Full Text: Abercrombie Releases Draft of Gay ‘Marriage’ Bill
HFF: “Special Session Unlikely”
Man Arrested for Alleged Threats Against Gabbard
Hawaii GE Tax "Broadest in the US"
Special Ed Victory: Court Finds Act 163 Violates Federal Law
$18.7 Million Released for State Facilities, Schools
Hawaii DOE gets failing grade for fiscal transparency
Hawaii Lumber Industry Sees Positive Future, Boost in Construction
Chaminade University: Four Year Guarantee Spurs Record Enrollment
Gay 'Marriage' Rally Ends in Shouting Match With Governor
SA: Gay rights advocates had hoped Abercrombie would use a “Move On to Equality” rally at the state Capitol celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech to announce a special session on gay marriage. After the governor concluded his remarks by explaining that more review of the draft was necessary, several gay rights activists shouted at him demanding a special session.
“Better to have this done thoroughly, have it done correctly, have it done where everybody feels they’ve been respected, than to rush something along because that suits somebody’s emotion of the moment,” Abercrombie told reporters.
read ... About a small Group of Angry White Men
Abercrombie: "I'm not going to consider a special session...."
AP: Abercrombie told reporters he would not rush a special session, or call one without lawmakers having a clear idea of what to do.
"I'm simply not going to consider a special session if it becomes something that gets dragged out and a recycling of previous history," he said. "The bill's there, we're going to make ourselves available."
He said his administration would let lawmakers digest the bill, and then discuss whether to have a special session.
According to an 18-page draft of the legislation released by Abercrombie's office, Hawaii would begin issuing licenses Oct. 3, with ceremonies allowed to begin Nov. 1....
On Wednesday, Abercrombie repeatedly used the phrase "if and when" when referring to the possibility of a special session, first at the end of his nearly 14-minute rally speech then repeatedly to reporters afterward.
As Abercrombie left the rally and headed toward an elevator, advocates at the rally chanted "special session."
GOPUSA: Wider exemptions sought for churches in Hawaii
KITV: Sources tell KITV4 House has 26 votes in favor of special session
read ... Defeated
Mainland Gays in a Frenzy
Hawaii's sales levy has a burdensome "pyramiding effect," a policy institute says
SA: Hawaii's statewide 4 percent GET, paired with an average 0.35 percent local tax rate, is the 46th lowest combined rate among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the Tax Foundation officials said in the semiannual report.
However, unlike most other states that charge a sales tax only when a consumer purchases merchandise from a retailer, Hawaii imposes the GET on a seller every time a good or service changes hands throughout the supply chain.
"Experts generally agree that Hawaii has the broadest sales tax in the United states, taxing many products multiple times," according to the report from the Washington, D.C.-based policy institute.
The resulting "pyramiding effect" adds to the cost of goods and services in Hawaii in a way that lacks transparency, said Scott Drenkard, a Tax Foundation economist.
"It's a process that consumers don't see. The GET is baked into the price of the product. It's better to have transparency so people know what they're paying in taxes," Drenkard said.
The Tax Foundation report cited a study by the publication State Tax Notes that estimated Hawaii's GET ultimately taxes 99.21 percent of the state's personal income. That compares with the national median where the sales tax based applies to 34.46 percent of personal income, according to the report.
"The general excise tax has the perverse outcome of forcing businesses to vertically integrate in a way that doesn't make sense," Drenkard said. "It's a disincentive to trading with other companies."
Report: Hawaii GE Tax "Broadest in the US"
read ... GE Tax
Visitor momentum down
SA: Total nominal expenditures fell a skosh to $1.3 billion in July partly because U.S. West visitors, the state's core market, only spent $145.5 per day which equated to 2.7 percent less per person than they did in July of 2012. Visitors from this market also cut their trips by .6 percent and spent 3.3 percent less per trip than they did the prior year.
The U.S. East, Hawaii's second largest visitor source market, also saw daily spending decline 4.5 percent to $190.9 per visitor. These visitors cut their length of stay by .8 percent and spent 5.2 percent less per trip then they did in July of 2012.
