the House Republican Caucus unveiled a proposed starting point for closing the $1.3 billion gap in Hawaii's state budget. "We are releasing the budget today based on our guiding principles of not further burdening our residents with additional tax increases and not adversely impacting the economy," stated Rep. Kymberly Pine of Ewa Beach. "We are concerned about recent statements by the Senate to increase the GET. And the governor is proposing to raid the entire Hurricane Relief Fund. House Republicans are showing you can balance the budget without these raids or tax increases," Rep. Pine added. The state is facing an immediate gap of over $200 million between now and June 30, 2011. The Republican Caucus proposals include tapping into the rainy day fund, borrowing about $47 million from the Hurricane Relief Fund, postponing tax refunds and retaining the 50-50 split on health care premiums for public employees. The governor released $67 million to the Dept of Education and made promises to pay more for public employee health care. Rep. Gil Riviere of the North Shore noted, "As a member of the House Finance Committee, I am concerned that we lost the opportunity to use $10 million in private funds to help balance our school budget when the governor prematurely released rainy day money." "For the biennium budget we agree with our House Finance Committee colleagues to cut Governor Abercrombie's budget by nearly a quarter of a billion dollars," stated House Republican Caucus ...