Feb 20: Last Chance to file for Neighborhood Board Elections
Pro-Life? Hawaii One of Only Four States With no Abortion-Free Insurance Policies on Health Exchange
HR235: Eliminate Hawaii Internet Access Taxes
Grassroot Institute: Promoting our Principles in the Legislature
SB727: Hike GE Tax Another 0.5% Statewide
Ige Nominates DoTax, DoH Deputy Directors
Horizon Settles Lawsuit, Clears Way for Sale to Pasha, Matson
Right to Try Bills would Protect Terminally-Ill Patients from FDA Restrictions
Jones Act Case to Be Heard by 9th Circuit at UH Manoa
Rhoads, Chun Oakland Behind Massive Income Tax Hike
KITV: ...in 2009, state lawmakers passed higher personal income tax rates for top wage earners in an effort to enhance revenues....
House Bill 36 and Senate Bill 261 were introduced by Rhoads and Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland, respectively. Both bills simply remove the sunset date of Dec. 31, 2015 from the law passed in 2009....
Lawmakers have until March 6 to schedule hearings on HB 36 and SB 261 before the House Finance Committee and Senate Ways and Means Committee.
read ... Massive Income Tax Hike
Statewide Preschool: SB844 Passes Senate Education Committee
CB: A bill to establish a statewide pre-kindergarten program passed through the Senate Committee on Education on Friday afternoon.
Senate Bill 844 would set up a program to establish pre-K offerings at public and charter schools that would be administered by the Executive Office on Early Learning.
Right now, there is $3 million dollars in the budget for the program, but lawmakers plan to ask for another $30 million.
CB: Committee OKs SB374: Free Early-College Tuition for Eligible High-Schoolers
read ... Tax n Spend
Latest Excuse: Say's Palolo Home 'Being Renovated'
HNN: "His wife and boys moved out to be caregivers. I don't think that's unreasonable. I also think it's reasonable that he spends a lot of time there having dinner and staying with the family when he can, but that does not change intent," said attorney Bert Kobayashi Jr.
"This is not in any way to belittle or say that it's wrong for people to take care of their family members or to be with their family. It's just a matter of what the legal consequence is when you set up your life outside of your district," said Lance Collins, attorney for the petitioners.
The Palolo home is currently being renovated, according to Say's attorney.
KHON: Video
KITV: Video From Hearing
read ... Renovating the Excuses
Anti-GMO 'Babes' Admit They are Democrats, Ask Party Not to Nominate Real Molokai Farmer
CB: Babes Against Biotech is urging Maui Democrats not to select a local farmer, Mrs. Lynn DeCoite, for Mele Carroll’s vacant seat in the Hawaii House of Representatives.
The anti-GMO group posted on its Facebook page Friday a plea to the party’s District 13 selection committee tasked with selecting three candidates to replace Carroll, who resigned Feb. 1 for health reasons.
District 13 represents Molokai, Lanai and parts of Maui.
Best Comment: "Hopefully the selection committee will either ignore or question BAB's basis for targeting Mrs. DeCoite. BAB appears to be another group of conflict entrepreneurs eager to tap our state's vast reservoir of ready offense and outrage based on lack of familiarity with agriculture and science. However, if you have met Mrs. DeCoite, you would know that she is from a Molokai family with a long farming history, that she is a successful farmer in the Hawaiian homestead community, and she has been president of the group representing the Hawaiian homestead farmers, as well as having served in other positions that support agriculture. To drum up a "firestorm" based on her inclusion of biotech crops on her family farm is a vacuous objection to her qualifications; having a smart, hard working and successful farmer in the state legislature could only help by bringing more common sense to important discussions and decisions about the future of our agriculture.
MN: House candidate interviews today
read ... Will Democrats Support Farmer or Babes?
Ige to Sign over 400 Ac of Hana 'Forest Reserve' to Maui Windfarm Developer
MN: Bio-Logical Capital assumed stewardship of Hana Ranch on Jan. 15, 2014. It describes itself as a land investment, development and conservation company.
The changes approved include:
* Withdrawal of nearly 400 acres from the Hana Forest Reserve by Hana Ranch.
* Withdrawal of 1.3 acres from the West Maui Forest Reserve.
* Withdrawal of Kaumahina State Wayside Park, nearly 8 acres, from the Koolau Forest Reserve along Hana Highway in East Maui.
