Puerto Rico US Rep to Introduce Jones Act Reform Bill
Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted July 1, 2013
As Pritzger Nomination Ratified, UNITE HERE, Hyatt Settle
Tourism: Record Visitors, Flat Spending Since 1989
Poll: Schatz 36%--Hanabusa 33%
CB: U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz has a narrow lead over U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa in the Democratic Senate primary, 36 percent to 33 percent, according to the latest Civil Beat Poll.
But with a 3.3 percent margin of error and nearly one-fourth of voters surveyed saying they are undecided, neither candidate has a clear advantage in a race that will be decided just over a year from now, on Aug. 9, 2014.
read ... Hanabusa is Toast
Projection Off by 70%: Tax Hike Falls Short by $273M
SA: ... Gov. Neil Abercrombie and state lawmakers ... in 2011 temporarily suspended general excise tax exemptions on nearly two dozen business activities.
The move was supposed to generate $173 million in fiscal year 2012 and $220 million in fiscal year 2013, the largest tax adjustment taken by the state during the recession.
But the state does not know how much money was actually generated. The state Department of Taxation, which had cautioned lawmakers that initial estimates were uncertain, puts the figures at $50 million for fiscal year 2012 and $70 million for fiscal year 2013.
Act 105, which expired with the fiscal year on Sunday, will go down as a lesson in the vagaries of tax policy proof of the Laffer Curve.
read ... Tax gains unclear from law shelving exemptions
Hawaii pension liability 133% of revenue
SA: Hawaii is among 10 states with public pension fund liabilities that are at least as large as their state's annual revenue.
The Hawaii Employees' Retirement System pension fund had a net liability — the difference between projected benefit payments and the assets set aside to cover those payments — of $10.9 billion in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2011. The liability was 132.5 percent of the state budget for that year, Moody's Investors Service reported.
Illinois had the largest liability at 241 percent of state revenue. Nebraska had the smallest at 6.8 percent. The median for the 50 states was 45.1 percent.
While it's been long known that Hawaii's pension fund assets are inadequate to meet future obligations for state and county retirees, the Moody's report illustrates the poor shape Hawaii is in compared with most other states.
Besides having the fifth-worst ranking liability as a percentage of state revenue, Hawaii ranked fourth worst for liability per capita of $7,923 and fifth worst for liability as a percentage of state gross domestic product at 16.3 percent.
The pension fund provides retirement, disability and survivor benefits to 113,282 active and retired state and county employees.
Moody's Report Text: Adjusted pension liability medians for US states
read ... Isle pension liability
DoE Prepares to Dump Successful Education Contactors, Will Create More Jobs for Dep't Bureaucrats Instead
CB: In an effort to improve the state's educational system, the Hawaii Department of Education is working to trade expensive management consultants for teams of specialists with specific knowledge of local schools.
But, with the new school year set to begin in early August, the district is still waiting on the data officials need to help them put in place the "Teams for School Improvement."
“We’re chomping at the bit to get started,” said DOE Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe.
Conclusions from that data won’t be available until July, he said.
Even then, Nozoe said, the upcoming school year is a “pre-implementation” phase, meaning that many consultant partnerships will stay intact just as they have in past years.
DoE: 'Fact Checks' Civil Beat on Digital Learning
read ... Plan for Future Failure
Crews begin clearing sidewalks as Bill 7 takes effect
HNN: A Hawaii News Now crew reports that sweeps have begun taking place along Kalakaua Avenue near the convention center.
DM: Mentally Ill Homeless Dude Steals Dump truck goes on Waikiki Rampage
read ... Throw the Bums Out
Carrot not Stick: Hilo Hospital Scores $3M Bonus for 2010 EMR System
HTH: As required by the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, hospitals and physicians must install computer systems that allow for faster and easier access to and maintenance of all medical information records by Jan. 1, 2015. If such systems are not put in place, healthcare providers risk penalties, including reductions in Medicare reimbursements — up to 1 percent the first year, 2 percent in 2016, 3 percent in 2017, 4 percent in 2018, and onwards each year, up to 95 percent, depending on future adjustments.
