McDermott: HGEA Contract Should be on Special Session Agenda
Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted October 21, 2013
Even Excluding Filipinos, Best Gay Marriage Can Come Up with is 44%
CB: Hawaii voters are split over making same-sex marriage legal in the islands, with 44 percent in support and 44 percent opposed....
When Civil Beat asked voters where they stood on the same issue in April 2012, a majority (51 percent) said they did not believe same-sex couples should have the legal right to get married. Just 37 percent felt that they did and 12 percent were undecided.....
Civil Beat surveyed 819 registered Hawaii voters Oct. 9-10, including cell phones and landlines. (Most respondents said they had both.) The margin of error was 3.4 percent....
Ethnically, 34 percent of those surveyed identified themselves as Caucasian and 34 percent said they were Japanese. Only 5 percent identified themselves as Filipino, though Filipinos comprise more than one-fourth of Hawaii's population... (And even excluding ethnic groups that are too intelligent to be fooled by gay marriage, they still couldn't find a majority.)
See who they left out? Koreans, Chinese, Filipinos Oppose Gay Marriage
read ... Still far from a Majority
Golojuch: The Ruling Class is Behind Me
HNN: Proponents of same-sex marriages say they have overwhelming support to make Hawaii the 15th state to legalize gay marriages while opponents say it will be a close call.
"It's not if we win -- It's how big we win," said Michael Golojuch, president of the GLBT Caucus of the Hawaii Democratic Party.
"We're on the right side of history on this. We have the Supreme Court behind us. We have the president behind us."
Golojuch is referred to the U.S. High Court's ruling this summer that gay couples deserve equal rights and benefits under federal law, which prompted Gov. Abercrombie to call next week's special session.
But opponents of same-sex marriages say there's still some resistance among state lawmakers and that the issue should be decided during the regular session of the Legislature.
"This can go either way. In the last 30 years, this issue has been decided by votes of 26 to 25 over and over. I see it that close," said former state Rep and U.S. Senate candidate Cam Cavasso, a longtime opponent of same-sex marriages.
Reality: Gays Attack Hawaiian Culture, ‘Multi-Generational Families’ Use Feds to Pressure Hawaii DoE Bullying Programs
read ... Bow Before your Rulers
Many Children Face Exclusion from Hawaii Kindergarten in 2014
CB: Diana is one of 5,000 or so children in Hawaii who will be affected by the state's decision to tighten the kindergarten admissions age requirement.
Junior kindergarten, which serves late-born 4-year-olds, is slated for elimination at the start of the next school year, as a result of a law passed by the 2012 Legislature.
From now on, children must turn five by July 31 — not December 31 — the year they start kindergarten.
The law that eliminated junior kindergarten, Act 178, was seen as legislation that would spur the development of a public preschool program.
read ... Creating a Crisis to Solve it
Governor's Office Says No Dice to Any Compromise on Travel Records
CB: His office just isn’t going to give up the records for little or no cost, and refuses to consider other ways to accommodate a public records request, according to Amy Luke, executive assistant to Abercrombie's chief of staff, Bruce Coppa.
This summer Civil Beat asked for Abercrombie’s travel records and related expenses from the time he took office Dec. 6, 2010, to June 15, 2013.
We wanted to know about his in-state and out-of-state trips, security detail, itineraries, why he was traveling and who was with him — basically, how taxpayers' money was spent.
Luke estimated it would take 6.5 hours just to find the records and 47 hours to then review and “segregate” them, which involves blacking out confidential information. Plus copying fees for 1,420 pages.
Total cost? $1,016
read ... No Compromise on Travel Records
Kauai County asking state for more tourism-related dollars
KGI: In the last three years, the County of Kauai was able to somewhat stabilize visitor-related expenses at around $44 million, while tourists dollars inside the county have been incrementally increasing. But does the county put out more than it takes in when it comes to playing host?
The short answer is yes.
The county still spends more than three dollars in visitor-related services and facilities to every dollar visitors pay toward the state Transient Accommodation Tax. The tax is a 9.25 percent surcharge on hotel rooms implemented to have tourism pay for itself.
In 2009, Kauai’s visitor industry rebounded from the crash of the economy and since then continues to grow annually — at a 5 percent rate in visitor arrivals and 10 percent in visitor spending, according to the county.
Proportionally, Kauai’s contribution to the TAT has also grown each year. It was $11.2 million in fiscal year 2010 and $13.48 million in FY 2012.
Yet since 2010, the counties’ share of the TAT has been capped at $93 million by state lawmakers. Kauai receives $13.7 million, or 14.5 percent, of the pot.
Council Chair Jay Furfaro said two weeks ago the expected amount to be collected statewide by the TAT this year is $352 million, representing a $98 million increase from 2011 TAT collection. If the state had not capped the counties’ share of the TAT three years ago, Kauai’s share would have grown to $16.3 million, according to Furfaro.
So the county could be losing out on money.
