Cayetano: Legislature Needs to Reform Hawaii Collective Bargaining Law
CB: One reason may be that the binding arbitration law is flawed and skewed against the counties and the state. The flaw may be seen in the chairman of the arbitration panel’s statement:
“Angelo dismissed this argument, saying he had “no authority or any inclination to adjust relationships with other labor unions” and that “the remedy for the perceived problem, if any, should be addressed during those parties next foray into the collective bargaining process.”
Arbitrator Angelo's statement reveals why the binding arbitration law puts the city or state at a disadvantage: the arbitrators have the authority to address only the contract before them and nothing else. Whereas the mayors’ or governor’s negotiating strategy must take into account the impact of any single contract on all union contracts as a whole.
Thus, in the SHOPO case it is no surprise that the arbitrators found the city could afford the pay raises for our police officers. Viewed in isolation, the city or state is able to fund almost any contract. As one arbitrator said in a past case – the state can “raise taxes.”
Background: How Hawaii Counties Enabled SHOPO Contract
read ... Reform?
Delta Airlines and the $100 Million Costs of Obamacare
RS: According to Delta, in 2014 Obamacare will cost the company at least $38 million in direct costs and that is only the beginning. With added medical inflation, Delta claims “the cost of providing health care to our employees will increase by nearly $100,000,000 next year.” A $100 million increase thanks in large part to Obamacare and ancillary cost increases derived therefrom.
Full Text of Letter: Delta Airlines expects Obamacare will directly and indirectly cost it $100 million in 2014.
read ... Squeezing Tourism
Will the Changing Energy Landscape Spark Biofuel Buyer's Remorse?
CB: The promise of biofuels was that they would deliver a locally produced, renewable fuel source. The question is increasingly: at what cost?
As Hawaiian Electric Co. has committed in recent weeks to drive down electricity rates that are three times the national average, there are signs that biofuels may not be able to compete with other energy sources. Yet, the utility could be locked into long-term commitments to buy the fuel at a fixed cost.
What would this mean to consumers? “If electricity prices fall, I suspect we are going to get stuck,” said Robert Rapier, an energy expert and executive at renewable energy company, Merica International. By that, he means stuck paying for fuel that carries a significant premium.
HECO has signed four contracts with local biofuel companies in recent years. Three are being scrutinized by state regulators, and the fourth, for algae biofuel, seems to have stalled.
read ... Remorse
Farmers to Anti-GMO Protesters: 'Find a New Religion'
FFC: Agriculture is not a religion but its always been deeply rooted in culture and religion. NOW we have become a NEW religion and we’re evil and of course we need a devil, that would be Monsanto in their eyes. We’re not advocating for Monsanto we’re advocating for agriculture in HAWAII. “We are NOT Ground Zero for anything but activism” What better place for earth justice, the sierra club and all the others to send their warriors and fund unscrupulous tactics…
Find a new religion because agriculture, farmers and ranchers we’re the toughest bunch you will ever meet and we’re not going silently!
read ... Is Hawaii, Paradise being Poisoned?
Candidates’ fundraising during first six months of 2013
ILind: Here are the top 15 in terms of money raised during the period, all incumbents.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie and Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell were in a league of their own, well above Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui, who ranked #3.
Abercrombie and Caldwell combined to raise 53 percent of the total.
The full list of all 102 candidates who reported receiving contributions during the first six months of 2013 can be found here.
read ... Bought & Paid For
Inouye Memorial to Set PSF Record
SA: The proposed University of Hawaii center that will house the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye's congressional papers is projected to come with a hefty price tag.
The estimated cost already has reached $25 million, up as much as 56 percent since June, according to UH documents. (He is being memorialized as he governed.)
And if the proposed Daniel K. Inouye Center is built for anywhere close to the preliminary estimate, it could become the priciest new building — on a per-square-footage basis — that UH has pursued in years.
The project's anticipated construction cost on a square-foot basis would significantly exceed the tab of three of four mainland facilities the university cites as similar projects and potentially even the fourth, a complex honoring the late Sen. Edward Kennedy under construction in Boston.
Not even UH's new $104 million cancer center — a biomedical facility with high-tech lab space, advanced ventilation systems and other specialized features — approaches the per-square-foot price being projected for the Inouye building.
The 150,000-square-foot cancer research complex in Kakaako, which opened earlier this year, was built for roughly $687 per square foot, according to an analysis of UH figures.
If the proposed 15,000- to 20,000-square-foot Inouye center hits UH's estimated construction price of $25 million, the square-foot tab would total $1,250 to $1,667.
The $25 million estimate, disclosed in a July 24 UH document discussed at a Board of Regents meeting Thursday, was 25 percent to 56 percent higher than the $16 million to $20 million range the university identified in a June 3 solicitation letter to design firms.
read ... A Fitting Memorial
Overhaul of state building due for completion in 2016
SA: There have been many plans to renovate and reopen the state-owned building since it was vacated by the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs 10 years ago.
If all goes according to current plans, employees of the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services will move into the building in 2016.
The Department of Accounting and General Services hopes to begin work on the $32.9 million project by August 2014 and complete it by February 2016, said spokesman R.J. Yahiku.
Work will include removing asbestos, repairing electrical and plumbing systems, repairing infrastructure and following energy and design standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council.
When we first asked about the vacant building in 2003, we were told it needed to be gutted and rebuilt.
In 2007, $14 million finally had been set aside for repairs. However, that sum turned out to be far short of what was needed because the condition of the building was far worse than initially thought. (See is.gd/1DuuuC.)
read ... 2016?
Language a barrier for tests at Hawaiian charter school
SA: A Big Island charter school that educates students in the Hawaiian language claims the state Department of Education's recently released rankings unfairly imply the school is failing.
