Report: Chinese Spy Ship Operating Near Hawaii
Obamacare Website Mess: 2010 Hawaii Audit Should Have Been ‘Red Flag’
Two More Sovereignty Activists Convicted of Felony Mortgage Fraud
HECO Solar Project Pays More Wholesale than Mainland Retail Rates
Special Session: How to Testify
Hawaii Christian Coalition: 26 House Reps Who Plan to Vote for Gay Marriage
State workers told accessing office email from “personal devices” is strictly prohibited
ILind: The policy change appears to be driven by two concerns. First, apparently any outside access to the state data network is thought to increase the risk of outside “computer attacks.” A second significant factor is fear of “electronic discovery,” or ediscovery, where internal documents are required to be disclosed to parties involved in civil lawsuits with the state. If emails are read or downloaded onto personal phones or computers, those devices can be searched for documents relevant to the litigation, making disclosure more likely, an idea that apparently strikes fear in the hearts of state administrators and lawyers.
One recent embarrassing example occurred in 2012, when emails and other correspondence were made public which suggested the office of the late Sen. Dan Inouye put political pressure on a state hearing officer presiding over a contested case involving the University of Hawaii’s push for a new solar telescope on Haleakala.
read ... State workers told accessing office email from “personal devices” is strictly prohibited
Law Prof: Gay Marriage Bill Unconstitutional
KHON: But before the fireworks begin on Monday during a special session to take up the issue, several House lawmakers formed a panel to hear from those against a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in the state.
"The bill before the legislature would re-define marriage in a very significant way. I think it could be unconstitutional and bad policy in several regards," BYU Law School Professor Lynn Wardle said....
"Joe Souki said they have 30 votes, they don't have 30 votes based on my count it's a 1-2 vote swing at this point," said Rep. Bob McDermott, Ewa Beach (R).
This bill does list an exemption, that says religious groups don't have to perform same-sex weddings. But if they charge other couples to use their facilities for weddings, that's a different story.
"And if you're not willing to lend your time, talent or business to that idea then you are going to be labeled a bigot, deserving of punishment under the processes of the state," says Byron Babione, Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel.
That's where lawmakers agree is the sticking point.
"You have a colliding of the first amendment freedom of religious expression and this newly created civil right are colliding and where does it stop," McDermott said.
read ... Unconstitutional
October Complete Poll Results
CB: Civil Beat surveyed a random sample of 819 registered Hawaii voters on Oct. 9-10, using interactive voice response technology (touch-tone polling)....
For the poll on the U.S. Senate race, Civil Beat surveyed 549 registered Hawaii voters who said they will vote Democrat in the primary. The poll has a 4.2 percent margin of error. For the poll on rail, we surveyed 540 Oahu voters; the margin of error is plus or minus 4.2 percent....
PDF: Full cross tabs October 2013
read ... Poll Results
DOE executives miserable working without A/C
HNN: As students across the state are forced to sweat it out in hot classrooms some school leaders can't take the heat, literally. We've learned that some Department of Education employees went home when their air conditioning didn't work recently.
On September 26 public school students wanted to send a message that it is tough to work in hot sticky classrooms so they protested at the state capitol. Perhaps fate was on their side because that same day the air conditioning at the Queen Liliuokalani building broke. That happens to be where Department of Education executives work.
They needed to order the replacement part from the mainland. And for a week and a half sources say DOE employees were miserable. They were complaining about headaches, nausea and asthma. They were given the okay to dress more casual, encouraged to take more breaks and some left work early.
read ... Turnabout is Fair Play
Teacher Burned out by Yet Another Curriculum Change
CB: Instead, I’m afraid that my relatively brief, intensely impassioned love affair with the teaching profession is nearing its end, as the newly-acquired, newly-required SpringBoard curriculum has become the proverbial straw atop this educator’s back.
In the past several years, I have truly come to love my profession as I have always loved my students, a gradual shift propelled by my discovery and implementation of a Hawaii-grown, “gently” Socratic pedagogy known as Philosophy for Children with my middle-level students.
In my inquiry-based classroom, tears were frequently shed, societal injustices named and deconstructed as my students and I created and maintained a safe space to connect our lived experiences to literary texts.
read ... Churn = Contracts
Counties Again Seek 'Relief' From Open Meeting Mandates ILind: In what has become almost a fall tradition, the Hawaii State Association of Counties — made up of the four county councils — is again flirting with asking the Legislature for a new exemption from the state’s Sunshine Law.
The anti-sunshine proposal has been moving without much public notice, and is already well on its way to getting unified county support.
Proposals of this kind have come from HSAC regularly in the past, and the idea is recycled almost annually as HSAC considers its collective agenda for the next legislative session.
