DBEDT: Solo Commuters up 74%
DoE: Students Meet 79% of 'Wellness Guidelines'
Coverup: HART Hiding Damaged Rail Spans Since Last June
KHON: Oahu’s rail system is far from complete, but there’s already damage to parts of the guideway.
A viewer contacted KHON2 via Report It, alerting us to a large crack at the top of the column.
The rail line winds through Kapolei, but if you take a closer look, you’ll notice something that shouldn’t be there.
On Kualakai Parkway in Kapolei, you can see the columns and guideway going up and it looks consistent until you get to one particular spot. Then there’s a horizontal crack in what is called a segment.
“Large-sized cracks are not normal, only hairline cracks are acceptable in concrete,” said University of Hawaii engineering professor Panos Prevedouros.
Prevedouros said there’s reason for concern because right now, the segment is not structurally sound....
In a statement, HART said, “The segment and column highlighted in the photos were already identified by HART and are in the process of being either replaced or repaired by Kiewit at their cost.” ...
KHON2 also found out this isn’t the first time this has happened.
Another part of the guideway was damaged near Farrington Highway last June. HART officials said it was damaged when it was installed. Nearly a year later, workers are still trying to replace it....
Panos: Rail Cracks
read ... the segment is not structurally sound
Rail Contractor tries to Block TV Crew From Filming Giant Cracks in Rail Spans
HNN: When Hawaii News Now began filming that column, Kiewit employees appeared to try to hide the flaws.
One worker covered portions of the cracks with a black canvas while another placed a company truck in front of section that the problem area.
Many of the concrete segments on Honolulu's rail transit system are only a few months old but already cracks are beginning to show.
The most notable cracks can be seen at the end of a 150-foot long section across from the University of Hawaii West Oahu on Kualakai Parkway.
In Waipahu, some of the concrete on a column on Farrington Highway appears to have fallen off, exposing the reinforcing bar.
Experts said it's not unusual to see problems like these on large projects. But they are surprised that they're showing up so early in the construction stage.
"There is evidence for concern at this point. There are some obvious failures," said Panos Prevedouros, a frequent rail critic and a University of Hawaii civil engineering professor.
read ... Coverup
With Tax Hike, City Will Face no Consequences if Rail not Finished
Borreca: ...The state Senate did a good job of dressing-down the Caldwell administration's planning for rail's future costs.
"Your Committee warns the City and County of Honolulu that it should not rely on any future legislation that would extend the surcharge and allow the City and County of Honolulu to use the proceeds to fund the operating and maintenance cost of the integrated mass transit system," reads the Ways and Means committee report on the bailout bill, House Bill 134.
"The City … estimates that the integrated system will require a massive annual subsidy, recognizing that fare box revenues will not be sufficient to pay for the entire operating and maintenance cost of the integrated system. Yet, the City has not committed to using any specific revenue source for the subsidy," the report notes.
"Nor is your Committee encouraged by the discussion at the public hearing regarding the City and County of Honolulu's admitted difficulty with formulating a viable and sustainable financial plan to address the operating and maintenance cost that does not depend on continued surcharge revenues," the report says....
The city is told that WAM will both "monitor HART and the City" and "scrutinize the City … in order to ensure completion."
The key is that after all the fuming and dirty looks, the city is likely to get five more years of tax money.
It also means that the city will face no consequences if rail is still not built or paid for except another march across the street to the state Capitol to beg for even more money....
read ... The Real Bottom Line
Maui hospital privatization could pave way for Big Island
WHT: A bill allowing Maui’s regional hospital system to join with Hawaii Pacific Health could pave the way for a similar public-private partnership for Kona Community Hospital.
House Bill 1075 — which would allow Maui’s hospitals to transition to operation by a new nonprofit management entity — has survived into the end stages of the current legislative session and will likely go the distance, said Sen. Josh Green, D-Kona, Ka‘u.
Green said he plans to float a bill next year encouraging The Queen’s Health Systems to enter partnership talks with Big Island hospitals. But the approach should be a measured one, with Maui as a trail balloon, the senator said....
Kona Community Hospital wrapped up an efficiency analysis last fall by Huron Consulting Group with an eye to making itself more attractive to a public-private partnership and to increase physician retention. The group identified $11.6 million in savings, including $1.7 million in non-labor, $1.2 million in labor and $543,000 in clinical cost savings. The hospital had implemented $9 million of the cost-saving initiatives as of November 2014. Data on the hospital’s projected losses or gains for the fiscal year ending in June were not immediately available Thursday afternoon.
Prior to merging with Queen’s last year, North Hawaii Community Hospital retained Huron to help it identify ways to be more efficient in the face of an average $4 million in annual losses.
The partnerships are designed to bring new life to the state’s safety net of public hospitals, which hemorrhage tens of millions of dollars annually and require repeated emergency appropriations to keep functioning.
