HART Directors' Secret Discussion: State May Grab 25% Cut to Ease Passage of GE Tax Extension
Tulsi Gabbard Hires Cult Associate as Chief of Staff
Rep. McDermott sues UH Over 'Pono Choices' Secrecy
Marijuana: Six Bills on the Move Thursday
HELCO selects Ormat to provide an additional 25MW of geothermal energy
Another Journalist Quits Omidyar: 'Blocked at Every Turn by Incompetence, Bad Faith'
Ige's Secret Advisors--Broken Trust, HECO, KoOlina, HSTA
CB: David Ige was sworn into office in early December. His honeymoon has ended. A major group that helped him get elected are now wondering if his appointment of Ching is part and parcel of a larger problem.
David Ige was a member of the Chess Club, the progressive Senate faction calling for open government, open access and open disclosure of conflicts of interest. He talked about the need for the Governor to listen to the people. Since getting elected he has met with developers and GMO seed company representatives. Gatekeepers have kept the environmental community and other progressives at-bay.
The Governor has chosen to remain silent about the DLNR selection process. Ching was selected by a secret group which has since partially surfaced. The group includes Lorrie Lee Stone, Robbie Alm, Gordon Arakaki and Mike McCartney. Others involved in influencing David Ige include Keith Hiraoka and Richard Ige....
David’s best buddy Keith Hiraoka and Gordon M. Arakaki were members of the Class of 76. Arakaki attended the William S. Richardson School of Law, worked for the Senate Committee on Ways and Means (2007-08) and served as an officer of the developer lobbying group the Land Use Research Foundation (LURF)....
Robbie Alm worked for U.S. Senator Dan Inouye (1979-82) and the served as the Director of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) for over a decade (1982-93) He then worked for the First Hawaiian Bank (1993-2001) and Hawaiian Electric Company (2001-13)....
McCartney served as a state senator from Kane'ohe from 1988 through 1998. McCartney headed PBS Hawaii, Hawai'i Tourism Authority (HTA) chairman, executive director of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, with a membership of 13,500 and chairman of the Hawaii Democratic Party.
McCartney served on the HTA Board with Real Estate and Land Use Attorney Lorrie Lee Stone. Stone graduated from the Richardson School of Law in 1987 along with Pamela J. Ferguson-Brey and Kathleen Racuya-Markrich.
Lorrie Lee Stone along with her husband Jeffrey R. Stone are active in land use development and no strangers to controversy.
The Stones live in the $12 million 10-bedroom Aina Haina beachfront mansion formerly owned by businessman and philanthropist Maurice J. "Sully" Sullivan.
Jeffrey Stone acquired the stalled Ko Olina Resort project in 1998. In 2005, Stone partnered with Morgan Stanley to purchase the 9,000-acre Princeville Resort on Kauai.
In 1999 Attorney General Margery Bronster convened a grand jury which indicted Bishop Estate chairman Richard "Dickie" Sung Hong Wong for allegedly taking a $115,800 kickback. The grand jury also indicted Wong's wife, Mari and Wong's brother-in-law, local developer Jeffrey Stone, for commercial bribery, criminal conspiracy and serving as an accomplice to theft.
The charges against Stone, along with Wong and his wife, were dismissed by the Circuit Court. The state appealed, but the dismissal was upheld by the Hawaii Supreme Court.
Hawai`i Senator Colleen Hanabusa worked for two years during 2002 and 2003 to get a $75 million tax credit for a proposed Ko Olino "world-class aquarium" fish tank. Hanabusa said her financial connections to Stone were indirect. During this timeframe she and her fiancé acquired a Ko Olina luxury town house and sub-leased her downtown office from Stone....
Feb 12, 2015: Ige's Secret Transition Committee: Stone, Alm, Hiraoka, Arakaki and others
read ... Secret Advisors
Ige Finally Agrees to Release Names of Secret Advisors
CB: Gov. David Ige on Thursday released the names of the people on his transition team who have been advising him on key decisions to appoint members of his Cabinet, including the highly controversial nominee Carleton Ching.
The governor’s transition team includes Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui; former vice president of Hawaiian Electric Co. Robbie Alm; real estate attorney Gordon Arakaki; Ige’s campaign manager Keith Hiraoka; University of Hawaii vice president Dan Ishii, who served as an assistant to former Gov. George Ariyoshi; Ige’s longtime office manager Joyce Kami; the governor’s Chief of Staff Mike McCartney; and Lorrie Stone, a land use attorney who is married to developer Jeff Stone.
Most of the names don’t come as a surprise. Civil Beat previously reported that Alm, Arakaki, Hiraoka and Stone were part of the governor’s inner circle. And it’s a given that Tsutsui and McCartney would have a hand in the appointments.
But what is interesting is how long it’s taken to receive the full list of transition team members. Civil Beat first asked for the names in January.
At a press conference Feb. 12, Ige evaded the question twice, saying that there are “a number of people” on his team but that he makes the final decisions.
At a second press conference Thursday, he again gave vague answers as to who is on his transition team, saying that he takes ultimate responsibility for choosing Carleton Ching and other nominees. He finally agreed to share the names after Civil Beat asked why he hadn’t released them after weeks of requests.
He said he couldn’t think of a reason not to share them and wasn’t aware that reporters had been asking for the list for so long....
read ... Finally
Caldwell Rejects All Other Options to Spin HART GE Tax Hike
SA: Calling the $6 billion rail project the "big elephant" in the room, Caldwell is pushing to extend Oahu's 0.5 percent general excise tax surcharge past its 2022 sunset, saying it's the only real option for the financial quandary. He might eventually be right — but despite all the mayor's talk about project transparency, it's deeply troubling that city and rail officials remain publicly vague on financial details and projections. Meanwhile, Senate Bill 19 to extend the rail surcharge is moving in the Legislature.
Caldwell has chosen this extension tactic rather than call on the state, as he did unsuccessfully last year, to collect the surcharge in a timely manner and turn over most of it to the city. The state has kept an unconscionable "skim" for its own coffers, to the tune of about 10 percent annually, estimated to top $400 million by 2022. A current bill seeking to give the state 25 percent of the GET surcharge has stalled in the Legislature, fortunately, but bears watching.
Clearly, Caldwell sees advantage in spinning rail's near-term money woes further out, in hopes of securing a dedicated, longterm funding source to enable full-route "completion" past the current Ala Moana Center endpoint, out to Waikiki and the University of Hawaii-Manoa.
85% 'NO' -- Should the City be given an indefinite extension of the state’s general excise tax surcharge to pay for the rail transit project without disclosing the project’s total costs?
read ... GE Tax Hike
HART Spins Ansaldo Sale to Hitachi as Latest Excuse for Tax Hikes
SA: The Ansaldo purchase also comes during an uncertain time for the cash-strapped rail project, which now faces as much as a $910 million deficit. Rail leaders are trying to persuade state lawmakers to extend the rail tax surcharge as rail officials scramble to close the gap, but that extension remains uncertain.
In 2013, Grabauskas and rail officials had further asked for assurances from Finmeccanica that its Ansaldo venture could carry out the rail contract despite Finmeccanica's heavy losses, credit downgrades and even a corruption scandal that saw the defense firm's chairman resign earlier that year.
During a March 2013 meeting, Ansaldo executives looked to ease HART board members' concerns by noting that the city has several layers of protection to make sure its train system is completed, including a bond from insurance firm Chartis and a legal obligation by Finmeccanica.
Meanwhile, Ansaldo and HART remain at an impasse over the cost to deliver four-car trains for the system instead of two-car models. HART officials have said the move would save the project about $20 million, while Ansaldo estimated the switch would cost about $4 million. Despite saying last fall that he believed the two parties were close to a resolution, Grabauskas on Tuesday said they still had not reached an agreement.
Amid the recent uncertainty over how to fully fund rail, Ansaldo has continued its work. It expects to deliver its first train in early 2016, Fontana said Tuesday.
read ... More Excuses for Tax Hikes
Helping HART Create False Sense of Crisis, FTA says major changes to rail project would come at great price
KITV: "The FFGA is a binding contract between us and the federal government,” Manahan told KITV4 via satellite. “So, if they have to basically meet the requirements on their end, we also have to meet the requirements on ours. And that's based on the current financial plan that we have adopted and that HART has put out."
If the city attempted to change the 20-mile route, use a different technology other than steel wheels on steel rail, or perhaps build fewer than the 21 transit stations currently required, Martin said construction would likely be halted.
“To change the technology or to reduce the number of stations would require the city to undertake another environmental review of the project itself,” Martin said. “That would cause significant delays in the project, and at the end of the day, we might end up with a project that's far more expensive than what is currently being contemplated."
To date, Congress has allocated more than $806 million of the FFGA, which will eventually total $1.55 billion once the 2017 federal budget is approved by Congress. An FTA spokesperson issued a statement to KITV4 Tuesday confirming what was told to Manahan, Martin and fellow council members Brandon Elefante and Trevor Ozawa, who also traveled to Washington.
“Noncompliance with the terms of a Full Funding Grant Agreement would result in FTA requiring repayment of federal funds already provided to the project sponsor,” the agency’s spokesperson wrote in an email....
Manahan and Martin said the FTA was receptive to the possibility of using federal highway funds to make-up some of the rail project's existing shortfall, which is currently pegged at $910 million.
"It was something that they themselves put on the table,” said Martin.
After his meeting with FTA officials last month, Caldwell said he was pursuing as much as $100 million in highway funds that are normally set aside for the state. The mayor said negotiations with the Hawaii Department of Transportation were ongoing.
