Mahalo, Senate President Hanabusa, Governor Lingle, distinguished guests and overburdened taxpayers of Hawaii. We offer our congratulations to President Obama and all newly and re-elected lawmakers.

We appreciate the words of President Hanabusa and pledge our continued support to help enact positive legislation for ALL the people of Hawaii.

Some may wonder what the Senate minority stands for, and how we have any relevancy or impact on policy in Hawaii, out numbered as we are, 12-1.

One person, US Airways Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, showed us last week what one person and his leadership can do for others.

Your Republican minority may be just two of twenty-five State Senators, but we actually represent more than 40% of the votes cast, many thousands more of the "silent majority," and we have a strong and consistent philosophy, an unwavering voice, and a vote.

We also have good humor — a useful trait in both good times and bad — especially in this building.

We work hard, do our legislative homework and support leadership when we believe they are right, and tell them when they're not. We never forget who sent us here — and what you expect of all of us.

Have we had an impact? We shape legislation, point out errors in proposals, actively take part in committees and advise and consent process and, if we're lucky, some of our bills are so good that the majority will take them as their own. We don't care who gets the credit as long as Hawaii gets good legislation.

Many people and media, publicly approach this 25th State Legislature with an outlook of gloom, doom, grim times and negative choices.

Your Minority approaches this Legislative Session, not with fear, but with enthusiasm for the opportunities that these tough times present.

There is a two-party system here, or at least two distinct philosophies. One party is expert at winning elections and controlling the government for more than 45 years, stressing taxing, spending and decision-making by government. Selective sacrifice is their mantra. The buzz word of their recent election was "change" yet there has been no change in Hawaii's governance or education.

Our philosophy emphasizes individual risk and accomplishment, lower taxes on families and small businesses, transparency in government and more economic choices for everyone.

We stand for individual rights superior to those of the government, federal or state. We want the government chained by the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Recent events show that too much reliance on government has resulted in government inaction, corruption, conflicts of interest and unwise redistribution of your wealth through subsidies, preferential treatment and ill-conceived bailouts. In short, government has not solved problems; it treats symptoms and creates unintended consequences.

There is widespread public discontent with legislative bodies; the Congress, City Councils and State Legislature. Many believe we spend too much time on increasing our own salaries and benefits, exempting ourselves from laws we pass for others and covering up questionable ethics. Your Minority has spoken out and introduced legislation to correct these abuses and will continue to do so. I said months ago we in government should not have a pay increase when so many people are suffering financially, and instead of exempting us from laws, we must be held to a higher standard.

I have now attended 4 consecutive years of "sexual harassment training" and we passed laws mandating "ethics training." We believe you shouldn't have to train lawmakers to be ethical. Or not to sexually harass. Maybe we need DUI breathalyzers installed at the Capitol instead.

Our opinion is that our problems today are more political than economic. We can address these economic challenges through support of competitive private market capitalism which allows us the greatest amount of freedom and choice, unavailable under more government control. The market hasn't failed us; individuals and government have failed us.

We don't want to just hunker down, reduce consumer spending and economic activity and further reduce our standard of living. We stress success and prosperity, not just survival, and we know this is possible even in these difficult times.

We are positive and have reason to be so. We need to get to work, stop whining, not look for a government handout, and be more productive and creative. Successful businesses do just that: they reinvent themselves for changing times. We have numerous examples of that in Hawaii, such as, Hawaiian Airlines, City Mill, The Systemcenter, Oils of Aloha and CyberCom, to name just a few.

The good news is we have the tools and resources despite slowing revenue estimates, rising unemployment, business closures and home foreclosures. The recession is real but we do not have to be mesmerized or paralyzed by bad news. Everything is cyclical. And your Minority always has hope and faith in Hawaii's talented and remarkable people.

Hawaii is celebrating its 50th anniversary of Statehood and we proudly proclaim the many blessings of citizenship as Americans. We are appreciative and respectful of our Native Hawaiian culture and its many contributions. The best way to show that respect is to expand the rights of every citizen of Hawaii.

We honor all of our men and women in uniform and are grateful for the military's many contributions — not just financial — to our community. We must not hesitate to stand up for them vocally, not just when it is convenient to do so, because they sacrifice a great deal and risk their lives to protect us.

To those in law enforcement and our first responders who keep us safe — even in power blackouts and earthquakes — we thank you.

We cherish our kupuna and the lessons we learn from them.

