State Hires Big Guns to Argue Reapportionment Case
Samoa News finally raises questions about Faleomavaega
Homosexual Education Program Back -- 12 Schools Next Semester
Civil Beat Founder a "Big player in the hotel and hospitality industry"
Star-Adv: The eBay founder makes his primary home in Honolulu and is better known in the islands as a major philanthropist, new media pioneer and advocate of sustainability. But his investment arm also makes him a big player in the hotel and hospitality industry. Ohana Real Estate Investors LLC aims "to achieve superior long-term returns through the development and ownership of luxury hospitality assets and to make strategic hospitality related acquisitions," says its website.
OREI's portfolio includes three luxury resorts already open in California and Utah, with three more properties in development, including the resort on Kauai, which would include 86 luxury bungalow units and 34 home lots. A draft environmental impact statement for the $160 million project is expected to be released this spring, with the developers hoping to get the permits they need and begin construction on the Hanalei River Ridge by 2016....
The two parcels slated for development are zoned for resort use, and there was a Club Med resort there decades ago. Most structures were demolished, though, ahead of the planned construction of a new hotel that never got built. That project was halted in the 1980s, and the most ardent opponents hope that the Hanalei Plantation Resort will meet the same fate, as it moves through the archeological inventory survey, cultural impact assessment, biological survey, traffic impact assessment and water-quality assessment that will be done as part of the EIS.
As we explained: Pierre Omidyar: The Secret Empire of a Resort Developer
read ... Luxury Resort Developer
No Excuse for Tax Hikes: City Already Budgeted for New Firefighter Contract--Cost $88M
CB: For the City and County of Honolulu, these changes will cost an estimated $88.3 million over the life of the new contract, which runs through Fiscal Year 2017.
Of that, $58.7 million will go toward wages and $28.4 million will be for overtime costs.
The HFFA award will not shake-up the city’s budget the way the police union’s contract did.
Honolulu Spokesman Jesse Broder Van Dyke said HFFA’s contract award was close to what the city had budgeted. (NOTE: This therefore ceases to be an excuse for tax hikes.)
This was not the case with the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers contract, which led to a series of required budget adjustments.
Broder Van Dyke noted claimed that the city is still facing a shortfall.
read ... New Firefighter Contract Will Cost Honolulu $88 Million
County Councils, Mayors Struggle to Come Together Behind Demand for 25% Hike in GE Tax
CB: Divide and conquer. That’s how county officials say the state has been able to intercept millions of dollars destined for their tax coffers over the years.
So representatives from Hawaii’s four county councils and mayor’s offices are working together for the first time in history to form a united front that might help them stave off another fiscal attack next legislative session, which starts Jan. 15.
The two groups — officially called the Hawaii State Association of Counties and Hawaii Council of Mayors — inched closer Friday to reaching an agreement to jointly ask the Legislature to give each county the power to raise the General Excise Tax up to 1 percent. They also debated how best to tell the state to not touch their $93 million combined share of the Transient Accommodations Tax.
read ... County Councils, Mayors Struggle to Come Together in State Lobbying Effort
Hawaii County Assessors Set own Property Valuations
WHT: The county Board of Ethics, concerned that some Finance Department employees have a say about how their own property is valued for tax purposes, has scheduled a fact-finding hearing for next month....
Board Member Arne Henricks, a retired judge, said the complainant, an employee in the division, has presented “enough of a prima facie case to determine there is a violation” of the county ethics code. That’s despite assurances by the department that there are checks and balances in place to avoid conflicts of interest.
The particular cases involve two appraisers who conduct mass appraisals and come up with a formula that applies to their particular property as well as others in the neighborhood. Finance Department officials defended the practice...
read ... Another Day in the Nei
Hawaii County Salary Commission mulls more raises
HTH: County employees not part of collective bargaining who weren’t awarded raises by the Salary Commission last month will likely have to wait until July 1 before their paychecks get any fatter.
The commission, meeting Thursday, said it wants to continue giving raises as well as bring the salary schedules up to date to reflect the present-day economy. It’s unknown whether the commission will move to resume automatic step increases that were frozen in 2010, or create a different way to ensure workers get periodic raises.
Commissioner Brian De Lima said he’d like to see the step increases eliminated.
Commissioner Marcella Stroh was concerned some positions and salaries seem inequitable, compared to the levels of responsibility of the positions.
“Why did the salary schedule get so out of whack?” she asked.
A dozen department chiefs received double-digit raises last month from the Salary Commission. The salary plan, designed to make Hawaii County officials’ salaries more on par with those on other islands and make sure no department head is making less money than his or her subordinates, added $10,218 to $17,598 to salaries of the 12 officials.
read ... Mo Money
Kauai County considers tax, fee hike
KGI: The first bill, Bill 2515, proposes a tipping fee increase for business, commercial and nonresidential customers disposing solid municipal waste from $90 to $129 per ton at county landfills, refuse transfer stations and debris recycling stations with vehicle scales.
