Green: 'The state is in a strong financial position and that means that while we need to fund critical items that meet the needs of our community'

Government
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Gov. Josh Green | Facebook/Governor Josh Green

Gov. Josh Green released nearly $50 million in grants to nonprofit communities while recently submitting the Executive Budget for Fiscal Biennium. Green worked with the attorney general’s office and the Department of Budget and Finance to prioritize releasing these funds, according to a press release.

“We know that these nonprofits are relying on these funds to serve our most vulnerable in the community,” Green said in a release from his office. “What better time than the holiday season to give relief and much-needed support to these community partners.”

The governor said he worked with the prior administration on the Executive Budget for the Fiscal Biennium 2023-2025. While it includes many traditional items, he included a few high-priority requests related to health care and homelessness. The release said total requests for general funds amount to $9.8 billion in the fiscal year 2024 and $9.6 billion in the fiscal year 2025, which represents an increase of $667 million (7.3%) in the first year and $472 million (5.2%) in the second year over.

For fiscal biennium 2023-2025, total requests for capital improvement projects amount to $2.1 billion in the fiscal year 2024 and $1.4 billion in the fiscal year 2025, which includes $620 million in general funds and $820.8 million in general obligation bond funds.

High-priority items related to health care and homelessness in this budget include $15 million in each fiscal year for the Ohana Zones Pilot Program; $10.8 million in each fiscal year included in this budget for homeless service and outreach programs including for the Rapid Re-Housing and Housing First programs; and $10 million in FY24 and $20 million in FY25 for the Hawai‘i State Loan Repayment Program.

“As a physician, I see the dire need for health care, and to address this, we need to take a multi-pronged and holistic approach to address our health care worker shortage and access to high-quality care,” Green said. “Therefore, in this budget, I included expanding Hilo Medical Center, improving health care access to low-income families by increasing the Medicaid reimbursement rate, and providing educational programs to expand our ability to train and retain high-quality medical professionals in our state.”

Green also included $500 million in this budget for the Rainy Day Fund.

“The state is in a strong financial position and that means that while we need to fund critical items that meet the needs of our community, we also need to be fiscally responsible and make sure we are putting money aside so that we don’t have to cut critical services when times get tough,” Green said in the release.

His team continues to review department budget requests that have not yet been vetted for inclusion in the budget and intend to send additional budget requests to the Legislature during the session.

“This is only the beginning,” Green said in the release. “I worked with the prior administration to include some high-priority items in this budget submittal, but I am still reviewing other requests from our state agencies and will be working with them to transmit additional budget items to the Legislature in the coming months. We know there is a lot of need in the state, and we are going to address it.”

This program, the release said, pays off educational loans for primary care and behavioral health providers who care for patients in designated Health Professional Shortage Areas of Hawaii.