Hawaii Passes Bill Authorizing Governor to Buy Oahu Resort

SAN FRANCISCO - A Hawaii bill authorizing the governor to negotiate to buy a resort hotel on the North Shore of Oahu was one of the highlights of the state Legislature's last-minute flurry of action before its adjournment last week.

The amended final bill cleared both houses on Thursday, the session's final day.

It authorizes Gov. Linda Lingle to negotiate with the owner of the Turtle Bay resort to acquire the hotel and surrounding property.

Lingle proposed the acquisition in her state of the state address in January, saying that buying the resort is the best way to resolve a long controversy over its planned expansion.

The owners have entitlements to develop far more than the existing 500-room hotel, but those plans are unpopular on the largely rural North Shore. Lingle's plans call for the existing hotel to remain open under a private owner, but for the state to acquire the land around it to prevent extensive development.

The law appropriates money for the negotiation process and authorizes the use of eminent domain. It envisions the issuance of bonds as a possible financing source, but any final plan would have to come back before the Legislature, probably in a special session.

Lawmakers also approved a supplemental budget for the second year of the biennial spending plan, affirming the state's general obligation borrowing plans for fiscal 2009.

For fiscal 2009, the state's plan, according to the Department of Budget and Finance, is to issue $665 million of new-money GO bonds.

That does not include a $427 million GO sale slated this month, which includes $400 million of new money. Citi and UBS SecuritiesLLC are underwriters.

All three rating agencies affirmed Hawaii's across-the-board double-A level ratings in advance of the deal.

Lawmakers this year also approved at least three special-purpose revenue bond issues for industrial development bonds.

They include a $38 million authorization for the firm Hui Mana 'Oma'o LLC for a renewable energy project; a $100 million authorization for Jacoby Development Inc.-Geoplasma LLC to finance a facility that uses plasma technology with temperatures exceeding 10,000 degrees to generate electricity from solid waste; and $35 million for Sopogy Inc. to develop a solar power plant on Oahu.

 

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