Hawaii Gets $1M for Sea Urchin Hatchery
When Congress passed three massive spending bills for Covid-19 relief, it gave wide latitude to what states and localities could do with that money. Too much latitude in some cases.
In Hawaii, a sea urchin hatchery “working to properly care and restore an important part of the local ecosystem and economy” received $1 million in 2022.
What does that have to do with Covid-19 recovery? Unclear.
The state received plenty of funding for pandemic-related spending. It received $700 million from the American Rescue Plan Act in fiscal year 2022 “to repay the unemployment insurance loan principal” as well as $5.3 million in FY 2023 “to repay the federal unemployment insurance loan interest.”
The state received $313 million in fiscal year 2023 “to repay a working capital loan,” as well as about $1 million for worker’s compensation claims, among many other grants.
Otherwise legitimate spending in the Aloha State was inappropriate when put under the “pandemic aid” microscope.
Hawaii receives $120,000 annually for its Native Resources and Fire Protection Program; $1.2 in FY 2022 to fund economic analysis at the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization; $4 million annually for economic planning and research; and $11 million annually for Convention Center operations.
It’s also getting $9.7 million annually “for centralized vacation payout statewide” and $520,000 each year for operations at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility.
Some estimates say only 10 percent of the $4.6 trillion given to state and local governments have been spent on pandemic-related issues.
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