Despite opening day speeches about mastering our destiny and providing leadership for Hawai'i's future, the 2008 Legislature has once again failed to make significant progress on fundamental issues critical to our state, such as energy independence, affordable housing, improving education and helping those in need.

As in prior years, legislative leaders talked about improving the quality of life for Hawai'i citizens, but the lackluster outcome shows they're simply sustaining the status quo.

The Legislature had the opportunity to enact $102 million in tax relief for Hawai'i's neediest families; instead, it passed a token $1 tax credit. It is wrong for the Legislature to say that the state cannot afford tax relief. In December 2007, Gov. Linda Lingle presented a six-year balanced budget to the Legislature that included $102 million in targeted tax relief for Hawai'i's families. She has periodically adjusted this budget to reflect changing economic conditions, and last month again issued an updated balanced financial plan that included tax relief. To claim that tax relief is not fiscally possible is not being honest with the people who support us — the taxpayers of this state.

What is particularly hurtful is the Legislature wasn't willing to find funds to help local residents cope with double-digit inflation, but it did find a way to allow a 60 percent increase in its own salaries over the next several years.

Legislators talked about the need to build more affordable housing. Yet when they had a chance to approve major investments in affordable housing, they balked. Only half of the $50 million Gov. Lingle requested to build affordable rentals and for-sale homes was approved. And the flow of funds from the conveyance tax for rental housing support will stop on June 30 because the Legislature failed to extend the deposit of the tax into the rental housing trust fund. Even a simple improvement — encouraging private investment in affordable housing through accelerated tax breaks — died in the final days of the 2008 Legislature.

On the all-important matter of increasing Hawai'i's energy-independence, there were mixed results. We are pleased the Legislature adopted the governor's proposal to facilitate government permits for renewable energy projects.

However, we were disappointed that it did not mandate that renewable energy targets should only count real, renewable energy programs, instead of giving credit to efforts to slow the growth in the use of petroleum-based electricity. Lawmakers also passed up an opportunity to endow chairs at the University of Hawai'i in energy and engineering at a time when we need to attract top-level technical talent to the state. Lawmakers rejected the governor's proposal to help low-income families retrofit their home with solar water heaters. Even the oft-touted program to require solar water heaters in homes won't start until 2010.

Finally, it is both disturbing and heartbreaking that the Legislature made a conscious decision to remove $22 million in social services spending for those at the bottom of the income ladder. There is no logic to denying organizations who work with the poor, blind, disabled, young, elderly and sick the basic resources to help those less fortunate.

Now more than ever, these funds are needed. Claiming that the money must be "saved" for a rainy day is reverse logic. The administration believes it is more prudent to use these federal dollars now to fend off the rainy day and prevent and reduce family poverty, as is the intended purpose of these funds. As one commentator so aptly put it, this is akin to driving on a bald tire while keeping a new spare in the trunk of your car. You are only inviting disaster.

Undoing progress already made in social services and many other programs will not accomplish the goals the Legislature talks about.

The public would not object to legislators spending time on matters such as naming the state mammal, naming the state plant, or finding ways to deter the theft of beer kegs, if they also tackled the larger issues of living in an island environment in the 21st century's global economy.

One bright spot is the Legislature worked closely with the administration to approve a bill that will provide one more tool as we continue the process of acquiring the Turtle Bay property. The legislation sends a strong signal to the owners, as well as potential buyers, that the state is serious about moving forward with the acquisition to preserve this unique parcel of land on O'ahu's North Shore.

My hope remains that next year's opening-day speeches will actually be acted upon — that the bold words spoken annually will eventually result in a genuine commitment on the part of all legislators to work with the Lingle-Aiona administration and the people of Hawai'i to advance an agenda that changes lives and improves our state. The Legislature talks about change every year. It's time for the Legislature to move beyond just sustaining the status quo.

Linda Smith is the senior policy adviser for Gov. Linda Lingle. She wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.