Hawaii Medicare Advantage to Pay $120 Less Per Member Per Month?
Kapolei NB: HB1329 Racetrack Bill -- Insensitive, Unethical, Possibly Illegal
Common Cause to Host Hawaii Open Budget Initiative Demonstration
NextEra, HEI to Host Informational Meetings Statewide
Hawaii Ranks 49th in Federal Funding as a percentage of State Revenue
Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted March 23, 2015
Ethanol: Boaters Need to Speak Up Now
Buyer's Remorse: Anti-PLDC coalition revived by Ige's selection of Ching
Borreca: The links of the chain that toppled Gov. David Ige's appointment of Carleton Ching as director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources were forged by former Gov. Neil Abercrombie.
The bond isn't between Abercrombie and Ige. It was Abercrombie's refusal to hear the protests about the Public Land Development Corp. that molded Hawaii's environmental movement into a potent political force.
Publicist and community activist Scott Foster said Abercrombie's decision to back the PLDC in the face of overwhelming community opposition forced different groups to work together.
"It is easy to plug them all together on something that is seen as the common enemy," said Foster, who is communications director for Hawaii's Thousand Friends....
Booting Abercrombie the same way they scrapped the PLDC became a rallying point for the environmental movement, Foster says.
The glee in beating Abercrombie was quickly replaced with "buyer's remorse," according to Foster, who said activists were concerned when Ige named political insider Mike McCartney, the former Hawaii Tourist Authority executive director and former head of the Democratic Party and the Hawaii State Teachers Association, as his chief of staff.
"The disenchantment started with his first appointment, Mike McCartney," Foster said.
Both McCartney and Robbie Alm, the former Hawaiian Electric executive vice president helping Ige, refused to talk on the record about their efforts to secure Ching's nomination.
The nomination of Ching, a land developer lobbyist with longstanding connections to the development community, ignited a group that was questioning its support for Ige.
read ... Neil Redux?
Ige Reneges on Turtle Bay Deal?
CB: Former Gov. Neil Abercrombie negotiated the conservation easement last year after decades of dispute over whether Turtle Bay Resort should be allowed to expand significantly. While the easement still allows the hotel to expand to a certain extent, it does conserve a significant amount of land in perpetuity.
But Mike McCartney, Gov. David Ige’s chief of staff and former director of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, said the state still needs to resolve two fundamental questions about the easement: what are the terms and conditions, and are we paying a fair price for it?
“Those questions needs to be answered before anyone spends money on behalf of the state,” McCartney said.
“If we don’t have the details, it’s unfair to ask them to support a conservation easement purchase,” McCartney said, adding, “We have to focus this year on spelling out the terms … and then I think we can have a discussion with the Legislature on how to fund it.”
House Majority Leader Scott Saiki said that House leadership decided Monday to revive the measure to keep it alive — “for now.”
Saiki is concerned about whether using revenue from the state’s hotel tax is the right way to fund the deal, and thinks general obligation bonds might be more appropriate.
That’s how Abercrombie originally wanted to pay for the easement, but Ige reconfigured the funding to use revenue from the transit accommodations tax.
The agreement was important to both of their political campaigns as they faced off in the primary last August and sought to endear themselves to voters, particularly environmental groups.
Saiki also suggested that the city, which pledged $5 million toward the deal, may need to cough up more money to make it happen.
“It may be prudent to ask the city up the ante only because the Legislature is basically bailing out the city,” Saiki said. “It’s the city zoning that enables the development on those parcels.”
He also said the state may need to choose another agency to conduct an appraisal of the land, because the Hawaii Tourism Authority hasn’t been able to complete it....
The proposal, Senate Bill 284, was on the brink of death after House Tourism Committee Chairman Tom Brower deferred the measure last week because a majority of his committee didn’t support it.
House Speaker Joseph Souki revived the bill Monday by re-referring it to the Water and Land Committee and Finance Committee after advocates lobbied for the measure.
read ... Reneges
Abercrombie: "I don't miss the Phony Drama"
CB: “What I don’t miss the is the phony drama, the drama that is created by the instant commentary that is antithetic to the spreading of knowledge, drama that is created by a lack of understanding." -- Neil Abercrombie
...sensationalized, out-of-context statements....
“People react now, they don’t reflect. A democracy needs reflection.” (So, to save democracy, we got rid of Mr. Reactive, aka Neil Abercrombie....)
