The latest draft of a plan to sustain Hawai'i's economic momentum released yesterday offers useful and sometimes provocative ideas on ways to keep our economy growing.

The plan was developed by a commission convened by Gov. Linda Lingle with broad and bipartisan participation from lawmakers and community members.

It is encouraging that the group looked beyond the obvious — taxes, business regulation and so forth — to more subtle but equally important quality-of-life issues.

The draft report (see Web site information in box) is a starting point for the community to offer its own ideas on how we can maintain what has been a relatively healthy, if somewhat narrowly focused, economy.

While many of the ideas will achieve easy acceptance, at least in principle, others are more controversial.

For instance, the commission suggests that the healthy surplus the state has built up be used, at least in substantial portion, for tax relief in the form of a moratorium on the excise tax on food and drugs.

This is appealing because it would be of greatest benefit to those at the lower end of the economic scale. But it will run hard against those who believe the surplus should be used largely to cover unmet needs in education, social services and the like.

CONTROVERSIES

The commission, at least in this draft version, also endorses several major efforts that are of considerable public controversy. One is the plan for redevelopment of state land in Kaka'ako that includes a substantial emphasis on high-end residential housing.

The commission suggests the focus on affordable housing should be on Kalaeloa, the former Barbers Point, where it envisions a 500-acre "workforce affordable" mixed-use housing project. This has appeal, but planners must recognize that substantial portions of Kalaeloa may be needed to accommodate the air wing of a carrier group that might be based here.

Another controversial plank is strong endorsement of Act 51, the education "reform" plan adopted by Democrats in the face of a competing package proposed by Lingle. No mention is made of Lingle's proposal to break up the single state school system.

One intriguing proposal sure to generate enormous public debate is to close down a number of underpopulated schools (such as those in or near Waikiki) and capitalize on the land value to raise money for improvements within the school system elsewhere.

Recognizing the political volatility of this idea, the commission thoughtfully suggests setting up a nonpartisan committee similar to that used federally for military base closure decisions.

FOCUS ON WORKFORCE

One of the key issues facing our economic future is workforce development. There is great concern today that the quality of our workforce is falling behind the need. The commission suggests a major problem is fractured and uncoordinated efforts to train and educate the workforce.

To that end, it proposes consolidating all federal and state training programs under a restructured state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. Along with this, the report proposes needed realignment and clarification of the roles of the University of Hawai'i and the community colleges in job training.

On tourism, the commission steps in line with current thinking of the industry to shift from a focus on growth in numbers to growth of high-quality, high-value tourism. This is an old idea that was largely lost during the boom years.

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT

Overall, there is no magic bullet here. The task ahead is for the public to become deeply involved in the process of honing this draft into a final package that can win bipartisan support from the Legislature and broad agreement between state and county and with the private sector.

The basic premise is valid: The best time to plan for a long-term sustainable economic future is now, when times are relatively good. Too often in the past, Hawai'i has taken a short-term approach by extracting all it could from the boom times, leaving few resources to deal with the inevitable bust.

We cannot afford to let that happen again.