Court: Hawaii Butterfly Knife Ban Violates Second Amendment
Clueless Bill 44: Already Illegal to Lie on monster house permit application, but nobody noticed
SA Editorial: … The latest effort is City Council Bill 44, a measure that would punish anyone who knowingly makes a “false statement” to “any city employee who, in the normal course of the employee’s duties and responsibilities, conducts investigations or inspections, or both, to ascertain compliance with any city ordinance, rule or regulation.”
The penalty would be a $2,000 fine, up to one year imprisonment and community services not to exceed 80 hours.
It’s a good start, but Bill 44 needs work.
For one thing, it may be preempted by state law. Section 710-1063 already prohibits lying to government authorities. It was amended in 2019 to include county inspectors dealing with monster homes and illegal vacation rentals, according to committee reports. The bill should not conflict with state statutes, and it may need to be modified to distinguish a lie from an honest mistake….
Further, some Councilmembers want Bill 44 strengthened, to include a teardown component. They are right, but it needs to be done properly….
But Takeuchi Apuna warned that it’s not so simple.
“As far as saying you need to just tear the whole thing down, that would be difficult to do based on how the law is currently written based on the restrictions on what is or isn’t a monster home,” she said….
The full Council is scheduled to hear Bill 44 on Wednesday….
read … Editorial: Tighten rules on monster houses | Honolulu Star-Advertiser (staradvertiser.com)
Trial continued after secret discipline for police in Makaha crash
SA: … In May, officers Joshua J.S. Nahulu, 37; Erik X.K. Smith, 25; Jake R.T. Bartolome, 35; and Robert G. Lewis III, whose age was not listed, had their trial put off against the objection of city prosecutors until Aug. 21, according to state court records.
Oahu Circuit Judge Paul B.K. Wong granted a joint motion Friday by attorneys for the four officers asking for (another) continuance, against the objections of Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Scott K. Bell. Bell told the court Friday that he was ready to proceed with his prosecution.
The second continuation of the officers’ trial came two days after Honolulu Police Chief Arthur “Joe” Logan told the Honolulu Police Commission that the administrative investigation by the department’s Professional Standards Office was complete and that he disciplined each officer.
“I made decisions for the officers, the officers received the letters indicating what those decisions are and that begins the grievance process,” said Logan, speaking to commissioners during their meeting Wednesday. “Now the ball is in their court to either follow civil service rules and or collective bargaining rules toward grievance processes for the discipline (they received via letter).”
Logan told commissioners he cannot yet disclose the discipline for each officer….
read … Trial continued for police in Makaha crash case
HSTA’s Latest Scam: Solar AC All Failed -- Will need to be Replaced
CB: … The $10 million dollars appropriated by the Legislature last year for cooling classrooms has already been committed, Tanaka said. It will cover air conditioning units in 860 classrooms. Installing a window unit costs about $5,000 per classroom, but electrical upgrades cost more and vary depending on what work is needed, he said. …
“Back in 2016, I think it was a relatively new idea, and it was a pretty tough lift,” he said. “I don’t think we fully understood what that effort would take.”
But the units quickly began to fail.
They were only designed to carry three or four hours of charge and would automatically shut down, Tanaka said. Some malfunctioned when contractors ran software updates.
Now, many are outside of their warranty period, and eventually, they’ll all need to be replaced, he said. …
BACKGROUND:
read … Thousands Of Hawaii Classrooms Lack AC. The DOE Won’t Say Which Ones
Critics Of Legislative Term Limits Need To Start Shooting Straight
CB: … House Judiciary Chair David Tarnas echoed that refrain last session when he single-handedly killed a term limits measure. He pointed to a League of Women Voters analysis showing that from 2012 to 2022, 56% of the Senate and 65% of the House turned over.
But a closer analysis of the same data by Civil Beat found that losing reelection bids accounted for only 26 of the 72 departures of legislators during that period….
The varying aspects of legislative term limits that strengthen and hinder lobbyists would likely “cancel each other out” in Hawaii, said Colin Moore, a political scientist with the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization.
“Term limits won’t dramatically change the power of lobbyists,” he said.
And even the empowerment of bureaucrats would “likely be muted,” Moore said, “because the 16-year limit is long enough to allow legislators to learn the ‘tricks of the trade.’”…
read … Critics Of Legislative Term Limits Need To Start Shooting Straight
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