Likewise, a 2.9 percent drop in arrivals from Japan, the state’s largest international market, impacted spending. It didn't help Hawaii's performance that those who came from Japan
only spent $250.1 per day, which was 16.5 percent than they did a year ago. While visitors from Japan only cut their stays .2 percent from the prior year, these visitors spent 16.7 percent less per trip and 19.1 percent less overall.
Stronger growth from Canada and the other Asia visitor source market, which includes emerging markets like China, Korea, Taiwan, helped balance the market. However, on a per-trip basis, July spending fell from every market but Canada.
SA: Honolulu unemployment is among nation's lowest
read ... Visitor momentum down
Only Six Apply for Top SHPD Job
CB: Given the influential position, the benefits and the salary, you might expect an onslaught of applications. But top government officials say they are struggling to attract qualified applicants. The high-profile state agency plays a critical role in reviewing major development projects, including the $5.26 billion Honolulu rail project, and bears responsibility for protecting the state’s cultural and historic resources.
Despite that — and an aggressive search to fill the prominent position — only six job-seekers have applied, according to Esther Kiaaina, deputy director for the Department of Land and Natural Resources, which oversees SHPD. Four of the applicants are from out of state, Kiaaina told the Senate Committee on Water and Land during a hearing this week. And there is only one "top contender."
She summarized the sentiments of her colleagues: "We are troubled."
Meanwhile: Esther Kiaaina Front Runner for High-Level Interior Department Position
read ... SHPD: Help Wanted Now!
Public participation in $3 earmark for clean elections down 60%
ILind: The fund brought in $499,000 in 1992, but revenue dropped to less than $200,000 last year....
The decline in funding has left the Campaign Spending Commission strapped for resources, which threatens to reduce its ability to enforce the state’s campaign spending restrictions. It has also at least temporarily halted the Hawaii County program of public financing available to candidates for county council. By law, the public financing program is suspended if the balance in the Hawaii Election Campaign Fund falls below $3.5 million. At last count, it has fallen below $3 million....
read ... "Clean'
Honolulu Councilmember wants Board of Water Supply audit
KHON: Honolulu Councilmember Ron Menor has introduced Resolution 13-201, which calls on the City Auditor to conduct a comprehensive management and performance audit of the Board of Water Supply (BWS).
The BWS has been heavily criticized since it switched from a bi-monthly to a once a month billing system earlier this year. The new billing system resulted in confusion and frustration for many water users.
Concerns have also been raised about the effectiveness and efficiency of the Board’s operations. In addition, councilmembers have received complaints from constituents about the long delays that they have been encountering when they have called BWS Customer Service for answers to their questions.
The last BWS audit, conducted in 2006, questioned the inability of the BWS to adequately devote resources to growing maintenance and repair needs while awarding bonuses and salary increases to BWS executives
read ... Audit
Why Pay $125M? Hawaii County Offered Free Waste-to-Energy Incinerator
WHT: Unlike five years ago, when Hawaii County almost got on the hook to buy a $125 million waste-to-energy incinerator with taxpayer money, garbage technology companies today are paying for their own facilities and assuming the risk of selling the resulting product, the county Waste Management Commission learned Wednesday.
The commission heard from Kyle Ginoza, environmental management director for Maui County, who recently selected a company to process Maui County garbage....
The Hawaii County Council, however, is worried that relying on incineration, or other large-scale plant, could hurt the county’s recycling efforts, especially in creating mulch and compost from green waste.
The council, meeting as the Environmental Management Committee, last month unanimously passed the nonbinding Resolution 123, “strongly urging” the mayor not to limit the county solely to waste-to-energy options, but to consider all alternatives, with an emphasis on composting and mulching, as well as increased personal responsibility to reduce, reuse and recycle. (Translation: They get lots of campaign contributions from the recycling contractors.)
Ginoza said the contractor on his island won’t have to build the approximately $80 million to $100 million project if it can’t get a market for the product beforehand. Negotiations with Maui Electric Co., a sister company to Hawaii Electric Light Co. on the Big Island, have so far been unsuccessful.....
