After Sovereignty ‘Army’ Ousted, Alleged Meth Dealer moves in on Local Country Club
Empty homes tax haunts us again
Another Emergency Proclamation for … Insurance
Guam: Tax Evasion and Judicial Misconduct
Insurers: Green’s Fake ‘Settlement’ Will Result in Higher Insurance Rates
SA: … Attorneys for more than 160 insurance companies claim that a Maui judge’s decision barring them from suing any party thought to be responsible for last year’s Maui wildfires has no precedent around the country.
(TRANSLATION: They will appeal and win.)
“I don’t know of any state where we’re dealing with an attack on an insurance industries’ ability to seek recovery like we’re seeing in the court in Hawaii,” attorney Mark Grotefeld, who litigates insurance-related cases around the country, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser….
(CLUE: Green’s bogus ‘settlement’ would drive more insurers out of Hawaii and jack up rates.)
(NOTE: Green’s settlement exists only because he is afraid of what will happen when 1000s of local HECO stockholders lose everything. He wants to make it look like he went to the mat for them.)
Grotefeld told the Star-Advertiser that, “The insurers want to pursue recovery against the parties that caused the fire. They don’t want to seek recovery from their customers. We aren’t suing the state of Hawaii. We are not suing the County of Maui. We are suing the parties we believe proximately caused this fire that led into Lahaina.”…
The standoff threatens to (will) unravel the proposed (pretend) $4 billion settlement announced by Gov. Josh Green…
Whatever happens next has broader implications for insurance customers on all islands, especially for dry leeward areas under growing threat of brushfires and drought.
Already it’s hard for homeowners in Hawaii island’s Puna District to find — let alone pay for — insurance for threats of fire, volcanic eruptions and hurricanes, said state Rep. Greggor Ilagan, (D, Hawaiian Paradise Park-Hawaiian Beaches-Leilani Estates)….
Discussions are under way ahead of the next legislative session to possibly draft bills to cap insurance premiums (boneheaded socialist ignorance) or otherwise help consumers buy affordable insurance policies.
But Ilagan has seen first hand what happened in Puna.
“Capping premiums is not something that private entities like insurance companies will welcome with big arms,” he said. “They are going to feel that Hawaii is a very restrictive, small market, certainly compared to much larger markets like California and Florida where they’re already leaving.”
(TRANSLATION: Insurance rate hikes coming.)
Following the Maui wildfires, Ilagan expects insurance companies that remain in Hawaii “are going to be much quicker to analyze where the risks are” and adjust premiums accordingly.
(TRANSLATION: Insurance rate hikes coming.)
Asked about the possibility that the Maui wildfires could trigger an exodus of insurance companies, Grotefeld said “insurers aren’t leaving the islands because of that single event.”
But future disasters in Hawaii, including wildfires, “could very well lead, ultimately, to increased premiums for the insured,” Grotefeld said. “I’m not saying it will, but it could. It certainly won’t help, put it that way.”
(TRANSLATION: Insurance rate hikes coming.)
Insurance companies typically buy insurance of their own on the global market to help cover payouts to policy holders in an industry practice known as “reinsurance.”
But Ilagan said that companies that sell reinsurance are also growing skittish following billion-dollar payouts in the aftermath of disasters that are increasing in frequency and severity around the planet.
(TRANSLATION: Insurance rate hikes coming.)
Grotefeld said the ability to buy reinsurance also hinges on insurance companies’ abilities to sue those responsible for damages in a practice known as “subrogation.” “It’s a cornerstone of the insurance industry,” he said…
(TRANSLATION: Insurance rate hikes coming—thanks to Green’s desperate effort to make it look like he is pulling out all the stops to save HECO from inevitable bankruptcy.)
In Texas, where he lives, Grotefeld said utilities there now seek “our guidance in assessing their risk. If you take the right of recovery away from insurers, the costs of insurance will rise significantly because insurers won’t be able to go after at-fault parties.”…
(TRANSLATION: Insurance rate hikes coming.)
