Full Text: Unanimous Conference Committee Approves Maui Hospital Partnership Bill
Souki: HB1075 'Will open the doors for a vital public-private partnership'
UPDATE: 81 Republicans Running for Honolulu Neighborhood Board
Powdered Alcohol Prohibition Wins in Hawaii Senate
Telescope: Dangerous Intersection of Social Policy and the ‘Sacred’
ILind: I doubt very much that opponents of the Thirty Meter Telescope Project on Mauna Kea think they have much in common with the religious conservatives who oppose the right of same-sex couples to marry.
But compare these scenes.
During oral arguments Tuesday on the same-sex marriage cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, a protester had to be restrained and ejected after shouting that a decision favoring same-sex unions would go against the Bible and call down “God’s wrath” on the court and the country.
And during the University of Hawaii Board of Regent’s session in Hilo over the weekend, an oli or chant presented by a TMT opponent reportedly warned regents that if they reached the wrong conclusion, “death shall fall upon them.” ...
In the meantime, though, much of what’s being public disseminated about the Mauna Kea issue conveys the mistaken impression that the process simply disregarded native religious and cultural rights. But the hearings officer’s findings of fact and conclusions of law run over 125 pages and include detailed discussions of evidence, and legal precedents, underlying each conclusion.
Will the Thirty Meter Telescope violate the religious freedom of those who believe in that the mountain is sacred?
The hearing officer concluded it will not, and spelled out the reasons with some precision.
During the contested case hearings, and continuing today, opponents of the TMT have asserted they have a right to veto power over this project and the overall future of Mauna Kea.
“The law does not support that view,” the hearings officer concluded.
The free exercise of religion “must apply to all citizens alike, and it can give to none of them a veto over public programs that do not prohibit the free exercise of religion,” he stated....
read ... Ian Lind
Hawaii's Thirty Meter Telescope website still under attack periodically
PBN: ...Anonymous, which runs a blog entitled Operation Green Rights, claimed responsibility for the attack on tmt.org and portal.ehawaii.gov on Sunday, protesting the planned $1.4 billion observatory project on Mauna Kea on the Big Island.
TMT Observatory Corp. Hawaii Community Affairs Manager Sandra Dawson said the denial of service attack has interrupted the site on and off since Sunday.
"It is still under attack — that hasn’t stopped, but we’re fending it off,” she told PBN. "Most of the time you can still get on the site. we’ve taken a lot of measures so you can get in, and we’ve gotten more successful in fending it off. We haven’t had complaints.”
The security operation center has begun an investigation of the state government website attack as well....
read ... Hackers
Agreement Reached on Hawaii’s State Budget
CB: A panel of House and Senate lawmakers reached an agreement Tuesday on the final draft of the overall state budget, but some big spending questions will be settled later this week.
The conference committee unanimously approved a budget that is $4.3 million over Gov. David Ige’s initial request for fiscal 2016, which starts July 1, and $53 million under his request for fiscal 2017.
The lead negotiators on House Bill 500 — House Finance Chair Sylvia Luke and Senate Ways and Means Chair Jill Tokuda — said they worked with the state departments to take care of some of their additional needs for next year. But they want to continue those discussions and see what kind of progress is made before setting more money aside for the second year of the biennium....
Luke said one of the reasons the committee took “kind of a conservative approach” to the budget this session was to accommodate collective bargaining agreements that have come in recently.
The governor submitted requests last week to fund $201,286 for the firefighters union; $4.1 million for two United Public Workers bargaining units; and over $58 million for the Hawaii State Teachers Association.
SA: Deal would limit spending of general funds to $6.6 billion in the next fiscal year
read ... Budget
SB 555: The Last Bill Standing to Give Low-Income People a Tax Credit
CB: Senate Bill 555 would increase the food/excise tax credit, which hasn’t been changed since it was established in 2007. The first draft of SB 555 would have increased the credit to a maximum of $100 for taxpayers who make less than $5,800 per year, while tax filers with incomes less than $57,500 would have been eligible for a $30 credit.
