The Hawai’i Executive Conference (HEC)’s recent report, Troubled Waters: Charting a New Fiscal Course For Hawaii, makes a compelling case for the Hawaii community to focus on “the future fiscal capacity of Hawaii state and local governments.” HEC examines three public expenditure challenges totaling $88.4 billion that residents will likely face over the next thirty years: (i) addressing public employee pension and retire health obligations ($25.7 billion) ; (ii) building and maintaining a 21st century physical infrastructure ($47.4 billion); and (iii) preparing for natural disasters, sea level rise and climate change ($15.3 billion).