I ask if he thinks his bombastic personality might have done him in with the electorate.
He says, “I am who I am. I am straightforward and open. Nothing changed about me. People knew what I was like. (Actually all his media buddies covered for him. But then YouTube videos started popping up showing the real Neil....) I have always been feisty. But sometimes a person’s virtue can be their vice, especially in the Internet age (See!) when what you say is isolated and ramped up and takes on a life of its own. But you can’t let that get to you.” ...
Since his primary election loss in August, Abercrombie has traveled to Morocco, partially, he says, for a vacation, partially for business. He has opened a consulting business on North King Street in Chinatown where he goes most days after the gym....
Abercrombie says he doesn’t want to name his clients. He says he is giving them business advice about Washington, D.C., matters to help when they have difficulty understanding and navigating their way through federal regulations. He says he is advising his clients but not lobbying for them....
Abercrombie says he was astounded when some state retirees said to him .... (LOL!)
read ... Then Don't Look in the Mirror
HGEA Pushes Mandatory Private Sector Sick Pay in Bid to Kill Hospital Privatization
HNN: Senate Bill 129 wants to make paid time off for sick time mandatory for all service workers in private sector businesses that employ more than 50 people.
"We're trying to expand the number of people who would have access to some amount of paid sick time, either for themselves or to care for children who are ill," Hawaii Government Employees Association executive Director Randy Perreira said.
He estimates a sick leave law could help 170,000 workers who presently have no paid sick time....
(HGEA Objective: To make private sector workers as inefficient as HGEA members, thus removing the advantage for privatization of HHSC hospitals. And yes, they would re-write agreements for 170,000 workers to maintain control of HHSC's 5,000 HGEA & UPW dues-payers.)
SB129 Text, Status (SB129 deleted from hearing set for Tuesday.)
How it Works: Hospital Crisis: How to Use Union Work Rules for Fun and Profit
read ... Sick Time
DOE audit bill to be heard
HTH: A bill that would require a comprehensive financial, management and program audit of the Hawaii Department of Education will be heard Wednesday by a state Senate committee....
House Bill 1352 will be heard by the Senate Committee on Education at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in Honolulu.
“While the DOE has frequent internal audits, an external audit of this scope has never been done before,” says Vice Speaker John Mizuno, the author of the bill. “The bill we are proposing seeks transparency and accountability, eliminates duplication of services, eliminates waste and programs that are not working and focuses our resources on programs that are working, efficient and benefit Hawaii’s students.”
read ... Audit the DoE
Sunshine Law bills still moving in the legislature
ILind: HB 461 / SB 472, SD 1 – Relating to the Office of Information Practices. Transfers OIP to the Department of Accounting and General Services for administrative purposes only. OIP supports the bill.
HB 287, HD 1 – Relating to the Uniform Information Practices Act. Amends HRS § 92F-14 to add, as an example of a significant privacy interest that may be protected, information whose disclosure would create a substantial and demonstrable risk of physical harm to an individual. OIP opposed the original bill, which had applied a subjective standard based on “harm, embarrassment, inconvenience, or unfairness” to an individual, and now supports the amendments made in the HD 1.
SB 475, SD 1 – Relating to Open Government. Allows the electronic posting of meeting notices under the Sunshine Law, as well as e-mail notice to persons on a board’s mailing list. As OIP’s amendment was included in the SD 1, we support the bill, except for its intentionally defective date.
SB 465, SD 1 – Relating to Government Records. Like HB 150, this bill allows board members to transmit public records to other board members. The SD 1 included OIP’s suggestion to limit the content of transmittal messages in order to prevent serial communications among board members, but it did not narrow the bill to apply only to those specified in HRS Sec. 92F-12(a).
SB 652, SD 1 – Relating to Public Agency Meetings. Requires boards to report any final action taken during an executive session, providing that the disclosure is not inconsistent with the purpose of convening the closed meeting. OIP supported the original bill, but the SD 1 has amended it to also require disclosure of the “discussions” during an executive session.
read ... Sunshine Law bills still moving in the legislature
TAT to be Set Aside for Beach Erosion?
SA: ...a bill in the state Legislature was approved by a joint Senate panel Monday that would set aside part of the transient accommodations tax to help fund beach replenishment.