We are invigorated by our youth who have unlimited potential. Moanalua grad turned golf pro Tadd Fujikawa, makes us all proud, as do Punahou surfer Clarissa Moore, football star Manti Teo, Castle High grad Olympic gold medalist Bryan Clay. There are so many amazing people from Hawaii talented in music, art, dance, acting, production, robotics, technology, business and much more. All individuals with God-given talent.

This session we pledge to the people of Hawaii who look to all of us for leadership, to listen even more, work even harder, cooperate for the good of all our people, and to passionately continue to stand up against bad laws, poor economics and loss of freedom and choice. Some want to jettison values and positions just because they are "old." We will retain and honor the permanent values which stand the test of time and should not be partisan.

In the words of Winston Churchill, "We will never give up, never, never, never."

Your Minority stands for the enforcement of existing laws rather than duplication with more legislation, and specifically the following:

NO MORE TAXES: Hawaii residents are taxed too much — among the Nation's top 4 states. The best "economic stimulus" is money left with the people — not the government — to spend for themselves. We support a tax holiday for General Excise taxation and elimination of excessive taxes and fees.

BUDGET: We must honestly balance the budget — as every individual, family and small business — stop raiding "special funds" such as the Hurricane Relief Fund, or do the right thing and abolish these funds. We need to eliminate those non-productive programs and expenditures

Among them: tax credits without proper oversight, grants to "special" friends of lawmakers, costly mandates and wasteful projects like the $1 million tile restoration underneath the "bounce-about" outside this Senate.

GAMBLING: We will continue to oppose gambling as neither an economic or social benefit, especially since no tax reduction give back has been proposed, only more money for the government to spend;

EDUCATION: We continue to support more educators in the classroom, less money for questionable programs with no outcome accountability, less money for a bloated bureaucracy, a full audit of the Department of Education, support small, community schools — instead of closure, shouldn't we celebrate the declining teacher-pupil ratio of these schools? charter schools, substitute teachers and home schooling parity;

ENERGY: We continue our support for voluntary, incentivized alternative energy, including wind, solar, geothermal, OTEC and nuclear. My colleague Senator Hemmings has proposed a bold nuclear option incorporating

a nuclear commission exploring possibilities; Hawaii already hosts nuclear energy (on submarines) and we saw that used to help hurricane-ravaged Kauai previously.

ENVIRONMENT: Republicans understand we can't have a viable economy without a protected environment. It's not "either/or," but certain mandates, regulations and invasive species prohibitions need to be examined objectively for their full impact.

HEALTH: We must eliminate the cause of losing those in the medical profession by "Saving Our Doctors" with a change in tort reform, equitable fee reimbursement, the abolition of state SHPDA, and by embracing private, non-tax investment in medical facilities on all Islands.

TRANSPORTATION: We can't afford billions of dollars for ego steel-on-steel transit when congestion relief and new design is what will help O'ahu residents and taxpayers. We need to speed alternative transportation construction with incentives;

LAW ENFORCEMENT: We fully support law enforcement coalition initiatives. Instead of giving lip service to justice, we support tougher judges, more choices, protection and services for victims, and swift, equal enforcement for those who break our laws and harm our residents.

SANCTITY OF LIFE: We will continue to press for protection of the unborn and oppose so-called partial birth abortions. If we cannot stand up for life at its beginning, than all the other basic laws are useless.

Your Minority has many other ideas for diversifying our economy and reducing dependence on the visitor industry. We don't want just one egg producer, one dairy, fewer farmers. We propose expanded private-public partnerships, targeted tax incentives for job creation, state water and land policy reform to help farmers and ranchers insure agriculture sustainability, and creating a great marina with public access at Keehi small boat harbor. We need to cease class warfare between those with wealth and those without. Hawaii is short of venture capital and we support an improved business climate to signal we are serious about business investment and new jobs here and now.

While we may appear small in number, we are large in willingness to think and act outside this square building. We have considerable ideas and tremendous dreams for how wonderful Hawaii can be if its people aren't hampered by government. And we have the energy to make it all a reality. That's our stand.

Hawaii honored Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this week. He once said, "Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better."

We are compassionate, but not at the expense of complacency of our fiscal responsibilities.

Can we make a difference? Help bring true change to Hawaii? Yes, we can, with your support.

As Edward Everett Hale said nearly 200 years ago,

"I AM ONLY ONE.

BUT STILL I AM ONE.

I CAN'T DO EVERYTHING,

BUT STILL I CAN DO SOMETHING;

AND JUST BECAUSE I CAN'T DO EVERYTHING,

I WON'T REFUSE TO DO THE SOMETHING I CAN DO."

ALOHA, MAHALO, AND GOD BLESS HAWAII.