That’s why it is asking the state Legislature to double the counties’ share of the TAT, which means Kauai would receive $27.4 million.
read ... TAT on Agenda (Again)
UH to Fund Construction via Scam-Ridden EB-5 Program
SA: Donna Kiyosaki, UH-West Oahu's vice chancellor for administration, said there are other elements in the campus financial plan that are being developed. For example, she said, UH is pursuing the federal EB-5 Visa program, through which it took out an $18 million loan capitalized by Chinese investors. Under EB-5, wealthy investors receive visas in return. There is $17 million still remaining in that fund.
read ... Danger
Search for UH head put on fast track
SA: The University of Hawaii expects to hire an executive search firm by the end of the month to help recruit and vet candidates for its top job.
The Board of Regents last week approved allowing a presidential selection committee to directly contract a search firm to save time. Otherwise, a hiring decision wouldn't be made until the regents' next full meeting in late November.
"If we wait … chances are we won't be able to get a search firm on board until perhaps December, and we've just delayed the whole process for a significant amount of time," said regent Carl Carlson, who heads the selection committee.
A task group made up of regents will review proposals this week and make a recommendation to the selection committee at a meeting Oct. 30.
read ... Fast Track
Repairs stall out in another UH building
ILind: A contractor started work in 2011 to remove loose concrete and seal the exposed areas to prevent further structural damage.
The central courtyard on the bottom floor of the building was closed at the beginning of 2012 due to the danger of falling concrete as work proceeded on repairs to the balconies of upper floors.
At the beginning of 2013, four pieces of concrete broke off and fell to the ground between Saunders and the student services building next door, according to news reports. Luckily, no one was inured.
On the exterior of the building, loose concrete was removed to expose the steel rebar, which was then sealed against weather damage.
Then work apparently just stopped. The contractor packed up and left.
read ... Repairs stall out in another UH building
Dope Dealers plan ‘medical cannabis transfer station’
HTH: A medical marijuana group, the Alternative Pain Management Club of Hawaii, has cancelled a meeting it said was scheduled for today with County Prosecutor Mitch Roth, but a spokesman said the group plans to establish a “medical cannabis transfer station” — with or without the blessing of local law enforcement....
Roth said that at his last meeting with the group, “unfortunately, for them, I didn’t give them the answer that they wanted to hear.”
“My job is to enforce the laws that are on the books,” he said. “And they’re looking for loopholes. They’re looking for me to give them loopholes. And I can’t do that. My job isn’t to give them advice on how to find loopholes, it’s to enforce the laws. And the way the laws are right now, the scheme that they’re looking at does not seem legal.”
Ruggles was the lead plaintiff in a 2011 lawsuit against the county and police, claiming the 2008 voter initiative making adult personal use of pot the lowest law enforcement priority was being ignored by police and prosecutors. The case was dismissed by Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura, and the state’s Intermediate Court of Appeals declined to hear an appeal, saying it lacked jurisdiction.
read ... Dope Dealers
Fisheries group speaks out about tuna cuts in Hawaiian waters
RNZ: The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council says the United States should not accept a cut in the bigeye tuna limit for the Hawaii longline fishery.
The Council, which is authorized by the US Congress to manage fisheries in the state and territorial waters of the US Pacific Islands, says the Hawaii longline fishery operates several thousand miles from the equatorial Pacific, where nearly 90 percent of bigeye tuna fishing occurs.
read ... WESPAC
Regulatory woes complicate efforts to stop erosion
SA: The state is responsible for the beach up to the highest wash of the waves, and the counties are responsible for the land next to it. While the law and legal precedent describe where different responsibilities lie, uncertainty can remain, in part, because of the transitory nature of the shore.
Add in the different state, county and even federal agencies that may demand some form of regulatory input, and the effort required of homeowners to protect their property can be burdensome.
"It's a complicated regulatory structure," said Dolan Eversole, Sea Grant Coastal Storms Program coordinator with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Under times of emergency, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources takes the lead and works to expedite approvals for temporary protective measures. But the primary mission of the DLNR's Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands is to protect "coastal resources," not the structures being threatened, said Eversole, a former lead geologist with the coastal lands office.
It can be perplexing, he said, especially when homeowners want to put up a sea wall or other type of rock or concrete structure that can be detrimental to the beach in the long run.
The complexity of divided regulatory responsibility is underscored by what it takes to legally install a beach ladder, or a set of wooden beach stairs, which many oceanfront property owners use to access the shore.
Because the beach ladder typically starts on private properly and extends to the beach, government approvals are required from both city and state regulators, a process that can last anywhere from three months to a year, depending on different variables, said Chris Conger, a coastal geologist with Sea Engineering Inc.
"We like to encourage people to use beach stairs," Eversole said. "They prevent erosion."
But with so much hassle necessary to go through the regulatory process, it's no coincidence so many illegal beach ladders are found around the state, he said.
read ... Regulations
State proposes to change rules for commercial use of oceans
SA: The number of businesses is growing, and licensing instructors and operators overwhelms officials....
read ... More Regulations
Auto safety check rules await governor’s approval before Nov 1
SA: As of Friday the Electronic Periodic Vehicle Inspection Reporting Program still was pending approval by Gov. Neil Abercrombie.
If approval is given before Nov. 1, the new program will take effect on that date.
If not, “the launch of the updated vehicle inspection program will be delayed until his approval is received,” a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation said. “Nov. 1 is not a deadline for the governor, but rather, the recommended start date for the updated inspections.”
If the governor approves the changes after Nov. 1, a revised start date will be determined.
read ... Just 11 more days
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