted by the Council on Revenues meeting Tuesday, where the Council revised its General

Excessive use of special funds impacts us all

The Auditor of the State of Hawaii recently released a report on the University of Hawaii's use of special funds. Today, Senator Sam Slom expressed his view in reaction to the report.

Senator Slom said, "Our state Constitution requires a balanced budget. That means the state should not spend more than it takes in. Unfortunately, the use of special funds has grown over recent years and it has become a habit of some members of the Legislature and Executive to use special funds to avoid the Constitutional requirement of balancing the budget. The recent Auditor's report is evidence that hundreds of millions of dollars can bypass legislative and public scrutiny and distort Hawaii's budgeting process as a result."

In the December 2014 report, the State Auditor recommended that 17 existing UH special funds, revolving funds, and trust funds be discontinued for falling short of four key legislative criteria. The four key legislative criteria include that a special fund must:

serve the purpose for which it was originally established;
reflect a clear nexus between benefits and charges made upon the users or beneficiaries of the program;
provide an appropriate means of financing the program or activity; and
demonstrate the capacity to be financially self-sustaining.

In 2013, Senator Slom pointed out the diffic

Senator Sam Slom - Remington College - Keynote speaker 2014 Graduation

Senator Sam Slom was the Keynote speaker for the graduation of Remington College Hawaii Campus 2014 on Friday September 19, 2014.

Click through to watch the video on Senator Slom's member page.

Senate Minority Alternative Biennium Budget Documents

Senate Minority Alternative Budget FY2014-2015 (Excel, 4MB)

The Hawaii Senate Minority Alternative Biennium Budget - For the Fiscal Years 2014-2015 (PDF)

2013 Agenda & Platform of the Senate Minority

VISIT THE SENATE MINORITY WEBSITE FOR THE LATEST UPDATES

Senate President Kim, Governor Abercrombie, distinguished guests and overburdened taxpayers of Hawaii, on behalf of the entire Senate Minority, aloha!

Thank God, this body will once again have daily prayer, because if ever there was a time elected officials should call on a higher authority for guidance, it is now.

"We, the People." That is the beginning of both the United States and Hawaii Constitutions and we need to remind ourselves, as elected officials, of the significance of these words. These are serious times requiring our best abilities and swift action.

It seems many of our residents, perhaps too many, believe we have lost our way and forgotten those limiting words as government becomes more dominant in our daily lives. There are negative consequences: a divided population, voter apathy, less confidence in us as elected officials and more social and financial problems. People in Hawaii are tired of being pushed around while told everything is fine. They know better.

Last month, the national emphasis was on the so-called federal "fiscal cliff," involving excessive government taxation, spending, and debt. Actually, we fell off that cliff months ago. In Hawaii, more accurately we face the "Financial Pali," as government attempts to take away more freedoms and income from its citizens.

Forbes Magazine describes Hawaii as one of 10 "Death Spiral States." Forbes and other watchdog organizations cite over taxation and rising tax burdens, increased state debt, massive unfunded liabilities, and an exodus of private employers, as dangerous for investors. (Click through to continue reading the rest of Senator Sam Slom's Opening Day remarks on his legislative webpage...)

New Video: Senate Minority Report - January 24, 2011

Senator Slom talks about the Governor's State of the State Address. (Visit Senator Slom's webpage to view the video.)

Opening Day Remarks by the Senate Minority

Senate President Tsutsui, Governor Abercrombie, distinguished guests and overburdened taxpayers of Hawaii, on behalf of the entire Senate Minority, Aloha!

Some people have referred to me as "The Lone Ranger" because throughout the entire United States I am the only single party Senator in a State Legislature. The Ranger may have been "lone" but he was a good guy, unafraid of the odds against him, and he was able to inspire the townspeople to join together and act for their common defense. I will strive to live up to that reputation. However, he wasn't really alone. Even many of my majority party colleagues have been most accommodating and helpful; they understand the need for two-parties in the Legislature.

(Read the rest of this speech on Senator Slom's webpage.)