The economic downturn in 2008 created budgetary problems for the state of Hawai‘i through 2010. The 2009 biennial budget anticipated a shortfall of $2.1 billion. Tax increases, contract renegotiations, employee furloughs, and across-the-board cuts implemented in 2009 and continued in 2010, were not enough, and the governor and the legislature became locked in a struggle over priorities. For reasons unique to Hawai‘i, certain departments and programs shouldered the brunt of these cuts while others remained relatively unscathed.