* Withdrawal of Puaa Kaa State Wayside, 1.7 acres, from the Koolau Forest Reserve along Hana Highway in East Maui.
* Withdrawal of Polipoli Spring State Recreation Area, about 7 acres, from the Kula Forest Reserve.
Also approved was a recommendation of an addition of 190.1 acres to the Hana Forest Reserve. These lands will managed by the Forestry and Wildlife Division instead of the DLNR Land Division.
The recommendations will now head to Gov. David Ige's desk for his signature on the executive order, which will make the boundaries legal.
read ... Giveaway
Legislators Continue to Fight to Keep Dole Land from Being Sold to Individual Owners
SA: A group of state senators wants the state to explore the possibility of swapping the site of the Oahu Community Correctional Center for agricultural and conservation lands between Wahiawa and the North Shore.
State Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz (D, Wahiawa-Whitmore-Mililani Mauka), the bill's lead author, said the swap would allow what are largely former pineapple lands to remain in agriculture and conservation designations. At the same time, it could generate enough additional revenues from the owners of the lands — due to the value of the OCCC property, which sits on prime urban real estate in Kalihi along the city's rail route, and other nearby state land — to pay for a replacement to OCCC on property adjacent to the existing Halawa Correctional Facility, he said.
"This bill is the beginning of the process of due diligence; it's not the end," Dela Cruz said. "There's a concept, and now we have to fund the due diligence."
On Friday three Senate committees heard Senate Bill 1374, which appropriates up to $500,000 from the Land Conservation Fund for a study to investigate the potential deal. The roughly 15,000 acres of agricultural and conservation lands is owned by Dole Food Co. Hawaii. Much of the land is being leased to farmers on short-term agreements as Dole is actively seeking to sell the property to potential developers.
Flashback: Prince Kuhio’s Fight to Americanize Hawaii
read ... Keep the People Dependent on the Government
Exposed: NextEra Schemes to Prevent Rate Cuts for Four Years
SA: The Alliance for Solar Choice, a national lobbying group for rooftop solar, plans to intervene in the pending sale of the parent company of Hawaii's major electrical utilities. The group is questioning whether the sale is in the public interest....
According to Van Nostrand, not going before the PUC for a rate increase for four years is not a benefit, but a loss for electrical utility customers because the PUC doesn't get to examine the company's finances and transfer the reduced costs to customers.
"Customers would not see the immediate benefits from NextEra's lower debt cost and better credit rating if the company's finances are not presented before the PUC," he said. "If they do all of the things they say they are going to do, they wouldn't be able to justify a rate increase. In fact if they go before the PUC, you might get a rate decrease."
January, 2015: MECO: If You Don't Ask for Lower Rates, We Won't Ask for Higher Rates
read ... Promises in HEI sale earn group's skepticism
Ige's AG Lobbied for Private Prison, Nomination Approved Anyway
SA: While well over 100 people submitted written testimony supporting Chin's nomination, two people opposed the selection. They noted that Chin, as a partner in the Honolulu law firm Carlsmith Ball, lobbied on behalf of Corrections Corporation of America, a private company that receives millions of dollars annually from the state to house Hawaii inmates in Arizona.
Private citizen Karen Chun said she is concerned that Chin will seek to influence future decisions involving the company.
Under questioning by Judiciary Committee members, Chin said he would recuse himself from any dealings involving the corrections firm or any other former client, as is required under the Rules of Professional Conduct that all Hawaii attorneys must follow. The public can report any potential violations to the state Judiciary's Office of Disciplinary Counsel, a panel of peers that could levy penalties as severe as disbarment.
Chin said the business terms involving the corrections company's contract with the state are negotiated by the Department of Public Safety and that the only role of the attorney general's office is to review the contract for form and legality.
read ... Chin
Obama Sends Labor Secretary to Talk to ILWU, Management
AP: President Barack Obama is sending his labor secretary to California to meet with both sides in a contract dispute that has affected the flow of goods from Asia into West Coast ports.
A White House spokesman, Eric Schultz, said the president is getting Secretary Tom Perez involved because of concerns about the economic consequences of further delays.
Perez's mission is to meet with the parties and press them to quickly settle their differences at the negotiating table.
Irony: Obamacare Punches $150M Hole in ILWU Contract
read ... Settle
Big Island Lawmakers Tell their Doper Constituents to be Hopeful About Getting More Weed from the Government
WHT: The provisions include: Department of Health licensing and oversight on the number and placement of dispensaries, with licensing starting in 2017 and a minimum of 26 dispensaries established by 2019; application fees of $20,000 — $18,000 of which is refundable for unsuccessful applications — to start a new dispensary; and annual renewal fees of $30,000.
