Dept. of Common Sense Plan for Hawaii Health Connector
There's Nothing Pono About Pono Choices
Hundreds gather to remember Loretta Fuddy
Deadline Monday: Only 1,100 Sign Up for Hawaii Health Connector
SA: In a last-minute push to boost enrollment, the Hawaii Health Connector has temporarily doubled its call center staff before a Monday sign-up deadline for coverage beginning Jan. 1.
The Connector enrolled 1,100 people as of Friday on the state's online health insurance marketplace created by President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. Marketplace officials couldn't predict how many more would enroll before the president's signature health reform law takes effect in 2014.
"There have been various challenges that may have prevented individuals from enrolling in a plan by the Dec. 23 deadline. Yet, we realize coverage beginning in the New Year is important to many individuals," said Tom Matsuda, the Connector's interim executive director. There are now 50 call center workers for an anticipated surge in enrollments this weekend, he said....
Small businesses that signed up on the Connector also must get employees enrolled in health plans by Monday.
Under the Affordable Care Act, most Americans must obtain medical coverage or face tax penalties next year. The federal government extended the payment deadline for Obamacare health plans to Jan. 10. Open enrollment runs through March.
The Connector, which got off to a slow start, was supposed to launch Oct. 1 but did not go live until Oct. 15 due to software problems that continue to plague the system.
Many residents are now scrambling to sign up on the Connector website, which was down for most of the past week.
YouTube: Federally Funded Gay Christmas Video Pushes Obamacare
read ... Connector increases staffing before deadline
Hawaii Health Connector: 'Confusion, Miscommunication' as Dec 23 Deadline Approaches
PBN: The Hawaii Health Connector said it is working closely with the state Insurance Division to see how the federal government’s recent modification to the exemption policy affects Affordable Care Act Implementation.
The rule change was announced on Thursday, when the Department of Health and Human Services said that individuals whose existing insurance plans have been canceled will be exempt from requirements to buy insurance if they can’t find acceptable coverage through federal or state-run online health insurance exchanges.
This adjustment follows the administration’s earlier announcement that insurers could continue to offer existing 2013 health insurance plans in 2014 if the state regulators allow it. Hawaii insurers have opted to carry existing 2013 health insurance plans into 2014, as PBN previously reported.
“Unfortunately, with all of the changes to federal policy and the flexibility offered by different states and the federally facilitated exchange, there is a lot of confusion and miscommunication around the enrollment process,” Matsuda said. “The Hawaii Health Connector has aligned its systems to accept enrollments through the Dec. 23 deadline. If we find that any individual’s application was help up by an error in the system, the connector has some flexibility to process their application.”
Zunin: Obamacare ... is the right thing to do.
read ... Hawaii Health Connector bending to continued changes to ACA
Reps: UH Admin Sets Course for Mediocrity, 'Positions'
HNN: Gov. Neil Abercrombie is requesting $197 million to attack that backlog in the next year, financed with bonds borrowed against students' tuition money.
"If you give us more money to try to take care of the deferred maintenance backlog, without the personnel to do it, we're dead. You're destining us for failure," said Tom Katsuyoshi, director of UH's Office of Facilities Management.
UH officials told lawmakers they need to hire 19 more contract officers, architects, engineers and others to manage these projects, costing more than $1.2 million a year. Abercrombie's proposed budget did not include that money....
UH Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple said his 320-acre campus has 93 fewer groundskeepers, janitors, plumbers and maintenance personnel than it needs, running about 25 percent short.
"And that ends of leading to more deferred maintenance because we're not fixing things immediately and that blossoms into a problem," Apple told lawmakers.
So UH is asking for $1.4 million to hire 22 new maintenance workers.
Lawmakers challenged UH to do better.
"Lingering management problems plague the university and to continue the status quo will lead to a mediocre university," said State House Higher Education Chair Isaac Choy. "There are more requests for more buildings, new programs, more positions. I submit to you that bigger is not better. Better is better and let's strive for that."
Lawmakers encouraged UH to contract out construction management positions which can be filled more quickly in the private sector than at the state.