Nawahiokalaniopuu Iki, known as Nawahi for short, scored 20 out of a possible 400 in the state's new performance system, which measures schools on multiple factors, including chronic absenteeism and science proficiency.
Principal Kauanoe Kamana blames the low score on a lack of appropriate Hawaiian-language tests, which has led the majority of parents at her school to boycott the state's assessments.
read ... Language
Obama's Big Mouth Helps Two Pearl Harbor Alleged Rapists
SA: A Navy judge at Pearl Harbor who found that a comment by President Barack Obama about sexual assaults in the military could illegally influence two trials is being given the chance to reconsider his decision after the secretary of defense issued a memorandum on the matter.
The trial issues — related to a statement by Obama, the commander in chief, that sexual assault perpetrators should be "dishonorably discharged, period" — pertain to a defense raised in the Hawaii cases that Obama's statement potentially amounts to "unlawful command influence."
The defense has been used in a spate of military cases nationwide involving the comment by Obama and similar ones by other senior military leaders.
read ... Military clarifies justice standard
Theft case against former HPD officer dismissed
SA: Federal prosecutors have dismissed a case against a former Honolulu Police Department officer arrested on charges that he stole U.S. government property from a Drug Enforcement Administration agent's vehicle.
The dismissal order for Christopher Carlson was filed last week....The order is filed without prejudice, allowing prosecutors to pursue charges in the future.
Carlson was arrested in June after a DEA special agent said in a criminal complaint filed in court that he noticed his official government vehicle was burglarized and stolen items included a bulletproof vest with DEA patches, a police emergency visor light, binoculars and a DEA dashboard placard. The agent said he learned from a confidential source that the stolen items were at the Pearl City home of a former Honolulu policeman.
Items including two bulletproof vests, DEA patches and a DEA dashboard placard were found during a search of Carlson's home.
Carlson was a 15-year veteran of the HPD who resigned after a 2008 conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol.
read ... Dismissed
Bill 51 & 52: Pawn shop plan needs tweaking
SA: "We believe that pawnshops are places where the criminal element are able to sell a lot of their stolen goods," said Maj. Richard Robinson, head of the department's criminal investigations division.
As a result, pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers are required to provide the HPD with detailed records of each transaction, including the seller or customer's name, address, age and driver's license number or equivalent.
For purposes of a criminal investigation, however, the system is slow, antiquated and ill-suited to the quickness with which stolen goods get fenced. Each week, the businesses submit transaction records on handwritten transaction slips, about 12,000 per month. The police wade through them when they can. Under this system, a two-detective pawnshop detail established in August 2011 has recovered more than $64,000 worth of items, Robinson said.
In this day and age, a system relying on handwritten notes won't do. Two bills before the Honolulu City Council, Bills 51 and 52, attempt to correct the problem by replacing the handwritten slips with an electronic database.
read ... Tweaking
Kauai County Council to finally consider regulation of lobbyists
ILind: This week, the Kauai County Council will take the first step towards correcting the decades-long oversight. From the council’s agenda for Wednesday, August 28:
Communication (08/20/2013) from Council Chair Furfaro, transmitting for Council consideration, a Bill for an Ordinance to Amend the Kaua’i County Code 1987, as amended, by Adding a New Article to Chapter 4, relating to the Registration and Regulation of Lobbyists. (See Proposed Draft Bill (No. 2497))
You can find the text of the draft measure using the council’s document system.
read ... Kauai County Council to finally consider regulation of lobbyists
Battle brewing at old news site
SA: Preservationists say housing must not replace the historic Advertiser building....
read ... Battle
Funding Nonprofits: Who gets funded and why
DN: Panelists: Ann Kobayashi, City Council Member, Pam Witty-Oakland, Honolulu C&C Community Services Director, Lisa Maruyama, Executive Director, HANO (Hawaii Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations
read ... Funding Nonprofits: Who gets funded and why—Monday 8/26 lunchtime program
Hawaii jumps to second place in Ernst & Young rankings of U.S. state solar markets
SS: Ernst & Young (London) has moved Hawaii to second place among U.S. states in its assessment of the state's long-term solar market outlook. The state now follows only California in the company's August 2013 “United States renewable energy attractiveness indices”.
Hawaii also earned second place in the “all renewables” category, up from seventh place. Ernst & Young notes that Hawaii currently gets a larger percentage of its electricity from solar than any other state, as part of its goal to reach 40% renewable energy by 2030.
Hawaii installed 109 MW of solar photovoltaics (PV) in 2012, as the seventh-largest state market. The state was third in volume of new residential PV, despite is population of only 1.39 million. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA, Washington D.C.) reports that Hawaii could become the nation's second largest residential PV market in 2013.
read ... Solar
Schatz' Father Knew About Syphilis Study, Did Not Go Public
CB: Dr. Irwin Schatz was working as a cardiologist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit when he came across a report in a medical journal that shocked him. The year was 1965, seven years before his son, the future Sen. Brian Schatz, was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Since 1932, the U.S. Public Health Service had been funding a study on what happens to African-Americans if they are not treated for syphilis. They were not treated even after drugs like penicillin were widely accessible.
Dr. Schatz wrote the researchers to complain, explained Susan Reverby, a historian at Wellesley College, who has written two books about the Tueskegee Study. "He reads the report, and says, 'What they hell are you doing,' basically."
(He wrote to the criminals and complained to them. He never did anything else. Then, seven years later, AP did something.)
In 1972, an Associated Press story sparked enough public outrage to finally put an end to the 40-year-old study.
read ... Do nothing, make your son a hero
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