State lawmakers yesterday moved bills to improve repair and maintenance at the University of Hawai'i, set aside money for a ceded lands settlement with the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and kept alive a possible purchase by the state of Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore, the Galbraith Trust land in Central O'ahu, and the Coco Palms Resort on Kaua'i.

The state House and Senate held long floor sessions to position bills before crossover between the two chambers tomorrow, a major deadline in the 60-day session.

The sessions lacked some of the rancor and lengthy debates of previous crossover sessions, with many lawmakers in agreement on priorities and cognizant that state revenue growth is declining.

The state Council on Revenues will give its latest estimate on state revenue growth next week, and another decline in the projection could further chill state spending this session. The council's projection may also determine how realistic such ambitious conservation purchases at Turtle Bay, Galbraith Trust and Coco Palms are, given the state's financial picture.

"I think that the sense is there is a lot of caution," said state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha).

Fiscal restraint was evident in the House, where lawmakers said they would focus new spending mostly on attacking a backlog of repair and maintenance projects at UH and at public schools. In separate bills, lawmakers approved special funds dedicated to facilities at both the 10-campus university system and the state Department of Education. The money would be used to catch up on overdue projects, as well as to keep up with ongoing maintenance.

A CALL FOR FLEXIBILITY

State Rep. Colleen Meyer, R-47th (La'ie, Hau'ula, Punalu'u), said she wants to see improvements at the university, but questions the creation of a special fund. "I think it's irresponsible to earmark this money," she said. "It doesn't give that much flexibility. We never know what the next year will bring."

The House and Senate passed different versions of a $200 million settlement with OHA, which would use a combination of land transfers and about $13 million in cash to settle OHA's decades-old claims on revenues from lands once held by the Hawaiian monarchy.

The Senate kept alive a bill for the state to purchase Turtle Bay — the highlight of Gov. Linda Lingle's State of the State speech in January — although there is doubt about whether such a purchase is feasible. State Sen. Clayton Hee, D-23rd (Kane'ohe, Kahuku), said he has some reservations, but described the North Shore as the "only remaining area where people can go and enjoy the natural environment that O'ahu has to offer."

Conservation was also a theme in the House, where several bills dealt with incentives to preserve important agricultural lands and other areas as open space free from development. "I think people are really focused and very concerned about preserving what little open space we have, whether it be in conservation or ag or even rural," said state House Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell, D-24th (Manoa). "They don't want to see it continue to be developed."

Lawmakers remain on track to take action on sustainability, state harbor improvements and early childhood education. Lawmakers also moved along a bill that would provide a mandatory income tax credit, which is required by the state constitution this session because the state budget surplus exceeded projected revenues in each of the past two fiscal years.

Some of the most contentious bills involve issues that are not part of the House and Senate majority packages but have been flagged by the Lingle administration or activists as problematic.

JUDGE BILL ADVANCES

The Senate, for example, passed a proposed constitutional amendment that would extend the mandatory retirement age for judges from 70 to 80 years old. The bill is widely seen as an attempt by Democrats to prevent the Republican governor from appointing a chief justice to the state Supreme Court. Chief Justice Ronald T.Y. Moon will reach retirement age in 2010, Lingle's final year in office.

Voters in 2006 rejected a constitutional amendment to lift the mandatory retirement age for judges.

Senators defeated a proposed amendment yesterday that would have applied the new mandatory retirement age to judicial appointments made after this November, which would mean Moon would not be covered.

State Sen. Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Manoa, McCully), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee, had said in a radio interview last week that he was open to such an amendment, but he voted against it yesterday. Taniguchi said the mandatory retirement age is arbitrary and could force judges into retirement when they are still capable of doing good work.

The Senate also voted to pass a bill that lifts a limit on corporate campaign contributions to corporate political action committees. The House had killed its version of the bill last week.

State House and Senate leaders have said they want to clarify state campaign finance law that was mistakenly changed in 2005. The law capped the amount corporations can put from corporate treasuries into corporate PACs at $1,000 per election. The bill would allow corporations to again put unlimited amounts of money from corporate treasuries into corporate PACs.

'GIANT STEP BACKWARD'

State Sen. Gordon Trimble, R-12th (Waikiki, Ala Moana, Downtown), described the bill as "a giant step backward."

State Sen. Les Ihara, Jr., D-9th (Kapahulu, Kaimuki, Palolo), said the bill would give corporations an unfair edge over average citizens who do not have the same financial means to make campaign contributions. "I believe corporations already have too much political power," he said.

The Senate passed a bill, backed by the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i, that would exempt certain small development projects that cross state or county right-of-ways from environmental impact statements, an issue that arose in part out of the debate last year over Hawaii Superferry.

The Senate also moved a bill, which had stalled in the House, to add extended prison sentences for attacks against pregnant women. A separate bill would add extended sentences for assaults on Good Samaritans, which stemmed from the beating of an elderly man who tried to prevent a deadly attack on a Kailua woman in January.

The House, meanwhile, passed two bills inspired by the tragic death of Cyrus Belt, a toddler thrown from an H-1 Freeway overpass in January.

One bill would require that the state Department of Human Services investigate reports of illegal drug use in the home of a child within 24 hours. Parents and other caregivers found using illegal drugs would have to participate in substance-abuse treatment for a year before being awarded full custody of a child. The other would allow the department to conduct unannounced visits to homes in which a household member had been convicted or stood trial for child abuse or neglect within the past five years.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com and Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.