Maui, however, has a luxury Hawaii County, facing the closure of the Hilo landfill within 10 years, doesn’t have. By lining and filling quarries as they’re mined for blue rock, Maui County has an almost limitless supply of landfill space.
read ... Saving $125M an they Still don't want it
Smaller Group of County Bureaucrats Grab for Pay Hikes
WHT: The number of Hawaii County administrators who would receive pay raises has been cut by about half under a new plan before the county’s Salary Commission.
The plan, introduced at the commission’s Wednesday meeting, would provide raises for 13 department heads and deputies rather than 25 as previously proposed.
The raises would range between 9 and 13.5 percent.
The plan, which wasn’t acted on, would cost the county an additional $149,496 a year.
That’s down from $224,646 under the proposal withdrawn by the commission in April after some members of the public spoke against it. Finance Director Nancy Crawford had also expressed concern over the cost.
read ... New County Motto: "Greed is Good"
Bill would target off duty officers who drink and carry weapons
KHON: "The smart law enforcement officer who's carrying a gun shouldn't be drinking period," Sen. Will Espero said.
He plans to write that into a bill next session. The idea for legislation comes after speculation that Christopher Deedy was drunk when he shot Kollin Elderts.
Espero wants it illegal for off-duty law enforcers to carry a gun when they drink alcohol. Former prosecutor Peter Carlisle agrees....
read ... Deedy Bill
Ex-cop gets a year in ‘South Park’ case
KGI: Bonachita, who pleaded no contest to the amended charges in May, said he had no recollection of the events that transpired during the early morning hours of July 1, 2009.
According to police interviews, he entered Parker’s Kapaa residence and appeared at his bedroom door holding a knife. Parker’s friend and Bonachita’s ex-girlfriend, Lauren Kagawa, was at Parker’s home at the time of the break-in and yelled at Bonachita until he left.
Bonachita recalled waking up at a friend’s home in Koloa. His daughter called him to say the police were looking for him and he agreed to meet officers at a Koloa gas station.
At the time of his arrest, about two hours after the incident occurred, police found knives, firearms and ammunition inside his vehicle.....
Defense attorney Michael Soong said Bonachita stopped drinking three years and three months ago....
Kagawa was found dead in her driveway from a combination of prescription medication and alcohol on Aug. 17, 2009. Police ruled out foul play but were not able to identify who drove her home that night....
2010: KPD closes case of Lauren Kagawa
read ... Ex-cop gets a year in ‘South Park’ case
NBC Dateline Follows Puna Murder
NBC: But before any of that could happen, Brittany turned up dead. As for Bo, he has disappeared. Julie Royal believes finding Bo is the key to figuring out what happened.
Bo’s sister Sarah says her family wants to find him too. They do not believe he is a killer. They say he was happy about the baby and he never would have harmed Brittany. They believe Bo might also be a victim of whoever killed Brittany.
HTH: Kalapana murder featured on ‘Dateline’ website
read ... The Mystery of Bo and Brittany
Residents Inundated by Turtle-Worshippers Hope Turtles Go Away
Oi: Crowding is Laniakea’s problem. Too many people have been let in on the secret of turtle sightings.
Rental cars and tour buses jam shoulders and the empty spaces on the mauka side of the two-lane Kamehameha Highway. To get to the beach, they have to cross the road, creating dangerous situations and slowing through traffic to a crawl.
The state, in its inimitable snail-paced and convoluted way, has been studying the problem for years and years. Its solution is to eliminate parking in the area.
That’s not going over well. Tourism interests cite the loss of revenue; residents and beach-users, the loss of access.
Some suggest moving the highway inland or putting in an entrance and exit for a large vacant lot, but those proposals would involve the city and private landowners.
The turtles don’t appear to be greatly harmed or bothered by their human stalkers, thanks to volunteers who protect them, but someday, they may choose to go elsewhere and the problem will leave with them.
For the time being, however, doing nothing to alleviate people-vehicle mess invites trouble. And if banning parking is the only workable solution, then officials should do it.
read ... Need a Turtle Soup Recipe?
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