State legislative leaders have informed the federal government that they will hold a special legislative session within the next two months to deal with providing a funding mechanism for Honolulu’s over-budget rail transit project.
Senate President Ronald D. Kouchi and House Speaker Scott K. Saiki announced that they sent a joint letter to the Federal Transit Administration advising the agency of the Legislature’s commitment to convene a special session in July or August.
They said no specific dates have been set for the session and no funding mechanism has been agreed upon.
“After working with members of our federal delegation, it was deemed necessary and prudent to assure the FTA that the Legislature recognizes and understands the requirements under the Full Funding Grant Agreement between the City and County of Honolulu and the FTA,” according to a statement from Kouchi and Saiki.
** 20160629-3571 BSN HART RAIL CAR GRAFITTI PHOTO BY DENNIS ODA A rail car that was vandalized by graffiti has been wiped off with a solvent by 4 HART (Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation) workers using good old “elbow grease” as told by Dan Grabauskas (exec. dir. and CEO of HART). Grabauskas stood by the car that he said was as good as new as there were no scratches on the surface and the original painting and decals were not damaged after the graffiti was wiped off. The mass transit cars are stored in the Operations & Servicing Building at HART’s Rail Operations Center as seen in the photo. PHOTO BY DENNIS ODA. JUNE 29, 2016.