David Okabe, chief financial officer for Hawaii Pacific Health, said in testimony that the state’s largest health care provider welcomes the opportunity to partner with Maui, where operating losses are likely to increase significantly in the coming decade. Maui Memorial Medical Center alone lost $43 million in 2014.
read ... Privatization
HGEA Contract Drives HHSC Hospitals Further into Red
MN: Registered nurses represented by the Hawaii Government Employees Association have ratified a new two-year contract that calls for raises of 4 percent per year, pushing Maui Memorial Medical Center further into the red as the hospital looks to a public-private partnership for funding....
Lo called the raise a "significant increase" and said nurse salaries, wages and benefits "are easily our biggest expense" in the region. He estimated that nurse expenses are about 75 percent of the region's budget.
"We're already running a deficit, so it's kind of a weird time," he said. "We're not begrudgingly accepting the raises, but we just don't how we'll have the money."
The Maui region's budget for the 2016 fiscal year is $28.3 million, or about $86 million less than what the region had requested. Lo has said that the region needs more than twice the budgeted amount just to "keep the status quo."
Last month, the region's board moved to cut $28 million, or 10 percent, from the budget and is considering eliminating services not directly related to patient care. Services such as the valet service at the entrance to the hilly Wailuku facility and public food service, as well as major services such as oncology, cardiology and obstetrics and gynecology are on the table for cuts.
Lo said there are only two options left for the coming fiscal year - approve a public-private partnership or continue cutting.
"Unfortunately that's causing us the angst, and that's what we've been trying to tell everybody," he said.
A bill that would permit a public-private partnership for MMMC is heading for the state House-Senate conference committee after the House disagreed with amendments made by the Senate on Thursday. Versions of the same bill have died in two previous legislative sessions, also in conference committees.
HGEA and the United Public Workers Union have staunchly opposed the bill, worried about what it would mean for members (about dues money and political clout as they lose 5,000 members) employed at public hospitals in Maui County (to private sector unions).
read ... Dump the HGEA, Earn More and Cost Less
Cowardly Kenoi 'On Vacation', Withdraws Nominee, May Skip Budget presentation
SA: A meeting slated for next week at which Mayor Billy Kenoi typically would appear to make his county budget request before the Hawaii County Council could also serve as an opportunity for Big Island voters to ask questions about his personal use of the county's purchasing card, but the embattled mayor might not show up.
Kenoi racked up more than $129,000 in purchase card, or pCard, charges since taking office in December 2008 — spending that included tabs at hostess bars. The matter is now under investigation by the state Attorney General Department. Also, the county's legislative auditor is conducting an audit of county pCard use that's expected to be released in June. And a pCard-related ethics complaint has been filed against both Kenoi and Finance Director Deanna Sako, whose office handled Kenoi's more recent pCard charges.
The mayor's $434,667,890 county budget request on the Council's agenda for Wednesday would give both the Council and voters their first opportunity to ask Kenoi about his pCard purchases, said Councilwoman Margaret Wille.
But Kenoi spokesman Peter Boylan said Kenoi might not show up as expected. "He's on vacation," Boylan said. (paid for by whom?) ...
Meantime, Kenoi has quietly withdrawn his nomination of former county Finance Director Nancy Crawford to the Hawaii County Pension Board.
Crawford's office handled Kenoi's pCard expenditures until she retired in December. Her nomination to the Pension Board also would have to go before the Council, where she could have faced questions about Kenoi's pCard expenses.
Kenoi nominated Crawford on March 19 and said in a memo to Kanuha, the Council chairman, that a "timely" approval of her appointment to the Pension Board "is crucial."
Then on April 8 — a week after he apologized for lavish spending on his pCard — Kenoi withdrew Crawford's nomination.
He gave no reason. Crawford could not be reached for comment.
read ... Coward
Aghast at Health Connector
SA: ...the Hawaii taxpayer, who has already watched aghast as the Connector, currently a private nonprofit, has come up well short of sustainability.
Fees from health plan sales had been envisioned as the revenue source to underwrite the exchange, but Hawaii's small pool of uninsured residents made that a rocky road, at least in the short term. Executives have told the Legislature the exchange needs $28 million to carry it through eight years, when it projects that revenues can cover its operational costs.
Two Senate bills that may serve as the primary vehicles for the final survival plan, SB 1028 and SB 1338, are headed for conference committees. The silver bullet isn't yet apparent in either measure.
The intent of the House version of SB 1028, for example, is to provide the Connector with other revenue-raising options. But the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii rightly raised the complaint that giving the Connector the option of selling its services as a benefits administrator, in competition with private companies, would give it an unfair advantage. The state insurance commissioner, Gordon Ito, pointed out other potential conflicts with the ACA and state law, too.
