Kauai Panel Seeks to Ground GMO Debate in Facts
Three Hunting-Related Bills to be Heard Monday
Maui Democrats Release Names of 13 Applicants for HD13 Vacancy
Digitized Archive of 19th Century Hawaii Missionaries Goes Online
HB1307: Fair Taxation?
Top ‘Scientists’ Caught Adjusting Temperature Readings
Three of Ige’s nominees to lead state agencies are Lobbyists
SA: Three of the people Gov. David Ige picked to head major state agencies were registered lobbyists for companies, organizations or clients whose interests likely will intersect with the departments they were nominated to oversee.
His attorney general nominee, Doug Chin, has been a lobbyist since 2013 for Corrections Corp. of America, which gets millions of dollars annually from the state to house Hawaii inmates in an Arizona prison.
The company hired the Carlsmith Ball law firm as a lobbying representative in Hawaii, and Chin, who is managing partner at the firm, was one of the lawyers who did work on the company's behalf, mostly tracking legislation and answering questions from legislators, he said....
Carleton Ching, Ige's pick to head the Department of Land and Natural Resources, is a registered lobbyist for Castle & Cooke Hawaii, one of the largest developers in the state. He currently is on a leave of absence from the company (Translation: He is still employed by C&C).
Castle & Cooke deals with the State Historic Preservation Division, a part of DLNR, when pursuing development projects. That division, for instance, had to sign off on the company's plans to protect archaeological sites affected by Castle & Cooke's controversial Koa Ridge planned development in Central Oahu. The division also has a review pending for a Waiawa solar farm project....
Rachael Wong, who was selected to lead the Department of Human Services, was a lobbyist for Healthcare Association of Hawaii, where she worked as vice president and chief operating officer before joining DHS in January.
The trade group, which represents hospitals, long-term care facilities and other providers, has dealings with DHS because of Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income residents that the department oversees....
read ... "Former" Lobbyists
Caldwell, HART promised no Tax Hike, No Borrowing
Shapiro: Mayor Kirk Caldwell and the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation can blame their own doublespeak for hostile public and legislative reaction to pleas for bonds and more taxes to cover rail cost overruns.
Caldwell and HART say short-term bonds, like the $350 million loan they seek from the City Council, were always planned and suggest extending the half-cent rail excise tax was always inevitable.
You couldn't tell from their past pronouncements.
For example, HART Chairman Ivan Lui-Kwan seemed to say the opposite at a University of Hawaii forum in April 2013, recorded by documentary filmmaker Marc Delorme (see the clip at youtu.be/kfDINtSKh1s).
Asked about bond sales for rail, Lui-Kwan said transit officials elsewhere "are just in awe of the model that we have here — and the model is one in which we don't go out and borrow money."
Nor would you have expected from what Lui-Kwan said then for the city to ask the Legislature to extend the rail excise tax beyond its 2022 expiration for construction overruns.
"The plan is to have this project fully paid for once construction is completed," he said. "The plan again is that once this project is completed, because it's being paid for as you go from our funding from the state of Hawaii general excise tax, once the project is completed there will be no mortgage, no loan."
Caldwell also promised no mortgage in his 2012 mayoral campaign, but if there's an open-ended tax extension, a rail "mortgage" would carry over indefinitely....
read ... Haphazard
HB14: HSTA Pushing to Gut Instructional Hours Requirement
SB: Under Act 167, elementary schools for the past two years have been required to provide 915 instructional hours a year, or an average of five hours and five minutes of instruction daily. Middle and high schools starting this school year are required to provide 990 hours a year, or an average of five hours and 30 minutes of instruction per day.
The law increases minimum learning time to an average of six hours a day for a total of 1,080 hours a year for all schools starting with the 2016-17 school year. It also requires the Department of Education to come up with a plan to further lengthen the school year to 190 days
Among the 33 other states that mandate minimum instructional hours, six require fewer than 990 hours for high school grades, with the rest at or above the 990-hour mark, according to the Denver-based Education Commission of the States. Ten states require at least 1,080 instructional hours a year for high-schoolers.
Building schedules around the teachers' contract requirements has been a challenge for schools, and the DOE says many have had to increase class sizes or hire more teachers to comply.
For example, teachers aren't supposed to work more than seven hours a day or past 4:30 p.m., under the contract. Schools also are required to provide teachers with a "duty-free" lunch period of at least 30 minutes, and teachers cannot teach more than three hours straight without a break, lunch or recess of at least 15 minutes.