However, the House Finance Committee amended the bill by blanking out the dollar amounts of the tax exemptions, pending negotiations that are taking place in conference committee this week. The bill is scheduled to be heard on Wednesday at 2 p.m.
read ... SB555
Politically Connected Companies Grab for $20M Tax Credit
SA: A special tax credit established to help relocate maritime tenants on the Honolulu waterfront is poised to be expanded and sweetened in ways that some observers estimate could cost the state $20 million in the years ahead.
With state lawmakers heading into the final days of the legislative session for this year, it remains uncertain how they might amend the tax credit law, but proposals have been floated to double the size of the credit that could be claimed by investors.
Supporters of House Bill 1167 and Senate Bill 676 have also asked lawmakers to expand the types of expenses that would qualify for the tax credit, which would make the credit easier to claim.
The tax credit was first approved by lawmakers last year, and is available to investors who finance the relocation of maritime tenants that are displaced by the state project to construct the new Kapalama Container Terminal at Honolulu Harbor. Only companies that are relocating to Piers 24 through 28 in Honolulu Harbor can qualify for the credit.
Leading the effort to expand the tax credit is Pacific Shipyards International, the state's largest private ship repair company, and its subsidiaries Navatek Ltd. and Navatek Boat Builders. Pacific Shipyards is being displaced by the Kapalama terminal construction and is relocating to Piers 24 and 25.
"I'll give them an ‘A' for audacity," said state Rep. Marcus Oshiro, who was an outspoken opponent of the original tax credit last year.
read ... Corporate Welfare
Hawaii could save up to $100M annually if LNG replaces oil
PBN: Shipping liquefied natural gas to the Islands could save Hawaii $55 million per year in fuel costs if 50 percent of imported oil is replaced by LNG, and in the case of a 100 percent replacement, the state could save nearly $100 million annually, the head of Hawaii Gas said this week.
Alicia Moy, president and CEO of Honolulu-based Hawaii Gas, which has received proposals from companies to supply it with bulk shipments of LNG, said at a Chamber of Commerce Hawaii event in Honolulu that its bids have confirmed a significant and sustainable cost savings for Hawaii.
She noted that these cost-saving projections are based on the price of oil these days, which has been at some of its lowest points in several years.
“If [the price of oil] goes up, the cost savings will be even higher,” Moy, a featured speaker at the event, said.
read ... $100M Not Coming out of Your pocket
Lawmakers set goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045
SA: Hawaii lawmakers compromised Tuesday on a bill that would set 2045 as the date for Hawaii to reach a goal of using renewable energy sources for 100 percent of the state’s electric power generation.
House Bill 623 originally proposed a renewable-energy goal of 100 percent by 2040 while the Senate voted for 100 percent by 2050. A conference committee of House and Senate members voted Tuesday to split the difference and set 2045 as the date....
read ... Higher Electric Bills
We need energy technology, not ideology
TH: A recent New York Times article stated that the rooftop solar expansion in Hawaii is the template for our global future. The article fails to address the cost to the average ratepayer in Hawaii (the ones who do not have government-subsidized solar panels on their individual beach-view family homes). The average people that rely on power produced from the utility will be required to pay more to support such a special interest set of customers because those "special" customers will also demand a system that provides supply to "everyone" 24/7. Such a program benefits the few at the expense of the many.
Actually, it would be great if we were all living in an island paradise, receiving subsidized power and consuming less energy than the average U.S. citizen not living in such a temperate climate. I can't imagine any of us who would not fully embrace a future with no fossil fuels, zero emissions and with the same affordability and reliability of energy as we have today. Great imagination with zero reality is not a sustainable formula.
read ... The Hill
State agency has 92 questions regarding sale of Hawaiian Electric Co. to NextEra Energy
PBN: The Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, whose director, Luis Salaveria, is the state's energy resources coordinator, included 92 questions in a recent filing with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission.