Dr. Robert D. Irvine, chairman of the East Hawaii Regional Board of Hawaii Health Systems Corp. says that Hilo Medical Center, Ka‘u Hospital and Hale Ho‘ola Hamakua “realized the importance and need for (electronic medical records) more than five years ago,” and the HealthConnect system was selected, installed and went live on May 1, 2010 — half a decade before the deadline.
Getting an early jump on the electronic medical records switchover has ended up benefiting East Hawaii providers by allowing them to earn early adopter incentives provided for by ObamaCare to the tune of almost $3 million.
read ... The Carrot, not the Stick
Mental health cuts just cost more later
SA: The next legislative session is more than half a year away, and already the in-box is starting to fill up. One of the jobs that should be near the top of the pile is the way mental health services are delivered.
Cuts that were made in the depths of the budgetary crisis have had ripple effects that, down the line, cause increased costs and avoidable patient distress. Given improvements in the state's economy and fiscal health, that needs to be readjusted now.
State health officials should be acknowledged for the efforts they're already making to reinforce the programs now. These gestures will need to be amplified through action by lawmakers holding the state's purse strings.
The problem was highlighted last week when the Hawaii Health Information Corp., a private nonprofit research service, released new figures showing statewide rising counts of emergency room visits, hospital admissions and charges related to mental illness.
The increases, tallied between 2009 and 2012, are more than substantial. Visits to the ER, which are known to generate higher costs than treatment in a non-emergency, clinical setting, jumped by one-fifth, to 13,666. Admissions to hospitals rose 14.3 percent. All of this adds up to a 30 percent increase in costs, from $76.1 million to a staggering $98.3 million.
Related: A New Moral Treatment: Humane institutionalization can help the mentally ill and protect society
read ... Mental Illness
Obama's Budget Cuts might jeopardize U.S. public defenders in the isles
SA: A third or more of the Hawaii federal public defender's staff might have to be laid off in coming months as a result of sequestration and other budget cuts, said Peter Wolff, the federal public defender for the District of Hawaii.
The office started fiscal 2013 with an approved $3 million budget but will end it with an 8 percent reduction, to $2.77 million, because of a former continuing resolution budget shortfall and sequestration.
Wolff's office expects to begin fiscal 2014 in October with $2.18 million — $595,000 less than 2013, a year that will include some 20 furlough days.
The public defender said he feels terrible that he expects to lay off "several" members of his staff, including some attorneys.
read ... Obama
Mainland Gays Push Hawaii 'Much Sooner than Later'
NBC: Hawaii: Fear that the Aloha State would become the first to allow gay marriage led Republicans to write the Defense of Marriage Act, which was signed by President Bill Clinton and stood from 1996 until the Supreme Court struck it down last week.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat, supports gay marriage, and bills to authorize it have been introduced in the state House and Senate. Hawaii has had civil unions since January 2012.
Advocates for gay marriage are pushing in Hawaii federal court, too. But Marty Rouse, national field director for the Human Rights Campaign, said he wouldn’t be surprised to see lawmakers act first — “much sooner than later.”
HNN: 'Rainbows' return as U.H. name change becomes official
read ... Target List for Conversion
KGI Continues to Print Wisdom Regarding GMOs
KGI: It has become clear Hawaii is the next battle ground for the anti-GMO industry. Having been involved in this area of science and public policy for over a decade, I recognize the all-too-familiar scare tactics in this campaign. The people who protest GMOs have genuine fear but the reasons for their fear are not real.
The science of genetic modification is complex and the average person, politician, activist and even journalist is not able to differentiate between the real science and the prolific pseudo-science that is designed, not to educate, but to generate fear. Here are a few opinions from world experts....
read ... Wisdom vs Hype
GovGuam debt exceeds $1B, Up 44% in 1 year
GPDN: The government of Guam and the taxpayers who support it are more than $1 billion in debt.
Its long-term debt rose 44-percent in fiscal 2012, to $1.08 billion, from $754 million in fiscal 2011, according to an independent audit performed by Deloitte & Touche LLC. The report was released by the governor's office on Sunday.
Two years ago, ratings agency Standard & Poor's gave the local government the worst possible score, of 4, in the category of "debt and liability" because of its high taxpayer-supported debt, according to Pacific Daily News files.
The debt at the time was $772 million.
Link: Guam Gov News Release, Audit Report
read ... Up 44%
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