The new fee schedule will also increase dumping charges for materials with asbestos — from $178 to $218 per ton — and dead animals — from $90 to $119 per ton.
Disposal fees at facilities with an inoperable vehicle scale will also change under the proposed bill, ranging from $21 per cubic yard for uncompacted municipal solid waste, a $5 increase, to $98 per cubic yard for asbestos containing material, a $28 increase.
In all, $2.8 million in solid waste tipping fees were collected during the 2012 fiscal year, according to county financial reports. Around $3.5 million was collected last year.
Bill 2514 proposes to increase the county’s motor vehicle weight tax for all passenger vehicles from $0.0125 to $0.02 per pound. Taxes for non-passenger vehicles, such as tractor trailers, semi-trailers and truck tractors, will increase from $0.025 to $0.04 per pound.
The increase would raise the average tax range on a 3,000-pound car from $37.50 to $60. A 4,500-pound compact car would increase from $56.25 to $90 — a 60 percent increase jump.
read ... County considers tax, fee hike
Federal Price Fixing Investigation Has Ties to Hawaii Transportation Companies
HR: An ongoing price fixing case being prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division that involves most of the nation's domestic shipping companies, has led to a half a dozen senior executives going to prison and fines totaling more than $100 million.
Now, industry experts say there are hints that Hawaii shipping routes may also be part of the investigation....
There have been hints over the years that Justice Department may be investigating the pricing and other practices of Matson and Horizon in Hawaii as well.
John Terzaken, a U.S. Department of Justice prosecutor, said in court its investigation is nationwide involving "other trade lanes." Besides Puerto Rico, the other Jones Act trade lanes are Alaska, Hawaii and Guam.
"The ongoing investigation is far broader than simply the US and Puerto Rico trade," Terzaken said, adding "There will be charges in these other aspects of the case as well. And those are -- those are to come down the road.”
Frank Peake, former president of Sea Star Line LLC, a water freight carrier in Jacksonville, Fla., was the latest senior U.S. shipping executive to be convicted for violating the violating the Sherman Antitrust Act.
To date, no one from Matson has been charged in the case. However, Alexander and Baldwin acknowledged in an April 28, 2008 statement, and again in 2011, that documents related to its then subsidiary Matson Navigation were subpoenaed in connection with the Department of Justice's investigation into the pricing and other competitive practices of carriers operating in the domestic trades even though it does not operate vessels in the Puerto Rico trade.
Jeff Hull, Matson’s director of public relations, said in 2011, "Matson understood that while the investigation was focused primarily on the Puerto Rico trade, it also included pricing and other competitive practices in connection with all domestic trades, including the Alaska, Hawaii and Guam trades. Matson does not operate vessels in the Puerto Rico and Alaska trades. It does operate vessels in the Hawaii and Guam trades. Matson has cooperated, and will continue to cooperate, fully with the Department of Justice."
In its press release Friday, the Justice Department stated: "This case is part of an ongoing investigation being conducted by the Antitrust Division's National Criminal Enforcement Section and the Defense Criminal Investigation Service. Anyone with information concerning price fixing or other anticompetitive conduct in the coastal water freight transportation industry is urged to call the Antitrust Division's National Criminal Enforcement Section at 202-307-6694."
read ... Price Fixing
Air Service Co Misrepresents Safety Record?
SA: Makani Kai Air, whose plane crash Wednesday killed state Health Director Loretta Fuddy, has had five previous accidents or incidents involving the helicopters that the company also operates.
One of those was a midair collision between a company helicopter and another plane.
However, Makani Kai claims on its website that neither its airplanes nor helicopters have had an accident or incident in the company's more than 20-year history.
read ... 5 incidents
Don't jail youths for misdemeanors, group advises
SA: Juveniles convicted of misdemeanors should no longer be sent to the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, a working group recommended Friday, a policy change that could reduce the facility's average daily population by 60 percent and save the state $11 million over the next five years.
The working group urged the state to use the savings to invest $2 million a year to strengthen juvenile probation and reduce recidivism.
Juvenile crime and incarceration rates have declined nationally and in Hawaii, but the working group on juvenile justice found that youths who are incarcerated stay in the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility for longer periods and that 75 percent of the juveniles who are released commit new crimes within three years....
The working group found that 61 percent of admissions to the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility for new offenses in fiscal year 2013 involved misdemeanors, compared with 47 percent in 2004. The money saved from not sending juveniles convicted of misdemeanors to the facility could be used for better probation services and for mental health and substance abuse treatment, the group recommended.
Admissions to the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility declined by 41 percent over the past decade. But the average length of stay was 7.2 months in 2013, up from 2.5 months in 2004. An estimated 80 percent of juveniles in the juvenile justice system have substance abuse problems.
Background: Full Text: Hawaii Juvenile Justice Working Group Report
read ... Misdemeanors
Supreme Court Ruling Could Halt Construction of Haleakala Telescope
CB: Hawaii's Board of Land and Natural Resources erred in approving a key permit for a controversial 14-story telescope currently under construction at the summit of Haleakala, according to a Friday state Supreme Court ruling.
