Hawaii: Override on energy tax fails

A bill to fund food and renewable energy projects is left to die

A major environmental and energy conservation bill died yesterday when the state Legislature failed to override Gov. Linda Lingle’s veto of the measure.

The so-called barrel tax bill (House Bill 1271) would have raised the price of gasoline by two to three cents per gallon by increasing the state tax on a barrel of oil from five cents to $1.05.

The bill was opposed by Hawaii’s small and vulnerable airline industry, according to Senate President Colleen Hanabusa.

“We can’t afford to have another airline go down,” Hanabusa (D, Nanakuli-Makua) told reporters after the special legislative session called to override Lingle’s vetoes.

House Speaker Calvin Say (D, St. Louis Heights-Wilhelmina Rise-Palolo Valley) said the Legislature should have overridden the veto. He called the bill “one of the monumental energy bills of the session.”

Supporters in the community also were disappointed.

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