SA: Editorial: Insurers need to wait on Maui settlement funds
read … Insurers object to order preventing lawsuits following Maui fires
Saiki loss could embolden OHA Kakaako Makai Development Schemes
SA: … Saiki’s time in office had been one of accomplishment. Perhaps one of his biggest contributions was in blocking (OHA’s) developer interests for residential development along the Honolulu (Kakaako Makai) shoreline.
For decades, Hawaii politicians have treated Honolulu’s urban shoreline like their own Monopoly game. Land use regulations became building blocks to be traded off in political power struggles.
State law forbids residential development of the shoreline and Saiki has been one of the most influential politicians to say “the game is pau.” His legislation blocking threatened development included stopping the building (by OHA) of three residential high-rises up to 350 feet tall.
Now with Saiki out of office in November, you can expect the shoreline and the entire Honolulu urban vista to again be threatened….
Saiki, as of last week, has not said what he will do. But after being endorsed by Green, Mayor Rick Blangiardi and U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, I wouldn’t bet against his return to politics….
2023: Every single bill submitted to fund and support OHA died at the Capitol
read … On Politics: Saiki loss could embolden urban shoreline projects
Insurance Company Lawyers detail evidence against KSBE, HECO in Lahaina fire case
SA: … Attorneys representing over 160 property insurance companies claim their investigation has found that the Maui wildfire responsible for the deaths of 102 people was caused by an aging, wooden utility pole overloaded with telecommunications equipment that snapped in high winds in Lahaina, causing it to land on neglected, overgrown brush across from Lahaina Intermediate School….
The insurance companies allege that “the negligent, reckless, or unlawful conduct” by land owner Kamehameha Schools, Hawaiian Electric Co., and telecommunications companies Spectrum Oceanic, Charter Communications and Oceanic Time Warner triggered the fire on Aug. 8, 2023. They claim the fire that started in overgrown brush later reignited and shot embers into the sky and triggered a path of flames all the way to Lahaina’s historic Front Street and the water’s edge, where panicked evacuees leapt into the ocean to escape the inferno.
Over a year since the fires, Maui County officials have yet to release the findings of a federal and county investigation into the cause of wildfires in Lahaina and Upcountry Maui, where nearly two dozen properties burned that same day.
But a filing by the insurance companies’ lawyers in Honolulu Circuit Court that seeks a jury trial places the blame on Hawaiian Electric and the telecom companies for ignoring warnings and industry standards, and for following a policy the lawyers called “a ‘wait until it breaks’ plan of maintaining their wooden power poles and overhead power lines as a cost-saving policy instead of performing necessary preemptive maintenance and repairs to prevent its wooden power poles and overhead power lines from failing, breaking, and/or severing during high-wind events.”
Before the fires, Kamehameha Schools — which the lawyers refer to as “The Bishop Estate” — had failed a 2020 “Fire Brush Inspection” conducted by unidentified “local authorities,” according to the court document….
“As a result, The Bishop Estate was ordered to construct a firebreak on its property,” it said. “The same parcel of land was reinspected in September of 2023, shortly after the Lahaina Fire, and local officials found that The Bishop Estate had failed to properly maintain the firebreaks it had ordered three years earlier, specifically citing its ‘[f]ailure to maintain firebreak off homes along the south of Lahainaluna Rd.’ Furthermore, upon information and belief, local authorities found multiple other fire code violations on the property, including a ‘brush height’ in excess of 18 inches, failure to construct a 100 ft. fire break, and a finding that the ‘extent of growth’ on the Defendant’s land was ‘considered a fire hazard.’…
read … Lawyers blame 3 entities for Lahaina fire
Insurance ‘Solution’ Brings Condos up to Level of … Puna?
HTH: … The proclamation stated that only three insurers in the state are offering policies to condominium associations that provide coverage for condo common areas, and those policies often cover only 20% to 30% of a building’s hurricane exposure. Associations are therefore forced to buy coverage from non-standard providers, at higher rates not regulated by the state.
