AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy
HONOLULU — Hawaii's lawmakers on Thursday wrapped up a legislative session marked by a generous influx of federal aid that helped the islands weather a pandemic that threw tens of thousands of people out of work and upended the state’s tourism-dependent economy.
Lawmakers began the session in January with the news that Congress had appropriated $1.6 billion to Hawaii as part of a coronavirus relief package.
The House and Senate used nearly half of the federal funds to pay back $700 million the state borrowed from the federal government to pay unemployment insurance claims earlier in the pandemic.