SA: This money is a prescription for failure
CB: Lawmakers Skeptical
read ... Do Better
State Ethics Commission releases new details in charter school investigation
HNN: The Hawaii State Ethics Commission's 145-page complaint alleges that elementary school vice-principal Kurumi Kaapana-Aki was absent from Myron B. Thompson Academy during school hours on numerous occasions.
Records show that on those same days she was working for Hawaiian Airlines as a flight attendant....
Attendance records show that from the 2006-2007 school year to the 2011-2012 year, Kaapana-Aki was absent for all or parts of 144 school days. Kondo said Hawaiian Airlines records show that on the same days she flew for Hawaiian.
"The 144 days, as we calculate it, is almost twenty percent of the instruction days. So that's one day out of every week, basically," he said.
Kaapana-Aki was hired to oversee the elementary school by her sister, Academy principal Diana Oshiro, who is also being investigated. Kaapana-Aki earns about $100,000 a year as vice-principal. That includes $35,000 a year as a Temporary Contract Employee. The sisters are suspected of trying to retroactively account for Kaapana-Aki's unauthorized leave by "back dating" leave applications to give the impression they were approved.
SA: As Embezzlement Charges Pile Up, Star-Adv Finally Decides Charter schools 'worthy'
read ... Myron B 'Pinky' Thompson
Another 'Clean' Energy Disaster: Subcontractor Slaps Lie on Hu Honua
HTH: The same day the CEO of the Hu Honua Bioenergy plant in Pepeekeo said developers were forced to “hit the pause button” on construction because of the slow pace of regulatory permit approvals, a subcontractor said it’s owed more than $215,000 for bills allegedly unpaid between January and October.
Honolulu attorney Patricia Kehau Wall filed Wednesday in Hilo Circuit Court for a mechanic’s and materialman’s lien on behalf of Wesco Distribution Inc. In addition to Hu Honua Bioenergy LLC, defendants in the legal action include ESI Inc. of Tennessee, Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. Inc., Maukaloa Farms LLC, Colonial Bank N.A., and numerous “Doe defendants.”
A hearing on the application is scheduled for Jan. 22 before Judge Glenn Hara.
Maukaloa Farms is the owner of the site leased by Hu Honua and Colonial Bank has a mortgage on the property, according to the filing.
The legal action is the latest in a series of speed bumps for Hu Honua, which signed an agreement in May 2012 with Hawaii Electric Light Co. to supply 21.5 megawatts of electricity to the utility for 10 years.
The state’s Public Utilities Commission has yet to approve the power-purchase agreement, which is required before Hu Honua can begin operations. Hu Honua’s CEO, John Sylvia, told Stephens Media Hawaii on Wednesday he “had hoped to … be through that process within a year, which would have been May 2013.”
In addition, a labor jurisdiction dispute this summer impacted construction workers and temporarily halted work at the site. That dispute has since been resolved.
Ililani: Speak Truth to Power
read ... Another 'Clean' Energy Disaster
Obama Caps off Worst Year of Presidency by Endorsing Abercrombie
CB: “I’ve known Gov. Abercrombie for decades, and I’ve come to appreciate him not only as a friend, but as an extraordinary public servant who has never let politics get in the way of serving the people of Hawaii.
Since taking office, Neil has brought a renewed sense of fiscal discipline to the state, cutting back on wasteful spending and making the investments necessary to grow the economy and expand opportunity.
Neil has never hesitated to make tough choices, and the people of Hawai‘i are better off today because of his leadership. I firmly believe that Neil deserves a second term as Governor, and I look forward to continuing to work with him for years to come.”
NYT: Obama Arrives at Hickam
read ... from One Disaster to Another
Hawaii County Officer misconduct cases increase
WHT: There were six cases of officer misconduct serious enough for termination this year, a big jump over last year, when there was only one such incident, according to an annual report submitted Friday to the Hawaii County Police Commission.
The report, required by state law to be submitted to the Legislature, summarizes the facts, nature of the misconduct and disciplinary action taken. The report does not name the officers disciplined.
In all, the police department’s 2013 misconduct report lists 35 infractions, up from 25 last year, but down from 43 in 2011. There were 35 in 2010, 16 in 2009 and 14 in 2008.
“It fluctuates year to year,” said Police Chief Harry Kubojiri.
The names of terminated officers are kept confidential until their appeals process is completed. Officers were terminated for not being impartial in an investigation, using position for personal gain, bringing disrepute to the police department, giving a false statement, violating traffic regulations and failing to initiate a criminal complaint.
Kubojiri said the law requires the police department to submit the report at least 20 days before the Legislature goes into its regular session, which is Jan. 15 next year. His preference would be to create a report based on the whole year, he said.
read ... Officer misconduct cases increase
Hawaii Budget Surplus Means No Hawaii Beverage Tax?
NHBT: Good news: Hawaii has a budget surplus going into 2014.
What's even better, a major surplus is predicted for the next fiscal year too.
As lawmakers begin to consider next year's budget, Governor Abercrombie says that he wants to make sure that Hawaii's fiscal turnaround is sustained, and that new programs aren't created only to be cut because of future financial problems.
Some of the priorities currently on the table include building up the state's emergency reserves, funding health and retirement benefits for public workers, and bonds for public infrastructure and conservation.
We hope that amid record surpluses, lawmakers will stay away from pursuing new discriminatory taxes.
From ... No Hawaii Beverage Tax
Hotel Workers Union Sues Turtle Bay Over Timeshare Plan
CB: Local 5, which represents 10,000 workers in the state’s hospitality, health care and food service industries, says that the resort’s proposal to build more condos and timeshares won’t create as many jobs as full-service hotels would....
The hotel on Oahu’s North Shore is already being sued by Keep the North Shore Country, a community group that argues that the hotel’s latest environmental analysis of the proposed development should be redone.
A group called Defend Oahu Coalition is also appealing the resort’s land use designation.
The iconic resort has been embroiled in litigation for years over its plans to expand. The debate has grown so heated that Gov. Neil Abercrombie set aside $40 million in his budget proposal this month to conserve part of the land at the resort
read ... Turtle Bay
Hawaii: 6.2% of Workers Hold Multiple Jobs
BLS: The U.S. multiple-jobholding rate has declined gradually or remained flat each year since peaking at 6.2 percent in 1996.3 Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia had lower multiple-jobholding rates in 2012 than in 1996. The remaining two states had rates that were unchanged or only marginally higher over that 16-year span. The largest declines from 1996 to 2012 occurred in Missouri (-3.7 percentage points), Idaho (-3.5 points), and Hawaii (-3.2 points).
SA: Hawaii ranks high for workers holding multiple jobs
read ... Down from 9.4%
Hawaii solar boom so successful, it's been halted
EE: Charles Wang, with the Hawaii ECO Project, at a solar conference in San Diego earlier this month warned people from other states that Hawaii is a "cautionary tale" and "something that you will face down the road in your marketplaces."
"I am from the future," Wang told a room of industry and environmental representatives. "The utility is that 800-pound gorilla. If you push it to the corner of the room, it's going to fight back. That's what's happening right now."
read ... Hawaii solar boom so successful, it's been halted
More Criminals Join Suit Demanding Resort at Kulani Prison
BIN: Three Hawaii inmates imprisoned at Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona, have joined a lawsuit seeking the establishment of pu`uhonua — a place of refuge and healing — in the reopening of Kulani Correctional Facility on the Big Island.
The nonprofit organization Ohana Ho`opakele filed the lawsuit against the Hawaii Department of Public Safety in August for failing to include pu`uhonua, a Hawaiian cultural alternative to standard prisons, in plans to reopen the minimum-security prison at Kulani despite a law mandating that pu`uhonua be considered.
“In 2012, The State Legislature passed Act 117 that specifically directed the Department of Public Safety to work with Ohana Ho`opakele in developing a plan for a pu`uhonua at Kulani camp and grounds,” Ohana Ho`opakele member Palikapu Dedman said in a written statement. “The Department has not worked with us to develop a plan, and instead has called Act 117 ‘an unfunded mandate.’”
An environmental assessment filed for the project in July failed to mention pu`uhonua, prompting the lawsuit filed in the state’s Hilo Circuit Court.
News Release: Lawsuit seeks puuhonua not prison at Kulani
Link: http://www.ohanahoopakele.org/
read ... Arizona Inmates Added to Kulani Prison Suit
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