"We've spent this incredible amount of time counting and focusing on compliance and accounting for minutes and tweaking definitions, and it's been very burdensome," DOE Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe recently told the Board of Education. "It's caused a lot of frustration and it's been, frankly, a distraction from some of our priorities.
House Bill 14, introduced by the chairman and vice chairman of the House Education Committee, would repeal the increase to 1,080 hours for all schools and leave it up to the BOE to determine what should count toward "instructional hours." (Senate version: SB822)
The law currently defines it for all schools as time when students "are engaged in learning activities including regularly scheduled instruction and learning assessments within the curriculum." It discounts lunch, recess and between-class time.
The DOE supports the bill's intent, but the Hawaii State Teachers Association is seeking an outright repeal, arguing that any increase to instructional time should be collectively bargained for with increased compensation, and not mandated in statute. The union effectively killed past attempts to amend the law.
read ... Pandering to HSTA
HB1468: Shut Down Big Cable Project to be Heard Tuesday
AP: UNDER-SEA CABLE — The Hawaii Legislature began paving the way for an interisland, high-voltage electric transmission cable several years ago. It was seen in part as a way to share the energy produced on neighbor islands with population-dense Oahu. But community members raised concerns about the idea of an under-sea cable, saying it would be costly and that it could reduce the adoption of renewable energy sources. Now lawmakers are considering a bill (HB1468) that would strip the Public Utilities Commission of its authority to start the process. The bill will be heard Tuesday morning in the House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection.
read ... Big Cable
HECO vs Reality on NextEra Merger
IM: HECO: Are there plans to consolidate certain functions with NextEra Energy on the mainland? As noted in the FAQ on the intranet and reiterated at the briefing, it’s too soon to know what NextEra Energy is going to do several years down the road. What works for NextEra Energy’s other companies may not necessarily work for Hawaii. NextEra Energy understands that, and that’s why the company wants to get to know our organization, our workforce and our business needs before making future decisions....
REALITY: NextEra has proposed a five year post deal closing plan. During the first two years they will honor the existing labor contract. After four years they would file a rate case. The Public Utilities Commission would process the rate case during year five with rate reductions applied to year six. Therefore NextEra would create a windfall profit by cutting labor costs at the beginning of year three. Workers will be encouraged, incentivized or transferred out of state in order to slash labor costs. (Current staffing levels and employment positions at HECO and at MECO/HELCO).
read ... HECO sends messages to employees re NextEra
Marijuana Task Force Member Pushes Drugs to Children
KHON: “I couldn’t get a sense whether they were pro or opposed to the bill,” said task force member Jari Sugano. “It’s hard to tell right now.” ...
Sugano is pushing for legal regulation of dispensaries. She’s a working mother raising two special-needs children who could both benefit from (to get) easier access to medical marijuana.
Hawaii County police chief and fellow task force member Harry Kubojiri has reservations, at least in the bill’s present form.
Kubojiri believes medical dispensaries will be good for what it’s intended for, namely qualified patients, but he fears the bill as written is open to abuse and we could see problems here that have already surfaced in other states.
“The number of children admitted into emergency rooms for overdose, the number admitted into treatment centers, as well as number of homeless people,” he said. “People come to this area where medical marijuana laws are lax, they’re noticing their population of homeless people, ironically, has grown.”
“In the end, we need to figure out how to work together,” said Sugano, “coexist, put a system to address quality and safety of products, yet also regulate it, so we address public safety and youth access.”
The hearing on House Bill 321 will continue on Tuesday, February 10. Committee chairwoman Della Au Belatti said they are taking testimony under consideration and will iron out all the issues people had with the bill, but remains optimistic that the bill will pass out of committee.
Click here to read the entirety of the bill.
read ... Lawmakers meet with medical marijuana dispensary task force
SB791: Autism health coverage gains traction
SA: After years of trying, advocates for children with autism are hopeful that the Legislature will pass a bill requiring medical insurance companies to provide coverage for diagnosis and treatment.
Hawaii is one of only 12 states that do not require health insurance coverage for children with autism, said Lorri Shealy Unumb, vice president of state government affairs for the national advocacy group Autism Speaks....
The two committees moved out Senate Bill 791, which requires health insurers, mutual benefit societies and health maintenance organizations to provide coverage for autism diagnosis and treatment for children until age 11 and a total lifetime maximum benefit of about $220,000.
Senate Health Chairman Josh Green (D, Naalehu-Kailua-Kona), who introduced the bill, said parties from the health insurance industry and the advocacy groups worked with him to reach a compromise after a similar measure died in the closing days of the 2014 Legislature.