Through the emergency proclamation, Green announced that funds would be taken from the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund and loaned to the Hawaii Property Insurance Association, through which condo owners and associations could purchase hurricane and property insurance.
That solution was the brainchild of a joint task force established by the governor earlier this year “to evaluate and make recommendations on the extreme challenges and complex issues surrounding property insurance, particularly affecting condominiums, but with awareness of impacts to other housing,” according to a news release from Green’s office.
… But that task force has not addressed insurance issues in at least one community: Hawaii Island’s Lava Zones 1 and 2, where retreating insurance providers have left homeowners with no coverage options save for HPIA’s insurance of last resort, which has premiums many times higher than what owners were paying before. In some cases, those premiums also represent a rate hike of up to 1,000%.
“I don’t know if the task force ever looked at Puna or Lava Zones 1 and 2,” said Puna resident Andrea Rosanoff. “I was glad there was a task force, but I didn’t know the task force was going to only focus on the condo issue.”
State Rep. Greggor Ilagan of Puna said that, all things considered, the insurance market for condo owners statewide is even more dire than for lower Puna residents: At least Puna residents can still get coverage through HPIA, expensive though it is. Condo owners previously didn’t even have that luxury, he said.
But even with the proclamation opening HPIA to them, condo owners and associations will still have to deal with high rates through the HPIA, the same as lower Puna residents, Ilagan said.
“I knew that, once (the proclamation) happens, everyone will wonder what’s going on with Lava Zones 1 and 2,” Ilagan said. “And I’ve been saying, once there’s any subsidies on the table, then I’ll be the first to go after them.”
Ilagan had introduced a raft of bills during the previous legislative session to alleviate the Puna insurance crisis, some of which involved state insurance subsidies. All those bills were shot down, but Ilagan said he’d try again next session.
“Next year is going to be the year of insurance,” Ilagan predicted….
read … No relief in sight for insurance crisis in Lava Zones 1, 2
Feds to Send another $1.2B for Maui?
CB: … Well, my job is federal funds. And we’ve gotten billions of dollars, mostly through FEMA, to address the last year. FEMA will stay in the fight. And I’m happy about that. But the next step is to get Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery money. The president’s administration has proposed an emergency supplemental funding bill, about $1.2 billion of which would go to Maui County. And now I have to fight to get it on to some must-pass piece of legislation, whether that’s a continuing resolution at the end of September or maybe a continuing resolution or a full appropriations bill in the December range.
And those dollars are specifically to provide resources for what they call unmet need. FEMA does a bunch of stuff, but they’re prohibited from doing certain things. And so any expenditure that the county makes that is not paid for by FEMA goes into this ledger called unmet need. And that’s how they arrived at the $1.2 billion. So, I got to go get that money. I am confident that Maui will eventually have that money. I am not at all confident about the timing of things.
read … The Civil Beat Editorial Board Interview: US Sen. Brian Schatz
HD29: No Mo Mizuno
Shapiro: … Ikaika Hussey, a civic-minded journalist and community advocate for family, energy and environmental issues who’s run several times for the Legislature and City Council in the Kalihi area, only to be big-footed by well-larded establishment candidates.
Hussey’s campaigns are distinguished by his willingness to do the grueling work of walking the district repeatedly, taking selfies with constituents he meets and posting them on his social media with their comments on issues.
It finally paid off in his underdog race in House District 29 (Kamehameha Heights, Kalihi Valley) against Rep. May Mizuno.
She was controversially appointed to the House by Green after the governor named her husband and longtime district representative, John Mizuno, to be state energy coordinator.
The deal rubbed many voters wrong on top of concerns about May Mizuno’s long service as her husband’s $70,000-a-year chief of staff, thanks to the Legislature’s lax nepotism rules….
read … David Shapiro: Incumbents not unbeatable against grit, right message
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