DBEDT is also one of 29 intervenors in the proposed sale.
Its first set of information requests includes a question about how NextEra Energy will “further enhance” Hawaiian Electric Cos.’s role as a national leader in the integration of renewable energy.
Additionally, DBEDT wants to know how the proposed sale will “strengthen and accelerate Hawaii’s transition to a more affordable, equitable, and inclusive clean-energy future, while delivering substantial customer benefits, including lower costs and improved reliability over time.”
AP: HEI suitor NextEra posts 51.2% increase in earnings
read ... 92 Questions
Incubator companies have $214M economic impact on Hawaii, Self-Interested HTDC study Claims
PBN: A bill that would authorize and appropriate funds for HTDC to provide SBIR grants and manufacturing grants for the next two fiscal years, House Bill 1069 HD1 SD2, is still alive at the Legislature, with a conference committee hearing scheduled for Friday.
Reality: Final Act 221: Hoku Plant Cut Up, Pieces Auctioned off
read ... Some Self-Serving Rhetoric
Nobody Noticed, But Hawaii's Not Gonna Get Obama Library
SA: Just in case there was any doubt: The chances for Hawaii winning the Barack Obama presidential library sweepstakes are looking all but officially nil.
With the Illinois Legislature's approval of a bill allowing the library to be on park land, the final hurdle for Chicago as the site has been cleared.
It didn't help Hawaii's cause that Cassandra Francis, the president of Friends of the Parks and leading spokeswoman for the opposition, abruptly resigned her post. Reportedly it had more to do with her relations with the nonprofit's board, but it sure seems a happy coincidence for the Chicago bid.
By the way, it had been down to Chicago and New York City, anyway. Hawaii is barely mentioned these days as an also-ran.
read ... Nil
Marijuana Stores: House Wants to Dope the People Up Even More than Senate
WHT: As the haggling over medical marijuana dispensary legislation enters the home stretch at the Capitol, Sen. Josh Green, D-Kona, Ka‘u, is advocating the “start small” approach. But at least one Big Island lawmaker on the House side indicates agreement may not be easy to reach on how many dispensaries there should be.
The Senate version of House Bill 321 calls for one license for each county and 10 dispensaries located around the state, plus combined growing and dispensing operations. The House version contains more than 30 licenses and separate farms and dispensaries.
read ... Dopey
Crackpot Launches Doomed Petition to Recall Kenoi
WHT: Russell Doi filed an affidavit seeking the recall Thursday, according to records in the county Division of Elections. An attempt to do that earlier last week failed when it was discovered that he wasn’t a registered voter. Doi has now registered.
The county charter requires signatures of 25 percent of the electorate that voted in the last mayoral election in order to recall the mayor. That means Doi has 120 days to gather signatures of 15,544 voters, a daunting task at best....
Doi said he was determined to start the process because of his experience with the Hawaii Police Department and the apparent blind eye turned by the mayor, the Police Commission and other county officials about his plight. A police officer, responding to a 2009 dispute between siblings regarding power of attorney over their father, put Doi in a headlock, according to a lawsuit. Doi was arrested on disorderly conduct charges but the charges were later dropped. (Hello Big Island? Are you proud of your leadership???)
Doi said he still suffers from having his neck twisted.
“They crippled me, they took my family,” Doi said.
Doi acknowledges that gathering more than 15,000 names is an uphill battle. He said many he’s talked with in Hilo either like the mayor or are afraid of retribution if they sign the petition. He said people on the west side of the island seem more open to signing it.
“Even if I don’t pull it off, somebody else can try again,” Doi said. “This is not a one-shot proposition.”
Peter Boylan, a spokesman for Kenoi, said the mayor will allow the process to take its course. (Knowing that this effort will help Billy by dissipating anti-Kenoi sentiment in useless futility.)