Senate President Donna Mercado Kim said she's hoping $3 million to $5 million can be set aside each year for what would be a new beach restoration and conservation special fund....
The Tax Foundation of Hawaii opposed the bill, arguing that earmarks decrease government accountability and should be avoided.
But Kim (D, Kalihi Valley-Moanalua-Halawa) argued that having dedicated funds under House Bill 444 would allow the state to move quickly and avoid having to come back for legislative approval and waiting until it costs more to fix problems...
March 17: Who Needs Tax Hike? DLNR: Waikiki Erosion Caused by Weather Anomaly
read ... Hotel Tax
80% Tax: Bill would broaden tobacco tax to include Nicotine Vapor Liquids
PBN: House Bill 145 SD1 proposes raising the excise tax on tobacco products from 70 percent to 80 percent of the wholesale price of any tobacco product, starting in 2016.
The definition of tobacco products would be broadened to include those with nicotine derived from tobacco, “intended for human consumption, whether chewed, smoked, absorbed, dissolved, inhaled, snorted, sniffed, or ingested by any other means.”
Revenue from the increased tax rate and the proposed larger product pool would be channeled to the University of Hawaii cancer research special fund.
SA: Bill would impose 80% tax on sales of e-cigarettes as 'disincentive'
read ... Nicotine
HB508: Hemp Slipped into Unrelated Feedlot Bill
DN: It looks like a Frankenbill will be born at the Senate Agriculture meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) when the committee adds totally unrelated language to a bill already passed by the House. The new text, stuck onto the original bill, will not have been heard by any House committee or received its three readings on the House floor.
The description of HB508 HD1 was:
Establishes within the Livestock Revitalization Program a grant program for qualified feed developers. Appropriates funds for the Feed Developer Grant Program, reimbursements to Qualified Producers for feed cost, and a survey of local feed ingredient sources.
If you read the status page linked above, you’d have no idea that the Senate planned to create a monster tomorrow.
The proposed SD1 first adds a huge change to the bill in that it creates grants for establishment of feed mills. These grants can be up to $750,000 per project, which is no chump change. At least, they are still talking about feed.
There is also new language that makes it a Frankenbill because it has nothing, nothing whatsoever, to do with feed. It’s about hemp:
Authorizes the growing of industrial hemp for certain purposes under specified conditions. Appropriates funds for Department of Agriculture staff to assist in registration of industrial hemp growers and seed testing.
read ... Frankenbill
Legislators take aim at HEI-NextEra merger
WHT: Lawmakers are taking concerns about the pending $4.3 billion sale of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. to Florida-based NextEra Energy to the House floor via a series of resolutions.
House Resolution 158 — along with its companion, House Concurrent Resolution 227 — requests that the Public Utilities Commission protect the public interest in reviewing the proposed acquisition. It tasks the PUC with determining whether NextEra is likely to act in the long-term best interests of Hawaii ratepayers, as well as if the transaction is in the long-term public interest, including the state’s ability to achieve its renewable energy goals, according to the document....
In February, the Hawaii Island Energy Cooperative, a nonprofit group of Big Island community and business leaders, filed a motion with the PUC to intervene in the pending sale of HEI to NextEra in order to explore the idea of public ownership, similar to Kauai Island Utility Cooperative.
Rep. Nicole Lowen, D-Kailua-Kona, has introduced a resolution aimed at continuing that discussion. If passed, HR 105 — and its companion HCR 169 — would simply express legislative support for efforts to facilitate local ownership and control of electric utilities and local generation of energy, according to the document....
Of the Big Island’s seven state representatives, four — Lowen, Creagan, Joy San Buenaventura and Mark Nakashima — co-introduced HCR 9, which requests the PUC conduct a public hearing on the approval of the sale of HEI....
HCR 226, introduced by Lee requests the state auditor to evaluate the impacts the merger may have on Hawaii workers in the energy industries....
IM: DBEDT holds public meeting today
read ... Ready, Aim, ...
Hawaii regulators deny Parker Ranch request to consolidate major energy cases
PBN: Hawaii regulators have denied Paniolo Power Co. LLC’s request to consolidate the NextEra Energy Inc.-Hawaiian Electric Co. acquisition application and the Honolulu-based utility’s new energy plan into one discussion, according to public documents.