The decision marks a major victory for Kilakila O Halealaka, a Native Hawaiian group on Maui that has been fighting for several years against the University of Hawaii Institute of Astronomy's telescope.
Kilakila O Haleakala had requested a contested case hearing before the land board on the telescope's conservation use permit. Instead, the board went ahead and approved the permit in December 2010 under then Chair Laura Thielen, effectively denying the group's hearing request.
(Translation: Inouye us dead. Greenwood is gone. Chaos again reigns at UH.)
read ... Supreme Court Ruling Could Halt Construction of Haleakala Telescope
Telescope #2: UH Bows to Demand for New Mauna Kea EIS
HTH: A spokeswoman for the Department of Land and Natural Resources said the board chose to withhold a vote while UH conducts an environmental impact statement.
UH requested time to conduct an EIS in response to testimony from the Nov. 8 BLNR meeting, she said. It did not provide a timeline for how long that may take.
UH has two existing leases covering the Mauna Kea Science Reserve and Hale Pohaku Mid-Level Facilities.
They are set to expire in 2033 and 2041. The new leases UH has proposed would run through 2078.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources has recommended approval of the request but its Division of Historic Preservation and the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs had expressed reservations.
OHA has said it would like to see more environmental review before new leases are granted.
read ... No decision on Mauna Kea lease
Lawmakers to scrutinize troubled arts agency
KITV: It costs nothing to walk into the State Museum located at the old Hemmeter building.
But it attracts only 74 people a month.
Lawmakers are questioning why taxpayers should keep shelling out a half a million dollars for a museum hardly anyone goes to.
One percent of all government construction money is set aside for public art.
Wakai was astounded to learn that the Foundation has 5,000 pieces of art in its collection but more than a third of it sitting hidden away in storage.
"We are kind of hoarding, and hoarding, and building, and building the collection. If people do not want to look at this artwork, then we should look at opportunities to lease this stuff out," said Wakai.
Wakai says if it's the people's art, then the public should have better access.
The head of the troubled agency has thrown up her hands at what she says is resistance from her staff to try and do that.
"Right from day one they have made it clear they will not take orders.
I have operated under a very hostile environment," said Laird Smith.
Laird Smith had been working with the state's IT staff to create a high resolution website with to make what's in the collection available to all.
To her surprise, the staff had created one of their own with low-resolution images that operates offline.
read ... Lawmakers to scrutinize troubled arts agency
HNN Notices Art Ethics Fine, Ignores Rail Work
HNN: The director of the art gallery at Kapiolani Community College has paid a $2,000 fine after running afoul of state ethics laws, Hawaii News Now learned Friday. (They are a week late, see below.)
What they didn't tell you: HART Rail Art Application Illegally Prepared by State Workers
read ... KCC art gallery director pays $2K ethics fine
Maui Council Challenged on Over-Use of Executive Session
MN: State law requires open public meetings except in narrowly defined circumstances. Try telling that to council members who have made major decisions about the tearing down of the old Wailuku Post Office and the proposed Launiupoko purchase.
And who even knows what discussions occurred about the appointment of a new county clerk. That was accomplished in record time without giving the public even a glimpse of their thought processes.
We asked the state Office of Information Practices to investigate the council's actions in August when, after an "executive session," the members announced they were not hiring their own attorney to assist in the investigation of the tearing down of the old Wailuku Post Office. Instead, they came out of the session and said they would ask the new county auditor to look into it and utilize the services of corporation counsel.
When OIP requested minutes of the executive session, they were given heavily "redacted" minutes of the session. In other words, the OIP was given an edited version of those minutes - a heavily edited one. Fifteen of the 20 pages were completely redacted except for the header.
Never mind that the OIP would have reviewed the minutes "en camera" (privately) - our council decided it didn't have to comply with a request from the state office charged with assuring compliance with the Sunshine Law.
read ... Working in the shadows
Hawaii Healthy Without Soda Tax
NHBT: Hawaii is the healthiest state in the nation and boasts one of the lowest obesity rates as of 2013 data, according to United Health Foundation's annual America's Health Rankings report.
Hawaii has been ranked No. 1 four times in the last 15 years. And, Hawaii also has among the lowest rates of obesity in the nation.
This is further proof that the people of Hawaii understand what it takes to be healthy: a balanced diet and exercise, not the state government putting a discriminatory tax on the items in your grocery cart.
read ... No Hawaii Beverage Tax
Walter Ritte is Forgetful
AO: Amazing to consider that Ritte appears to not support CTAHR but had not problem with the college funding his Molokai fishpond restoration project.
read ... Ritte Forgetful
Obama Coming to Hawaii Dec 20 - Jan 6
WT: President Obama and his family will leave Washington Dec. 20 for a 17-day holiday vacation in Hawaii.
The White House announced Friday that the Obamas will depart next week after what is expected to be a light work schedule for the president in Washington.
Read ... Obama
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