(Tip For Legislators: With that much weed out there, the voters will be too doped up to notice what you do.)
read ... Dopers
Retailers Money Tied Up by Shipping Delays
MN: For now, goods will continue to flow to the Hawaiian Islands. Work for domestic or "Jones Act" ships, such as those that service Hawaii, have not been touched because of an agreement between management and labor, said Matson spokesman Jeff Hull in an email. Matson is a member of the Pacific Maritime Association.
But nothing in the Jones Act, which regulates maritime commerce in U.S. waters and between U.S. ports, specifically protects domestic carriers - including those to Hawaii - from labor disruptions, officials said.
The move to keep Hawaii exempt from the fallout of the labor dispute is primarily for political reasons, explained Michael Hansen, president of the Hawaii Shippers' Council, a business organization that represents shippers of goods with ocean carriers operating in Hawaii trade.
Hansen said in an email that the maritime association does not want to be seen shutting down vessel work in Alaska, Guam and Hawaii, because "cutting off those jurisdictions would cause too many political problems."
Hawaii's lone Republican state senator, Sam Slom from Oahu, already is calling on President Barack Obama to intervene in the labor talks.
While Hawaii vessels currently may be exempt from the maritime association no-work order, Hansen said there could be other issues. The ILWU on Oahu exercised its contractual right to treat Sunday as an "optional" day, with workers taking the day off, local news reports said. That action caused a one-day delay in shipping.
Although there still are products on his shelves, David Marrs of Marmac Ace Hardware said that the stores' money is being "tied up" in the slowdown and shipping delays.
He placed an order Wednesday for his two stores, one in the Kahului Industrial Area and the other in Maui Lani, and is hoping the goods make it on a barge and do not get stuck on a West Coast dock. Marrs said that he needs the products to sell and to generate income to pay salaries, wages and insurance costs.
He said it's a "heads up game" now with him having to monitor what is happening on the docks on the West Coast.
read ... Heads Up
Opinions differ on mainland placement for Hawaii's troubled teens
HNN: Youth advocate Kathryn Xian is behind Senate Bill 274. The proposal requires parental consent before the state commits any teenager to the mainland.
"Youth should ideally never be transported out of state for any reason, be it incarceration or for care," she said.
Attorney Eric Seitz believes in parental consent but also feels the state shouldn't drag its feet when deciding whether to send a youth away.
"I have a couple of cases pending still now where that happened, and one of those children committed suicide because he wasn't put in an appropriate care facility," he said.
Right now 25 Hawaii youngsters are in mainland treatment centers. The average cost for each is $380 a day. The state contracts with 14 mainland residential facilities for youth placements....
Seitz said the state doesn't have a secure treatment facility, and wavering on transferring a youth jeopardizes their rehabilitation.
"Once they make that decision, they can't delay," he said. "They've got to follow through because if a child has a diagnosis and needs a placement on the mainland, there shouldn't be any hesitation to send a child. And money shouldn't be a factor."
HNN: Special Report: Stolen by the State?
read ... Placement
Dozens of mini iPads stolen from West Oahu schools
KHON: The DOE says last August, 69 mini iPads were taken from Waianae High School. Then in December, 29 were stolen from Maili Elementary School.
So far, 42 have been recovered and police continue to look into the others that are missing....
The DOE says all the devices are labeled with the school’s name, a serial number and a sticker.
read ... Stolen
Star-Adv: Taxi rules the problem, not Uber, Lyft
SA: Rather than looking to regulate ride-booking companies such as Uber and Lyft like conventional taxi companies, state lawmakers should be trying to lift some of the rules that help make driving a regular cab such a tough way to make a living.
The state House Transportation Committee had two roads to travel in deciding how so-called "transportation network companies" should operate in Hawaii, and unfortunately it chose the more predictable path.
The committee deferred House Bill 1287, elements of which Uber executives say are essential to preserve the company's viability in Hawaii, and moved forward with House Bill 1463, which acquiesces to taxi and insurance industry demands that the transportation innovators face the same requirements as heavily regulated taxi companies — rules that are guaranteed to drive up costs for customers.
read ... The Problem
On The Move in the Legislature
QUICK HITS: