Energy

Judge Browning’s assignment is effective March 4, 2011. He will succeed Judge Sabrina McKenna, who will be sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court on March 3 at 4:15 p.m. in the Supreme Court Courtroom.

The rating agency, which used data from 2009, said there was cause for near-term concern about “a number of” pension plans and pointed to the “considerable pressure that these obligations will place on many government budgets”. The greatest risk would come at the local level since labour-related costs were a higher percentage of local government budgets, Fitch said.

Our legislators have been busy this session introducing many bills that ban unusual items, or impose taxes, fees, restrictions and mandates on specific product choices for the people of Hawaii.

On February 11, the Hawaii State House voted 31-19 in favor of SB232 Civil Unions.  But the result was a lot closer than it would seem. If the following seven races had been won by civil unions opponents, and all other State Reps voted as they did in the House on February 11, SB232 Civil Unions would have failed in the House by a vote of 25-26....

Please contact your state Representative and urge him or her to OPPOSE HB 441 and HB 834.

"Colleen Hanabusa and Mazie Hirono are simply two of the most ineffective members of congress in our nation today.  Not only did the two of them fail to stop an amendment eliminating federal funding of the East West Center, even worse, the two of them didn't even bother to show up for work and defend the center on the House floor during debate."

Mitsunaga and Assoc. gave $30,000 to fund Abercrombie’s Inaugural Ball—the top donor.

Oakland, CA voters testify against so-called "Instant Runoff" system now being proposed for Honolulu.

HB1346: Requires new televisions manufactured on or after 7/1/12, with a viewable screen area of 1,400 square inches or less and sold in the State to meet ENERGY STAR efficiency specifications.

The Hawaii State Senate today passed SB 232 as amended by the House.  The bill creates a new family structure called ‘civil unions’ which will be treated as equivalent to marriage.

Lambda Legal and the ACLU filed a lawsuit in July, 2010 after then-Governor Linda Lingle vetoed HB 444, the previous civil unions bill.  The remedy requested in that suit will be provided by this bill, meaning there will be no need for the lawsuit to continue.

How long have I been telling you that the revenues to pay for government are inadequate to pay the cost of government?

It has been at least ten years. Ten years, I think. In that time, the economy has gone down, up, and down—but each down has been deeper and has taken a toll, and each up has not been enough to restore funding levels…as a result government has suffered… It is now a Potemkin Village — a shabby Potemkin Village.

The arguments surrounding this emotionally charged issue are varied and complex. Cutting through the rhetoric and euphemisms brings clarity to this issue both from an ethical and moral perspective. It is with this in mind that Hawaii Right to Life has partnered with KALO-TV, channel 38 (cable 25) to broadcast Death as a Salesman: what's wrong with assisted suicide ...

• House: Patriot Act Extensions
• House: United Nations Tax Equalization Refund Act

• Representative Barbara Marumoto addresses concerns on HB1225, which would allow bingo. 
• Rep. Gene Ward addresses Civil Unions on Chamber Floor
• Reps. Riviere and Ward on Tax Credits HB566

"As soon as the governor signs the final bill, Hawaii should move swiftly to finish the job by ending exclusion from marriage itself..." --Evan Wolfson, co-counsel in 1993 gay marriage case, Baehr v. Miike

Just two months into his term, Neil Abercrombie has led Hawaii politics into chaos.  From the White House to Honolulu Hale, progressive Democrats are duking it out with the old boys. 

 "A study of 11 other state education lotteries showed that states are likely to decrease their growth of spending for education upon operating a lottery designated for that purpose."

"This decrease occurs regardless of the revenue generated by the lottery," Sanders added. "Meanwhile, states without lotteries maintained and increased their education spending more than states with lotteries."

"I'll tell you this: We vetted him as carefully as anybody could be vetted and looked into his background, his family, his relationships," said John Radcliffe, a lobbyist who was part of the transition team that reviewed Abercrombie's Cabinet picks.

Labor-Trafficking bill is SB960 with its identical House Companion HB577

Sex-Trafficking bill is SB959 with its identical House Companion HB576

"We already knew that bag taxes are an annoying levy that provide no environmental benefit; now we also know that they are an economically destructive job killer thanks to this new report. Unfortunately it is also D.C.'s poorest communities that are hit hardest by the bag tax," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

  Legislators say this is illegal!

Multiple renewable energy projects are in rapid development on every island, and plans include $multi-billion inter-island undersea transmission cables.

But if this is all supposed to feel so good, how come our electricity costs are going up up up and it feels so bad?

The committee(s) on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs has rescheduled its public hearing to Saturday, 2-12-2011 at 10 a.m. in conference room 229.

• WHAT: Legislative Townhall Meeting 
• WHERE: Haha‘ione Elementary School Cafeteria
• WHEN: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.  