Among other elements, SB 1338 proposes insurance reform allowing the Connector to sell to larger groups than it now does — employers with up to 100 workers, instead of 50. This brings the Connector in line with the federal threshold. That sounds reasonable as far as it goes, but it won't be an option until 2017, so its impact on the current fiscal reality seems limited....
read ... Well Short of Sustainability
HB496: Employers Must Provide 3 Months Paid Vacation
MN: ...Upon further review, HB496 SD2 came out. It would require "the office of the lieutenant governor to work with the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to conduct an actuarial study on the cost of implementing a family leave insurance program that would allow employees to take up to 12 weeks of paid family leave, including after any leave available pursuant to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act is exhausted, and the effect that the leave may have on the existing temporary disability insurance program and prepare a report to the Legislature. (It would appropriate) funds for the study and report. Provide that service workers shall be authorized to earn and carry over up to 80 hours of paid sick leave."
So now we have a study and a new workplace mandate, where service workers will be provided paid sick leave that may be used for caregiving purposes. With this mandate, business will be required to offer sick leave, expanded use definitions apply, the size of the business the legislation affects is left open (for a number to be plugged in later), and the employee can carry up to 80 hours of earned sick leave. This will create a hardship for many businesses, particularly small businesses, and it is back to high alert.
Concern escalated with Senate Draft 2. It proposed, with an actuarial study, funding for the study and report, establishment of a trust fund funded by employee wage withholdings and moneys to administer it, and the fund is to provide partial wage replacement for four weeks of family leave and to take effect on July 1, 2015. While meant to affect "large companies" of 50 or more employees, that size by national standards could easily be micro-sized businesses.
This legislation will harm many businesses, and the Legislature has not even identified that possibility in these drafts. We are continuing efforts to stop this measure and encourage affected businesses to call us at 244-0081 to take action.
read ... Sick Leave
House Tries to Wiggle Out from Under Unfunded Liability Mandate
CB: Led by Rep. Romy Cachola, House lawmakers have pushed forward a plan to effectively undo a law passed in 2013 that forces Hawaii to finally get serious about paying down its massive unfunded liability in retiree health care benefits promised to thousands of public workers.
But Gov. David Ige and his former colleagues in the Senate are not too fond of the idea, setting up a tense next couple of weeks as legislators try to negotiate a deal before the session ends May 7.
“Every time that I’ve talked to the money committees, I’ve made them aware that I have no intention of pulling the plug on prefunding,” Ige told Civil Beat in an interview earlier this month.
House Bill 1356, introduced in January, says the state and counties just can’t afford to fully pre-fund Other Post-Employment Benefits starting in 2019.
Reality: Act 268 Hawaii Unfunded Liabilities Plan: Pot of Gold for Corrupt Union Leaders
read ... Wiggle Out
Supporters of Bill Requiring Autism Coverage Say This is the Year
CB: This isn’t the first time the Legislature has considered requiring insurance companies to cover autism treatment. Lawmakers have introduced similar bills the last four years, but they never passed because of opposition from insurance providers, said Green.
Last year’s bill was amended to require an analysis of the cost of insuring patients instead. Green thinks the insurance mandate will pass this session.
According to the state’s 2014 cost analysis, treatment can cost more than $100,000 annually for children under 6.
Jessica Wong-Sumida, executive director of the Autism Society of Hawaii, said SB 791 would put pediatricians at the front end of autism diagnosis and treatment. If children are diagnosed with autism early, they have a better chance of making it to college and having successful lives, Wong-Sumida said.
Currently 39 states and the District of Columbia have enacted autism insurance reform laws, according to Autism Speaks.
read ... Autism?
Mauna Kea telescope in line with Hawaiian values
KL: “The Ancient Hawaiians were astronomers,” Queen Lili‘uokalani said in 1897. They were scientists and engineers. They studied the wind, waves and stars to navigate across the Pacific. They designed and implemented irrigation techniques to use the flow of water from the mountain to the sea, and their fish ponds were sustainable.
The Hawaiians have always been open to innovation. It is hard for me to imagine that if my ancestors were alive today, they wouldn’t be in favor of new technology benefiting not only them but the entire world.
read ... Mauna Kea telescope in line with Hawaiian values
Testimony candid and caustic at HPD accreditation forum
CB: CALEA needs to keep in mind that Hawaii is the only state without a statewide standards and training board, which provides an important level of review for police agencies in other states. There are also no citizen’s review boards in Hawaii as are common in other states, often created in the wake of police shootings and brutality cases like those that have recently come to light throughout the country. The CALEA accreditation process is virtually the only outside review of HPD’s policies and practices, and that makes CALEA a critical player in the public’s ability to be confident in HPD’s capabilities.