"I really believe that this is the year that it's going to pass," he said after Friday's hearing.
read ... Autism health coverage gains traction
Calvin Say Case: Finally the Law Will be Enforced?
Borreca: The state House last week formed a committee that will act on a petition by a half-dozen Palolo residents who claim that while Say says he lives in the 20th House District of Palolo and St. Louis Heights, he actually resides three valleys over in the 25th District of Pauoa.
Where people live is a constant problem for Hawaii. It followed former legislator and Maui Councilman Sol Kahoohalahala for four years as opponents argued that he lived in Lahaina, not Lanai; and now Sen. Brickwood Galuteria has critics questioning tax credits he claimed for a home outside of his Senate district....
And if Say recognizes the ducks pecking at his residency claims now, it is because they have been legally challenging him since at least 2006....
Say's issue has been banging around the courts for most of this time, until the courts last year said the "House has not yet exercised its power, nor conducted any investigation" that would settle the matter.
Now in a precedent-setting move, the House has decided it will let lawyers for Say and his opponents argue ina public meeting tentatively scheduled for next week. This will serve as the House exercising its power.
The committee will write a report. Souki says the report could go from declaring Say is good to stay, or he is living at the wrong place and should not hold office.
"The committee will focus on the evidence submitted by the attorneys, and then it is up for us to decide and write a report," said Rep. Scott Saiki, the House Democratic leader.
The state Constitution gives the Legislature the power to consider if a member is guilty of "misconduct, disorderly behavior or neglect of duty … and punish any member with censure or, upon a two-thirds vote," suspend or expel the member.
All this is a really big deal because where Say lives has been an issue in at least his last three campaigns, andthe voters said wherever he lives, they want him as their representative.
Of course, the other side is that purposefully misleading or lying to voters has serious consequences.
The resulting decision, either for or against Say, will go a long way toward spelling out political rules for all candidates in Hawaii.
read ... Enforcing the Law. What a concept!
Kauai: Accused Rapist Gets Off on Technicality
KGI: Corazon D. Constantino, 43, was indicted on two counts of third-degree sexual assault and one count of attempted third-degree sexual assault in July 2010. His motion to dismiss a defective indictment after the sentencing was denied by 5th Circuit that December.
But the ICA ruled the indictment was flawed and the case should be vacated for failing to mention the victim was not married to the defendant in the indictment.
The 5th Circuit Court erred in denying the motions to dismiss when the defense presented the problem, it stated.
“We conclude that the state’s concession of error is appropriate, that Constantino’s conviction must be vacated and the case must be remanded for dismissal without prejudice,” the justices stated.
read ... Soft on Crime
Infamous Hit Man Enjoys Retirement Years With Family and Friends in Hawaii
SA: Henry Huihui, who had cancer, died on Jan. 20 at the Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu after suffering a stroke eight days earlier, his family said.
He was 77.
Born Henry Willis Huihui in Kakaako, he at one time worked as the director of the apprenticeship program for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1186....
In May 1984, Huihui pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges and the 1977 murders of gambler David Riveira and Inland Boatmen's Union head Josiah Lii.
He told prosecutors he killed Riveira because he turned police informant....
He said he killed Lii because of a power struggle among union factions.
In the mid-1980s, prosecutors sought Huihui's cooperation in an attempt to go after a reputed crime boss on the Big Island (Larry Mehau).
His daughter Jamie Huihui-Lono (proudly) said her father told her he played games with the prosecutors and never gave them any information to incriminate anyone....
Huihui served 26 years and seven months in various federal prisons for his crimes, she said. (If he was prosecuted by the state, he would have got probation.)
She said two years ago, her father, who was living in Albany, N.Y., was diagnosed with stage 3 colon and prostate cancer, and she insisted he return to Hawaii.
"He was glad to see his great-grandchildren," she said. "Before he died, he told me he was glad he returned to Hawaii."
"I was just glad he was home. We went camping and stuff. There was a lot of healing with family," she said.
His is also survived by sons Henry James, Mitchell, and Black; daughters Misty Tehane and Madeline Mineshima; 17 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren....
Background: Hell Bent--One Man's Crusade to Crush the Hawaiian Mob
read ... Soft on Crime
Silly UH Research Blames Windward Rains on Global Worming
SA Best Comment: This study is a compete crock. We wasted another ton of money on UH research that isn't worth the paper it's printed on. We live on the windward side, and have family in Waianae. The statements made about rainfall amounts is total bs. They don't describe measured rainfall totals anywhere in their research. They talk about "approximate frequency." otherwise known as voodoo climatology.
read ... Voodoo Climatology
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