Reality, for those who can discern the difference: Carlisle: Only 2,100 Signatures needed to Impeach 'Repulsive' Kenoi
read ... About a tool
Free speech protection updates still in the works
KL: University of Hawai‘i chancellors and vice chancellors are still finalizing the free speech policy that was first issued system-wide on December 1, 2014.
The updated free speech policy requires the chancellor of each campus to provide free speech bulletins, designated forums, a dispute resolution process and specific guidelines regarding time, place and manner of free speech conducted on campus.
“We are in the process of convening a working group, comprised of various campus community members, to create a UH Mānoa policy and procedures that align with the system free speech policy,” said Lori Ideta, UH Mānoa interim vice chancellor for students, in an email interview.
This decision came after UH Hilo students Merritt Burch, president of the UH Hilo chapter of Young Americans for Liberty, and Anthony Vizzone sued the university after they were prevented from passing out copies of the constitution and were restricted to a flood prone “free speech zone” ....
The new policy has no deadline as to when chancellors of each campus must release these implementations.
read ... Free Speech
Anti-GMO Hooser Goes to Switzerland, Makes Fool of Himself
KE: How many misstatements can Councilman Gary Hooser make in 2:45 minutes?
A fact check of his recent speech “defending Kauai” at the Syngenta shareholders meeting in Basel, Switzerland, turned up nine....
SA: Atrazine widely used, and proven safe
read ... Musings: Hooser's Swiss Schtick
Lawmakers consider options for Oahu Community Correctional Center
KHON: The Kalihi jail was built in 1916 on what was then undeveloped land, but now almost 100 years later, it’s right in the middle of a bustling neighborhood, near schools, churches and homes.
It’s no secret OCCC is overcrowded and getting old.
Lawmakers say it’s time to start thinking about taking the jail out of Kalihi and putting it somewhere else.
“It’s not serving it’s purpose and it hasn’t for several decades,” said Rep. Gregg Takayama who is the chair of the House Committee on Public Safety. “The bottom line is that OCCC has outlived it’s usefulness and we’ve known that for many years now.”
The talks have gone on for years and the question still remains, what should be done to the aging correctional center that’s overcrowded and outdated.
“You do have a prison right next to a neighborhood and an elementary school so you can tell it’s an old design,” said Councilmember Joey Manahan.
Should it be remodeled? Can more buildings be added? Or what about building a new correctional center in another location?
“We think it should be moved to the grounds of Halawa prison,” said Rep. Takayama.
Rep. Gregg Takayama says he envisions an OCCC that houses 1,500 inmates in a multi-story highrise, right next to Halawa Prison.
Last year the state provided $5 million to get the ball rolling. So what will that money go towards? “For the Governor and Public safety to begin planning and design of a new OCCC,” said Rep. Takayama. “That money is being released now and we hope they come back next year with some firm plans on the design and the financing plan on how we can pay for it.”
MN: Maui Community Correction Center on lockdown due to inmate disturbance
read ... Prison Closing?
State lawmakers tackle bill to ban sex trafficking
SA: Hawaii is the last state in the nation without a comprehensive sex trafficking ban, and lawmakers are trying to shed that label.
A legislative panel is working on a bill to ban sex trafficking, but the proposal has met with resistance from law enforcement.
A new version of the bill was presented in a hearing Tuesday and the committee deferred action until Thursday.
The bill aims to strengthen penalties for coercing victims into performing sex for money. Advocates want to create a victim-centered statute so people who are forced into prostitution would be treated as victims instead of criminals. But they say the bill as it's currently drafted doesn't accomplish that goal.
read ... Trafficking
Outrigger and IHS partner on homeless strategy
HNN: Under a new approach, Outrigger Hotel and Resorts security officers now engage, identify and photograph homeless people they find sleeping in garages or loitering on property. The information goes to the Institute for Human Services and the agency sends an outreach team.