This year, the initial proposal would totally exempt the county councils from the Sunshine Law by simply excluding the councils from the definition of public agencies required to follow open meeting requirements.
read ... Sunshine Law
80% of Circuits Does not Equal 80% of Customers
CB: So how many potential solar customers could be facing extra costs or delays? Rosegg said the utility can't say.
He is sticking with Seu's 80 percent figure and says it is accurate.
"Scott did not say that all circuits are 'equal,' nor would anyone familiar with the grid believe them to be," he wrote. "As I think you know, every circuit is different. Some are entirely residential, some entirely commercial, some a mix of the two in different percentages. Sizes and configurations and equipment already in place vary as well."
But HECO's map shows that it's likely that significantly more than 20 percent of customers in residential areas will affected.
Bottom line: While it may be technically true that 80 percent of HECO's total circuits are below the threshold that triggers studies and grid upgrades, Seu's statement is misleading. HECO's own map shows that large areas where solar is practical are already hitting HECO's new circuit threshold
read ... Short Circuit
Electricians Grab for Solar Work?
SBH News: More on Solar. After our story last week on HECO and PV solar, this message was received from a reader:
"Aloha, I wanted to let you know that the Board of Electricians and Plumbers held a meeting on Oct 15 to determine whether all solar PV installation can only be done by C-13 journey worker electricians rather than C-60 solar installers. PV testifiers showed that technology has evolved and now you can basically plug panels in like a refrigerator. Hook up to circuit box is still done by C-13. An unnecessary change in rules will impact the entire solar and construction industry in general, cost many people their jobs, and significantly increase costs to consumers. Decision deferred to Nov. 5 meeting. There was no media in attendance but thought this is media worthy. Thanks."
I think so, too. Mahalo for keeping us informed.
read ... Job Grab?
County may raise waste tipping fees 540%
HTH: Faced with an almost 300 percent increase proposed in state surcharges on landfill operations, Hawaii County may have to raise tipping fees for commercial garbage haulers, a price hike likely to be passed on to consumers.
The surcharge, currently 25 cents to 35 cents a ton, could rise to as much as $1.35 a ton under a bill that has so far seen little traction in the state Legislature. (540% of 0.25 = $1.35)
The state surcharge, which is used to pay for the state Department of Health’s monitoring of solid waste operations, is one aspect of an increasing rise in costs, leading county Environmental Management Director Bobby Jean Leithead Todd to consider whether the county would be better off adding a cost factor, similar to the Department of Water Supply’s power cost component on water bills, to account for costs the department has no control over
read ... About a policy which will Cause Illegal Dumping
Arianna Huffington is Now a Tulip Tree
MB: At this point nothing that HuffPost runs in its online beast of a publication is that surprising. Not even today’s blog posting in which some people in Hawaii name a tree after the media behemoth Arianna Huffington.
We can hear it now — “Time to water Arianna!” Or, on a bad day, “Who in the hell forgot to water Arianna this morning?”
In a HuffPost Hawaii blog posting from Richard Ha, a farmer on the Big Island, he goes on and on (and on and on) about Arianna’s recent visit to the farm with eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. The two got laid....
The real clincher of the exquisitely incoherent piece full of unabashed praise for Arianna comes at the end when Ha reveals that they’ve named a tree after her. He writes, “Arianna admired this African tulip tree, and so we have decided to name it after her. I’m referring to the one on the right. It’s the Arianna Tree.”
read ... Arianna Huffington is Now a Tulip Tree
Gay Atheists Attack Pastor Wayne Cordiero Personally
CB: Wayne Cordeiro, New Hope Church’s charismatic founding pastor, has collected hefty salaries in recent years, sometimes more than $300,000 a year, according to tax disclosure forms.
RG: Eugene pastor embroiled in lawsuit
read ... A Billionaire's Complaints About Thousands
Star-Adv: State Should Regulate Ocean Recreation More
SA: The Department of Land and Natural Resources has custody over commercial ocean recreation and is trying to revise its rules to make them fairer and to support its regulatory function with fee revenue. The rules deal with how commercial use permits are issued for various uses, establish limits on berthing space commercial vessels can use at various harbors, clarify insurance requirements, set fees and charges and perform other functions.
Taking this occasion to update rules is essential because pressures on the recreational resources have increased with rising visitor counts and stakeholders have to weigh in on whether certain limits still make sense (see box).
But with all this added pressure, the state has fallen behind on its program of requiring recreational instructors to pass written and surf tests. These have affected catamaran and canoe captains, surf instructors, sailboard instructors and commercial motorboat operators in Waikiki and Maui's Kaanapali, two of the highest-traffic tourist areas.
State officials said the department's Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation is about a year behind
read ... Ocean recreation must be managed
QUICK HITS: