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Friday, May 2, 2014
May 2, 2014 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 6:42 PM :: 11205 Views

Final Deadline: Hawaii Spends the Most and Gets the Least from Obamacare

Pinata: HART Celebrates Cinco de Mayo With Rail Contractors' Festival

Ordered by State: HECO to Waste Millions on Worthless Batteries

Oahu, Maui, Kona, Hilo: ‘Irreplaceable’ Opens May 6

House Passes Final Group of Bills for 2014 Session

Budget: Spend now, pay later

LA Times: Sam Slom, Party of One

Waste Management of Hawaii, others indicted for 2011 ocean contamination

Hawaii Health Connector Claims 9,785 Enrollees

Legislative debate, prostitution arrests put Honolulu police in spotlight

Charity controlled by Hawaii House leader gets $100,000 to maintain cemetery

HIP Offers Ballot Space to Disaffected Pro-GMO Democrats

SA: In Hawaii, Democratic candidates to this point have been held to really toe the line. And candidates like Mufi, who haven't necessarily embraced all of the values of the Democratic platform, have not always received the full support of the party.

So we're looking to be that middle, moderate, centrist party that can bring everyone together.... 

Maybe you have a Democrat who does not fully embrace banning of GMOs (genetically modified organism crops) but supports labeling of GMOs.

So we want to bring those people to the middle point and really have it be about the issues, fact-based and solution-oriented.

read ... Hawaii Independent Party

Cabanilla Cemetery Deal "Reeks of corruption and fraud"

HNN: ...the city already pays a contractor to cut the grass once a month. The Ewa Beach Lions club also has regular volunteer cleanup days.

"It reeks of corruption and fraud," Ewa Beach resident Matt Lopresti said.

He feels Cabanilla is taking advantage of taxpayers.

"There's no reason for any non-profit to be trying to get $200,000 to do something that's already done. It's a fraudulent move on the taxpayers," he said.

The legislature awarded the non-profit $100,000 to cut the grass at the cemetery, buy equipment and pay annual salaries to six landscapers.

"I did not hide anything. The names are there. What it's for is there. It is not like all of a sudden I got $100,000," Cabanilla said.

Kurt Fevella Is president of the Ewa Beach Lions Club. He said up to now Cabanilla has shown little interest in the cemetery.

"She never came here and cleaned the graveyard with us or came here asking if we needed any funding," he said.

"I stood up in front of the Neighborhood Board," Cabanilla said. "They wanted something done to the cemetery."

Fevella said Cabanilla asked him to be president of her non-profit. But he turned her down.

"I felt that something was illegal. And especially when you're dealing with state or federal funds. I don't want to have nothing to do with that."

"How could it be illegal? It's for the community," Cabanilla said....

"It raises a lot of questions about where that money is actually going to go," he said.

"Conflicts of interest will come if there's an exchange of cash. Right now nobody can say there has been an exchange of cash," Cabanilla said.

SA: Cabanilla hopes 'hoopla' will not stop $100,000 grant

read ... Exchange of Cash

Deadline to sign Native Hawaiian registry arrives--only 1,000 sign up

AP: Thursday marked the deadline for people to register with the Native Hawaiian Roll Commission to participate in forming a sovereign governing entity for Native Hawaiians. And this time, it's final.

More than 121,000 people of Native Hawaiian ancestry have signed up and been verified since the effort launched in the summer of 2012 (including 1000s of names piled in from Kau Inoa and other earlier rolls)....

At the previous closing, Anthony said, more than 1,000 people signed up online in a final rush, with many more using paper applications.... (Translation: Abject failure)

When pitching the idea to prospective enrollees, Anthony said, he was often asked, "What do I get if I sign up?" His reply was that this was their chance to ensure sustained Native Hawaiian guidance for the future of the state....

Reality: OHA’s “New Body Politic” Will Exclude 77% of Native Hawaiians

read ... Deadline

Turtle Bay Gut n Replace 'Debacle' Approved 48-2

CB: After an hour of occasionally impassioned floor speeches, the House voted 48-2 to pass the bill. Reps. Sharon Har and James Tokioka voted no; Rep. Ken Ito was excused.

Lawmakers took turns explaining why they were voting in support of the bill, but more often than not they gave reasons for opposing it — namely, questions over the bill receiving the constitutionally required three readings on separate days in each chamber before passage.

The legislative history of HB 2434 shows the bill did indeed receive the required number of readings in the House and Senate. But the versions of the bill that cleared each chamber before it was significantly changed in conference committee last week make no mention of Turtle Bay, a conservation easement or the specific funding mechanism.

Rep. Marcus Oshiro voted in favor of the bill, which he called a “debacle,” and went on at length about why the process “condones the principle of the end justifying the means.”

“That puts every single member, all 76 of us, in a terrible position,” he said. “Policy good, process bad.”

Oshiro said he would have preferred the Legislature come back next week or next month in special session, hold a public hearing, invite key parties to explain the deal and then vote on it.

Tokioka said he didn’t feel good about voting no because he supports conserving the land. But he was worried it would set a bad precedent and doesn’t want the Legislature to do business this way.

Others were fine with the process. Rep. Tom Brower said the legislation will remind groups like Common Cause that sometimes it is the right thing to “gut and replace,” a practice of swapping the contents of a bill with other language....

Senate President Donna Kim said the bill technically received three readings but the final contents of the measure did not.

"Will there be a lawsuit?" she said. "I don’t know. There may be. There could be. But that’s not the first time.” ...

After an hour of occasionally impassioned floor speeches, the House voted 48-2 to pass the bill. Reps. Sharon Har and James Tokioka voted no; Rep. Ken Ito was excused....

SA: Victory is tainted by qualms about hasty legislative maneuvers to get the deal done

read ... Turtle Bay

Regents nominate 2 for UH president

KITV: Lassner is interim UH president; Lt. Gen. Wiercinski is former commander of U.S. Army Pacific

SA: Board of Regents is urged to delay a decision to get more input from faculty and students

SAS: Retired general is finalist for U. of Hawaii presidency

read ... Regents nominate 2 for UH president

Kauai: Backlash Building against Anti-GMO Crowd

KE: Chris D'Angelo's editor needs to impose a quota on the number of stories he may write each week about Surfrider and Gordon LaBedz. I mean, two front page articles in three days pushing Surfrider's political agenda? Isn't that just a bit much? Especially when one was about a non-event and the other a future non-event.

Heck, it's enough to make you wanna vote for fresh-faced farm boyArryl Kaneshiro — even though he is a Grove Farm employee and son of six-term Kauai County Councilman Daryl Kaneshiro. And mark my words, Arryl is gonna get way more votes in the Council race than Felicia Cowden or any “red shirt” candidate.

Because a political backlash has been building here for months, and its candidates are beginning to emerge.

I noticed on Facebook that Sol Kahn and others were sharing a photo of an “Arthur Brun for Council” sign, with the message that Arthur works for Syngenta and thus “must be stopped.” Because for some, there is apparently only a single issue of import on this island: GMOs. The mainland-based, 1%-er funded Center for Food Safety has set up an Oahu office to exploit that sentiment, designating itself  “a new voice in Hawaii's food politics" and preaching there's just one way to salvation: its way.

Gee, didn't we do that missionary schtick already?

When I think of Arthur Brun, it's about the testimony he delivered in opposition to the 2010 bill that approved vacation rentals on ag land — and allowed only the folks who had been operating illegally to seek permits. While a number of future “red shirts” were clamoring for the bill's passage, Arthur was one of the very few who spoke against this travesty of justice and misuse of farm land:

“This bill is wrong. What about the local families that had farm land for generations and followed the law? You’re making our families that followed the law suffer. I don’t think you should be punishing the people who followed the law. Do what is right for the 60,000 people of Kauai, not the 26 people of Kauai.”

read ... Backlash Building

Ethics Commission Seeks Greater Oversight of Honolulu Rail Contractors

CB: With the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation poised to dole out about $1 billion in contracts for the Honolulu rail project this year, the city Ethics Commission is worried that there isn't enough government oversight to ensure that private companies aren't given sweetheart deals.

The commission is preparing to send a letter to Mayor Kirk Caldwell and Honolulu City Council members in the coming days to ask them to support legislation that would expand the commission’s oversight of HART contractors and other companies receiving city contracts.

The letter was discussed during an ethics commission meeting last week and a draft copy was provided to Civil Beat.

Ethics Commission staff say the letter, which is expected to be signed by the commission's chair, Charles Gall, could go out on Friday.

LINK: Memo re ethics jurisdiction draft

read ... Ethics Commission Seeks Greater Oversight of Honolulu Rail Contractors

HHSC: State Burns $585M Propping up HGEA Job Trust

Borreca: Here's the tab: $97.2 million, $108.2 million, $138.8 million and $139.3 million. (+$102M = $585.5M)

Those were the yearly operational losses for the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. since 2010.

During that same period, your taxes paid down those losses, but did not pay everything.

Basically the state is putting a tourniquet on the bleeding, but no one is taking the state's 12-member hospital system to the doctor to fix the problem.

This year the Legislature came close, but at the last minute, closed the door on the patient.

Star-Advertiser reporter Kristen Consillio wrote on Wednesday that the state agency that runs the public hospitals, including most of the neighbor island facilities, is trying to partner with or be bought by an investor or nonprofit.

If that does not happen, officials say, the roof is about to cave in.

"The whole deal was either they've got to give us lots of money or we've got to get the ability to partner with somebody, but we got neither. It's pretty bad. We're hoping we don't affect patient care, but the cuts are going to be so much," said Wesley Lo, regional CEO for Maui Memorial Medical Center....

Instead of a workable plan, the HHSC was left with $102 million in subsidies for next year. The plea for more money was $150 million, so again the problem was eased, not solved....

Background: Legislative Report: Convert HHSC to non-profit, dump civil service (full text)

read ... Band-Aids not enough for public hospital system

Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning project gets funding extension from Hawaii lawmakers

PBN: The $220 million Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning project, which aims to cool Downtown Honolulu buildings with deep ocean water, received an extension for funding from Hawaii lawmakers.

House Bill 1951 was approved by legislators this week, which extends the prior authorization of $77 million in special purpose revenue bonds that were due to expire on June 30.

To date, the company has secured separate special purpose revenue bonds authorizations totaling $145 million for construction of its cooling system. This extension assures that the full $145 million in tax-exempt bonding capacity remains available to support its upcoming financing effort, a spokesman for the firm told PBN.

Construction has yet to start on the long-awaited project, which is known as one of the biggest energy-efficiency projects in Hawaii.

read ... Pie in the Sky

Funding failure could spell end for Kahoolawe commission (or not)

MN: A bill to secure a funding source for the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission neared but did not cross the finish line in the state Legislature's lawmaking session, which ended Thursday, and its failure could be the beginning of the end for the commission.

With the Kaho'olawe Rehabilitation Trust Fund expected to run out of money in fiscal 2016, the commission will meet in June to adopt its own budget for fiscal 2015, said Michele Chouteau McLean, the commission's chairwoman and deputy director of the county Department of Planning.

Without a prospect of receiving state funding, "we will be planning for shutdown," she said Thursday.... (but)

About 40 percent of KIRC's work is funded by grants, McHugh said, "so we will stay the course and try to strengthen those relationships (and that percentage) as best we can."

Related: Audit: Kahoolawe Money Gone After 18 years Without a Plan

read ... Funding failure could spell end for commission

Money runs at UH-Manoa suffer big security gaps

KHON: A lot of cash exchanges hands every day at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. It comes from all over Hawaii’s largest campus to the main cashier before heading to the bank.

Most of the money runs on campus are being done by unarmed campus security, rarely by the armored cars most other big universities use.

“Give them guns, because now, especially, if (KHON2 is) going to tell people,” said freshman Carlos Guzman....

read ... UH Manoa

Caldwell signs off on 5 Towers: Kam Drive-In $766M in TOD

SA: A bill clearing the way for as many as 1,500 residential units and commercial-business space in a five-tower redevelopment of the Kamehameha Drive-In site across from Pearlridge Center was signed into law by Mayor Kirk Caldwell Wednesday.

Bill 68 was approved by the City Council on April 16 by a 9-0 vote, although some members raised concerns about how much affordable housing the mixed-use Live Work Play 'Aiea project will provide for the area.

Supporters say the $766 million project by Robertson Property Group is the first to be integrated with one of the city's Transit Oriented Development sites

read ... Caldwell signs off on Kam Drive-In redevelopment

Hawaii County Council Deadlocks on Ethics

HTH: A 4-4 County Council deadlock Thursday killed an ethics bill that Mayor Billy Kenoi has pushed since taking office in 2008.

The bill, killed by a previous County Council and spurned twice by the Board of Ethics, went through five committee hearings before being dealt the final blow.

Bill 181 would have prevented county employees or companies where they or their spouses or children have a controlling interest from getting county contracts. It also prohibits elected or appointed officers or employees from representing private interests before county agencies, such as lobbying for a company.

read ... No Ethics

Legislative Motion:

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