"We don't want to be the bad guy and tell people to go away. If we can help them we're going to help them," Outrigger security director Jerry Dolak said.
In the past week, Outrigger security encountered and assisted a homeless man who urinated on himself in front of hotel guests, a woman who was sleeping near elevators, and a man who was wandering floor to floor, asking guests for money. They were all referred to IHS.
read ... Partnership
Statement by So-Called 'Innocence Project' Tied to Prison Death of Murderer, Rapist?
HNN: The brother of Frank Pauline, Jr., who was convicted in the 1991 rape and murder of Dana Ireland on the Big Island, said he's worried Pauline was targeted for murder in prison Monday, one day after word surfaced of an effort to exonerate him. But sources told Hawaii News Now Pauline was often involved in trying to take over prison gang leadership, suggesting Pauline could have been killed in a prison power struggle. (Innocent. Oh yeah.)
Pauline died Monday, on his 42nd birthday, after someone hit him in the back of his head with a rock in the recreation yard of the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility, according to his half brother, John Gonsalves.
Gonsalves, of Mountain View, said he had just spoken to Pauline two hours earlier by phone, when a prison official called him to tell him his brother had died in a prison yard.
read ... Murder
State fines two companies $40K for illegal dumping
HNN: The state Health Department has fined two companies nearly $40,000 for illegal dumping in former pineapple field in Whitmore Village.
One of those companies, Island Recycling, was fined another $30,000 for improper storage in its Kapolei yard of more than 100 tons of ash and metal from the city's H-Power waste-to-energy plant....
Glad's Landscaping and Tree Trimming, which was fined $29,000 by the Health Department, was hired by the state Land Department to haul away dredging debris from the Ala Wai back in 2010.
The company was supposed to take the dredged material to a commercial landfill in Nanakuli, which would have cost Glad's thousands of dollars in dumping fees. Instead, a lot of the trash wound up in the field in Whitmore.
"Well they pocketed the tipping fee and then they dumped it up here," said Cox.
Glad's president denies any wrongdoing.
"Everything was approved and they signed off with it and all of a sudden a year later, I get a bill for $29,000," said Silivenusi Manufekai, Glad's president....
read ... Dumping
John Henry Felix Saves Hawaii Civil Air Patrol
MN: In a news release Tuesday, the organization announced that Col. John Henry Felix was appointed interim Hawaii wing commander.
He replaces Col. Jeff Wong, who was transferred to the organization's Pacific region headquarters after having headed the Hawaii wing for the past two years.
During Wong's tenure, the Cessna 192 airplane that had been used to provide tsunami and hurricane warnings for Maui County was removed from Kahului Airport and flown to Oahu for maintenance in March 2014. Officials said the plane, which had its cracked engine repaired, was back on Maui for about 12 days in January before being flown to Honolulu for additional maintenance. The plane was back on Maui in mid-March.
After transferring members out of the unit, Wong disbanded Maui Composite Squadron HI-057 on the day Hurricane Iselle hit the islands in early August. Wong said the squadron, chartered in 1974, was "realigned" with the newer 76th Kihei squadron because of a decline in active participating members.
That was disputed by some longtime former 57th Kahului squadron members during a Civil Air Patrol town hall meeting on Maui in March. They said the fully functioning, mission-ready unit was dismantled in a retaliatory move after clashes with Maj. Eduardo Zayas, who started the Kihei squadron in 2009 and was made vice commander for the Hawaii wing under Wong.
At the meeting, Col. Brian Bishop, commander of the Pacific region of the Civil Air Patrol, said Zayas was no longer a member of the Civil Air Patrol.
Zayas, 62, of Kihei is awaiting sentencing next month after pleading no contest to a reduced charge of third-degree forgery of another pilot's signature on a Civil Air Patrol document to indicate Zayas was qualified to fly cadets on orientation flights....
Background: Hawaii Civil Air Patrol Volunteers Instructed not to talk to Media
read ... Saved
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