Today, SB 232 HD1, Relating to Civil Unions, passed the House by a vote of 31-19 (with one excused - Rep. Cabanilla).   That means that the bill will now go back to the Senate for reconsideration.  It is expected that the Senate may accept the changes made by the House Judiciary.  If that happens, the bill could end up on Governor Abercrombie’s desk for signature as early as next week.  The Governor has publicly stated he would sign the bill.

AAP’s Freedom to Read director Judy Platt said: “The approach taken by this legislation would have a profound and unacceptable chilling effect not only on AAP members who publish travel guides, but on the robust free marketplace of ideas that the First Amendment is intended to protect. The courts have simply not allowed this to happen, and the Hawaii legislature needs to be reminded of that.”

The Senate Committee on Health heard testimony this week on a beverage tax and Senators heard loud and clear that beverage taxes are not popular.  This Monday, the Committee will vote on one beverage tax proposal. Then on Wednesday, they will hold a hearing on another proposal that would tax beverages.

the commission drew new maps that eliminated most of the canoe districts. The end result was that Hawaii had the largest population deviations in the country. The deviations hit 38.9 percent for the Senate....

If SB 232 SD1 HD1 (civil unions) passes the House, it will then go over to the Senate and they will have to agree to the changes. If they do not agree, the bill will go to a conference committee with members from both chambers so they can work out their differences. What you may not know, is only members who VOTED IN SUPPORT SB 232 can be appointed to the conference committee. In conference committee, no input from the public is accepted.

If the Senate agrees to the amendments, the bill could go straight to the Governor who has publicly stated he would sign the bill.

HONOLULU – The Regents Candidate Advisory Council (RCAC) has presented a list of candidates to Gov. Neil Abercrombie to fill four seats on the University of Hawai’i Board of Regents, including two City and County of Honolulu seats, a Hawai’i County seat and a Maui County seat.

According to Senate Bill 1425, relating to banning the acceptance of solid waste in landfills, no landfill in a county with a population greater than or less than 500,000 residents, will be allowed to accept deliveries of municipal solid waste - beginning  July 1, 2012, for Honolulu, and for the smaller counties, a date to be determined by their councils.

HB12, a bill introduced by State Representative Cynthia Thielen (R, 50^th District) which establishes monetary restitution to property owners who have been victimized by plant thefts, will be heard by the House Committee on Agriculture this Friday, Feb. 11, at 9 a.m. in Conference Room 312 at the State Capitol. 

The House Republican caucus has led the effort to keep invocations a part of the daily legislative sessions in the Hawai`i State House following the ending of the practice in the State Senate.

In November 2010, Hawai‘i voters approved a Constitutional Amendment that gives the Governor the authority to appoint members of the BOE. Governor Abercrombie is encouraged that the State Legislature has been moving expeditiously to establish the appointment process for BOE members. When that legislative process is complete, Governor Abercrombie intends to name Horner among his first appointments.

 First, it usurps rights that belong to parents, not the state. Parents get to choose what kind of toys their play with -- A. B, there's no evidence at all that the sale or use of toy guns by children leads to gun violence in later life. There's no study that affirms this. There's no longitudinal effort to look into this at all. This is clearly legislators acting out of their own unproved neuroses.

Three, the law completely overreaches. The Hawaii statute specifically calls for jail time for people who violate it.

This session, 3 bills introduced by Republicans and Democrats, are seeking to not count blank votes, over votes or spoiled votes when it comes to the outcome of proposed amendments to the Hawaii constitution.

The civil unions bill (SB 232) was passed in the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of 11 (yes) to 2 (no) while 3 were excused.

Honolulu – Governor Neil Abercrombie today announced appointments for the following positions:  Chief Negotiator, Department of Human Resources Development (DHRD) Deputy Director, and Director of the Office of Environmental Quality Control.

Pro-gay-marriage Senator Gary Hooser (D-Kauai), speaking on the Senate floor March 25, 2009 said:

“…it may very well be likely that this law would be challenged in court….”

• Bills to Decongest Traffic
• Bills to Cut Taxes & Make Government More Responsive to the People
• Bills to Solve Problems within Homeowner Associations
• Bills to Stop Elder Abuse
• Bills to Solve Problems for Our Schools

House Judiciary Committee Feb 1 acted on over a dozen election-related bills....

Steinmetz said: “This is the most outrageous comment eTN has ever received from a public official in our more than 10 years of being in business.

The Hill: Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) has said he will soon distribute to senators his definition of what he considers an earmark....

“The new pork mechanisms will depend on how Inouye has decided to define pork/earmarks,” Wheeler said. “The loopholes will be there; he and his staff know how to make them. Once the ‘definition’ is set, the workarounds will only be limited by the human imagination.”

After Senator Josh Green stated that public sentiment was overwhelmingly opposed to the issue, he made a motion to hold the bill in committee.

Former Rep. Charles Djou (R-Hawaii) all but swore off elective politics in his recent farewell address, but the former congressman recently penned an article that is sure to ignite speculation among the state's political observers over whether a 2012 bid against Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) is in the offing.

Health Care Repeal - Vote Rejected (47-51, 2 Not Voting)