i L i n d . n e t

It’s winter in Kaaawa, the temperature this morning down in the lower 60s, and yesterday it stayed just below 70 degrees for most of the day. A “flood advisory” was issued by the National Weather Service overnight for the whole windward coast of Oahu, including Kaaawa (”At 254 AM HST…excessive runoff from the heavy rain earlier tonight has caused continued flooding problems over parts of windward Oahu…”). It’s not raining here now, which is good, and in another hour we’ll be able to see what the weather is really like outside.

I have to say that the rain last night was a welcome relief after several nuclear war size blasts of premature fireworks sent our cats into a panic. Rain, though, quickly put an end to the unwanted revelries. I’m hoping it rains tonight as well!

From former islander Karen Waygood in Atlanta:

Seen scrolling on the scoreboard between periods at last night’s Thrashers vs. Bruins hockey game at the Georgia Dome: Go Rainbows! Put down the Dawgs!

Ouch! LOL

She also observes something “not really a universal truth, but in the neighborhood”:

If you spend $3 on a papaya in the dead of winter at a flea market in Kennesaw, Georgia, you will be disappointed.

A comment left here yesterday questions the legal authority for the governor’s refusal to expend certain funds appropriated by the Legislature.

As far as I can tell, the constitution gives the governor the right to exercise a line item veto within appropriation bills (Article III, Section 16). However, I presume such line item vetoes would have to be done within the same time period for other vetoes.

However, Article VII Section 5 provides that “the control of the rate of expenditures of appropriated state moneys, and for the reduction of such expenditures under prescribed conditions, shall be made by law.”

And a portion of Chapter 37 implements that provision in statute. Section 37-31, which expresses the legislative intent of the sections that follow (37-32 through 37-41), provides:

Intent and policy. It is declared to be the policy and intent of the legislature that the total appropriations made by it, or the total of any budget approved by it, for any department or establishment, shall be deemed to be the maximum amount authorized to meet the requirements of the department or establishment for the period of the appropriation, excepting as may otherwise be provided by law, and that the governor and the director of finance should be given the powers granted by sections 37-32 to 37-41 in order that savings may be effected by careful supervision throughout each appropriation period with due regard to changing conditions; and by promoting more economic and efficient management of state departments and establishments.

So there doesn’t appear to me to be much question that the governor can lay claim to the legal authority to restrict spending as she pleases, for good or ill.

There were a series of comments about a year ago at Poinography.com in response to Doug White’s explanation of the buget process that covered much of this same ground.

I’ll update this later with a photo of what it’s like at dawn in Kaaawa on this somewhat threatening morning.

Otherwise, have a safe New Year celebration wherever you happen to be.