The department’s responses to multiple incidents of unacceptable police behavior have unfortunately tarnished HPD’s image and caused many to question the department’s commitment to basic standards in areas that count. HPD’s historically difficult relationship with media when it comes to releasing public information hasn’t helped, either.
Reviewers should take those matters into account as they consider how well HPD has performed relative to the “gold standard” that CALEA has set for all its accredited agencies. You are encouraged to share your thoughts on HPD. Send them to:
- Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies
- 13575 Heathcote Blvd., Suite 320
- Gainesville, VA 20155
read ... Accreditation
Murder? Kidnapping? Soft on Crime Supreme Court Overturns Conviction on Technicality
SA: Toi Nofoa was acquitted in 2011 in the murder of his ex-girlfriend — gunned down as she sat in her sport utility vehicle in a Kapolei neighborhood just days before she was scheduled to testify against him for allegedly kidnapping and threatening her in 2008.
On Tuesday the Hawaii Supreme Court overturned Nofoa's convictions for kidnapping and terroristic threatening, charges for which he went to trial after being acquitted of murder.
The state's high court ruled that Nofoa did not get a fair trial because the trial judge allowed the jury to hear recorded testimony from ex-girlfriend Royal Kaukani and allowed the prosecutor to tell jurors in closing arguments that the reason they did not hear live testimony was because Kaukani was dead....
Lee had prohibited any mention of Kaukani's death and manner of death during the trial as prejudicial to Nofoa since he was also accused of threatening Kaukani with a gun. During closing arguments, however, Lee told the prosecutor he could tell the jurors that Kaukani was dead because Nofoa's lawyer suggested to the jurors in his closing argument that they should question why Kaukani did not testify....
Kaukani's death and Nofoa's separate trials for murder and then kidnapping drew widespread attention to the issue of domestic violence in Hawaii.
On March 27, 2009, Kaukani was fatally shot behind the wheel of her SUV in an Ewa by Gentry neighborhood.
Nofoa was charged with first-degree murder because Kaukani was scheduled to testify against him in the kidnapping case.
The murder case went to trial, and a state jury found Nofoa not guilty on Nov. 23, 2011.
But in July 2012 a jury found Nofoa guilty of abducting Kaukani, 25, from her workplace in Ko Olina on Sept. 11, 2008, and forcing her into an SUV at gunpoint. Two Haleiwa gas station employees testified they intervened to free Kaukani when Nofoa stopped the SUV at their gas station....
The Supreme Court sent the case back to Circuit Court for a new trial.
Next: Suspect in killing of Carly Scott says cops didn't read his rights
read ... Soft on Crime
Prosecutor Became Defense Attorney After Being Fired by Kaneshiro
SA: Myles Breiner is a former city deputy prosecutor from the days when Charles Marsland was Honolulu's chief prosecutor, who now leads the charge for the rights of defendants — and by extension, he says, all of us — as president of the Hawaii Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (HACDL).
Breiner, 59, said he actually has the current chief city prosecutor, Keith Kaneshiro, to thank for his current career status as a criminal defense lawyer in private practice, since it was Kaneshiro who fired him from his city position back in 1989.
"He summarily fired me and 13 other prosecutors," Breiner said, "because … well, I never knew why he fired me."
Some legal wranglings ensued, but ultimately, Breiner said, "the irony is that I should thank Mr. Kaneshiro. … He ended up doing me quite a favor because I discovered that I really had a passion for criminal defense....
Breiner, as head of the 250-member HACDL, these days often weighs in on issues pertaining to Hawaii's criminal justice system....
read ... Thanks a lot, Keith
Attorney general files DUI-related charges against Karamatsu
KHON: He was arrested just after 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 4, on Ala Moana Boulevard and Hobron Lane.
Sources say it was at a DUI checkpoint.
This was Karamatsu’s second DUI arrest. He was convicted of drunk driving in 2007, when he was a state representative.
Arraignment and plea is set for May 1 at 8:30 a.m. in Honolulu District Court.
Karamatsu’s driver’s license has already been revoked, meaning he will not be able to drive for the next two years.
read ... Attorney general files DUI-related charges against Karamatsu
Family Claims Ownership of State Hemp Farm
KITV: He claims to be a descendent of King Kamehameha.
His family said they are laying claim to some 400 acres of Waimanalo land.
This past weekend they put up no trespassing signs, only to see them taken down.
"I made the reports of theft of our signs and that they are trespassing on our property," Lorenzo said.
The state attorney general sees otherwise and said Lorenzo's been filing frivolous wild deeds on state-owned lands--more than 40 so far--and they're clogging up the courts.
Now, the state is asking a judge to throw out the liens and block any more filings for the next five years.
Last month Lorenzo and his family appeared in court after they moved onto a 5-acre parcel that records show is owned by the state.
read ... On Something
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