The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission said on Friday that, given the complexity of the issues raised by the $4.3 billion acquisition application, as well as the number of parties that have been granted a seat at the table in the docket, it ruled that it would not be practical, reasonable or prudent to merge these dockets at this time.
Additionally, the PUC said that whether or not it ultimately decides to approve the acquisition, the energy plan docket and other cases must be resolved and proceed to a resolution on their own.
Background: Demand: NextEra Eat Cost of HEI's Disused Oil Plants
WHT: Hualalai geothermal study planned
read ... Denied
State Capitol reflecting pool repairs could cost $10M
HNN: ...The estimates for fixing the leaking, algae-plagued and occasionally stinky reflecting pools at the State Capitol are so high that state officials are asking whether they should remove the water from the ponds in a re-design.
The state estimates it spends $75,000 a year on three maintenance workers who spend about half their shift wet-vacuuming algae and fish droppings from the pools which suffer from bad circulation.
Now state officials predict it will cost about $10 million for a major renovation of the pool complex.
"That means completely draining it, taking out all of the infrastructure, down to the support steel and concrete,” said Christine Kinimaka, section head of the planning branch in the public works division at the Department of Accounting and General Services, which oversees state buildings. “And repairing the spalling conditions that are leaking into the spaces below."
The price-tag has doubled since 2005, so some people like State Sen Will Espero say the state should consider removing the water from the ponds.
"We're going to have the potential of leakage always, into the parking lot. Whether it's five years from now, ten years from now, 15 years from now and then we're going to have to fix it again," said Espero....
read ... $10M Tilapia Pond
Housing Program for Homeless Veterans Hits a Snag in Hawaii
CB: Hawaii’s tight housing market and landlords reluctant to take federal vouchers are keeping dozens of veterans from getting a place to live.
read ... Snag
Kakaako’s plan for homeless includes enforcement, rental project
KHON: ...Some refer to Kakaako as the third city, in the midst of a construction boom. But within this area is a growing community where, earlier this month, the count of makeshift shelters numbered 123.
This past Saturday, Colin Kippen, the state’s homeless coordinator, counted 146.
The Hawaii Community Development Authority (HCDA) is responsible for the redevelopment of Kakaako. KHON2 asked what the agency plans to do in the face of the growing homeless encampment.
“I believe a bit of enforcement is necessary,” said Anthony Ching, HCDA executive director. “Currently, they are out of sight, so that allowed the situation to grow. I do believe in the future, as the city locates some programs and services in Kakaako, we will be devoting attention to this area.”
What the agency means is that in a few months, the HCDA will turn to the city to ramp up enforcement of the ordinance that clears the sidewalks of stored property.
“We expect them to be stationed very close by so everyday they would have the opportunity to enforce the laws about blocking sidewalks and about health and safety,” said Ching.
The agency is also working on a long-term solution: an 80-unit rental project for the “very low-income” in Kakaako, e.g. a single person who makes $33,550 or lower, or less than 50 percent of the area median income.
The project would be built on a 10,000-square-foot parking lot off of Cooke Street.
State Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland chairs the Committee on Human Services and Housing. “With the funding we’re hoping to secure this (legislative) session, I think they’ll be able to break ground shortly,” she said, “and they will build 80 units in that area.”....
Ching said if the state approves the money to build the project, it will be completed by mid-2017 and consist of one-bedroom and studio apartments.
read ... Force them to accept shelter
Attorney General to appeal decision allowing Lifesaving Hilo Doctor to bill Medicaid
HTH: The state Attorney General’s Office is appealing a decision made last month to resume Medicaid reimbursements for a Hilo physician accused of fraud.
In September, the state Department of Human Services cut off payments to obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Frederick Nitta following a preliminary investigation into allegations of fraudulent billing. According to insurer Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA), Nitta’s office had been overpaid more than $1.2 million for urine drug screening tests between Jan. 1, 2012, and June 30, 2014.
In contesting the decision to cut off his reimbursements, Nitta argued at a Jan. 6 administrative hearing that the overbilling had been the result of insurance companies providing his staff with the wrong billing code to be used for the drug tests he was administering to patients.
In January, Nitta told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald that as many as 40 percent of the women who come to him for care are addicted to or abusing drugs, and the drug screens play an integral role in his care for his clients. As many as 90 percent of his clients are covered by Medicare, Medicaid and the state’s Med-QUEST division, which caters to low-income residents.
On Feb. 11, a state hearing officer overturned Nitta’s payment suspension, finding that there had not been a “credible allegation of fraud,” against the doctor.
“There is no evidence of an intentional deception or misrepresentation,” with regards to Nitta’s billing, Hearing Officer Lane Ishida wrote in his decision.
“Reviewing all the facts and evidence before me, I am persuaded that there was a good faith mistake based upon a misunderstanding of the billing codes. … The evidence also shows that other physicians also made the same error in billing. These other errors were not to the extent that Claimant (Nitta) made, but nevertheless, the same error was made.”
In a March 5 filing with the Hilo Circuit Court, the Attorney General’s Office argues that the hearing officer’s decision “is clearly erroneous”
read ... Priorities?
After 6 years Bungled Investigation-- DOE getting $325K to settle a wrongful termination case
HTH: Ted Hong, Nishi’s attorney, said Friday his client was “terminated for improperly accessing the Hawaii criminal justice database … for a personal reason.” Hong said Nishi went through an internal DOE appeals process “because he’s not a collective bargaining (union) employee.”
Nishi was fired by the DOE on Dec. 1, 2008. According to a document filed by the attorney general, a DOE hearings officer overturned Nishi’s dismissal on appeal but the DOE never received the decision.
“The hearings officer found that there was no just or proper cause to terminate him, overturned it, and then she was terminated the next day,” Hong said.
A second hearings officer upheld Nishi’s firing.
The state Board of Education then upheld DOE’s discharge of Nishi....
The BOE reinstated Nishi on May 8, 2014, but didn’t address the issue of back pay and benefits. Nishi appealed the decision to reinstate him without compensation in Honolulu Circuit Court. The appeal is on hold pending the settlement.
“It’s taken a long time to resolve for less money than he deserves,” Hong said. “If the department heads had been following their responsibilities, this would have been settled for a lot less — I mean, exponentially, a lot less.”
Brian De Lima, the BOE vice chairman and Hawaii Island member, said Monday the makeup of the board had changed between its original vote, which upheld Nishi’s discharge, and last year’s vote reinstating him.
“The Board of Education made a determination that … based upon the hearing processes, he should not have been terminated by the department, and he could be reinstated immediately, and I agreed with that,” De Lima said.
Hong said in the five-plus years Nishi fought his dismissal, Nishi’s wife became ill with cancer. He added Nishi’s back pay and benefits total “almost $500,000” but his client is settling in an attempt to regain financial stability.
“Had they reinstated him, it would have cost them a couple of grand,” he said. “Instead, it took them … years, and him (Nishi) almost going into bankruptcy. He couldn’t even get a job. He had to clean houses for awhile.”
read ... DoE Bungling
Tranny-Friendly Bathrooms: "We are Eliminating All the Hiding Places"
KHON: ...The city says unisex restrooms are new for Hawaii and will take some time to get used to. But they are happening, and officials promise they will be safer, more efficient and cheaper than current park restrooms.
“When folks get a better understanding of how it works, I think they’ll have a different opinion,” said Chris Dacus, executive assistant with the Department of Parks and Recreation.
Dacus is in charge of the design of the new unisex toilet stalls. They’re modeled off a design in San Diego that city officials there say has reduced crime.
“One of our biggest expenses in our park system is damages to comfort stations. It’s the only space within our parks where anyone can hide. We are eliminating all hiding places in this new design,” Dacus explained.
Hiding places like the common entry areas will be gone and sinks will be out in the open.
The city worked with the Honolulu Police Department to make the unisex stalls safer than the current ones.
“It’s a safe design. All the doors face the parking lot where hundreds of people are wandering around, so it’s very visible,” Dacus said.
Each stall door will have a lock and a nine-inch gap under the door.
The city says there is a possibility that someone could take pictures under the door, but “the gap under the doors is not different from the old ones. The gap is the same. That possibility still exists, nothing changes with the new design,” Dacus pointed out.
Dacus says changing stalls will be eliminated because they pose “another possibility of things going awry, things being hidden.” ...
The new unisex stalls will cost about $490,000 to build, or 66 percent of the cost of existing comfort stations. (That's $81,667 per toilet.)
CB: Tranny Excited by Opportunity Created by Bullying Legislation
read ... Nowhere to Hide
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