Caldwell, HART Executive Director and CEO Dan Grabauskas as well as members of the HART board are currently lobbying state lawmakers for an extension of the half-percent rail tax on Oahu to gather more funds for the cash-strapped rail project. The surcharge to the state’s general excise tax is supposed to sunset at the end of 2022.
Earlier this month the state Senate’s Transportation Committee approved SB 19 that would extend the rail tax until 2047. The measure has been forwarded to the Ways and Means Committee for further debate.
read ... Great Price
No REIT Tax
SA: ...this legislation would affect other REIT holdings like Ala Moana Center, International Market Place, St. Francis Medical Pavilion and more. It also would jeopardize thousands of construction, resort, retail and health care jobs.
Similar to mutual funds, REITs allow ordinary Americans to invest in professionally managed, income- producing real estate such as hotels, health care facilities and shopping centers.
In order to maintain REIT status, REITs are held to strict requirements, including distributing annually all taxable income to shareholders in order for all earnings to be taxed on the shareholder level....
Another notable regulation precludes REITs from "flipping" properties. Hawaii has benefitted from this long-term investment source and the outside capital that has come with maintaining and expanding current REIT infrastructures. This is beneficial to Hawaii's economy, community and tourism industry.
In 2014, Forbes listed Hawaii as the fifth worst place to do business — falling three spots from its 2013 rating —stating: "Hawaii has one of the most onerous business tax situations." Legislation to tax REITs would further put Hawaii at a disadvantage relative to the 48 states that have chosen to leave the REIT tax law alone.
The bills related to changing the tax structure for REITs are irresponsible and should not be passed. I care about the economic health and sustainability of my home state. The potential short-term revenue increase is not worth damaging this long-term source of capital and investment in our community....
read ... No REIT Tax
Factional Considerations in Carleton Ching Nomination
ILind: Many of the Senators have been laying low, dodging and weaving on the nomination. It is understandable most of them would wait until the hearing and the committee’s recommendation before committing to either support or opposition to the nomination. But there are also other, unseemly considerations which appear to be distorting the process. The administration has been offering financing for Capital Improvement Projects in the home districts in exchange for votes.
In addition, factional considerations have been at work as well, distorting the process. Senator Green is aligned with the “Chess Club” faction, the faction to which Ige belonged when he was their colleague. Despite their personal friendship with Ige, it is the senators aligned with the Chess Club who appear to be most concerned about the nomination, both as policy and for the damage it may do to the Ige administration.
The leaders of other factions, sensing the ill-ease of the Chess Club members, and not caring one way or the other about the Ching nomination, seem to be taking a “wait and see” approach, reluctant to help Ige, their Chess Club colleagues or to align with the environmentalists and cultural practitioners opposed to the Ching nomination. Who can offer them what? Do the constituents in their district really care about this to the point they have to act? Or will it all blow over?
read ... One Party Politics--Hidden
Calvin Say Residency Decision Friday
CB: The meeting Friday is expected to include a discussion of the draft report and decision-making on it. The committee has compiled pertinent documents here.
read ... White-Wash
Police Commission: Kealoha 'Exceeds Expectations'
CB: On Tuesday, the Honolulu Police Commission said Kealoha “exceeds expectations” when it comes to running his department. It’s the third year in a row it’s given such a complimentary evaluation.
According to a one-page press release, Kealoha “succeeded in ensuring public safety while effectively addressing controversial issues.”
Kealoha has been under fire for several months now. His department has been criticized for its lax enforcement of domestic violence, especially when it involves one of its own officers.
There are also pending FBI inquiries into the department. In one case an officer was caught on tape attacking a witness in a Chinatown game room. The other involves the chief’s stolen mailbox and allegations that Kealoha and his wife framed her uncle for the theft.
State lawmakers have called for action, even asking the commission to appoint co-chiefs to help Kealoha run the department. They have also introduced several bills to improve police accountability.
read ... Exceeds Expectations
HECO holds solar hostages Taken by Contractors
SA: Hawaiian Electric Co. is sending out letters to potential solar customers saying their rooftop systems won't be approved until the state Public Utilities Commission rules on HECO's request to decrease the rate it pays for energy from home solar systems.
HECO sent the letters last week to Hawaii island customers in neighborhoods with high solar penetration and will follow soon with similar letters to applicants on Oahu and in Maui County.
HECO is in effect halting all solar installations in neighborhoods that already have 120 percent of what the utility defines as solar capacity.
The letters are being sent even though HECO recently acknowledged that it is safe to increase neighborhoods to 250 percent of solar capacity without causing problems to the grid and that it plans to approve solar systems to that level.
Critics say HECO is trying to force the PUC to quickly approve its request to lower the rate paid for solar.
read ... Whose Hostages?
HHSC Emergency Funding Speeds Thru Legislature
CB: Without an extra $24 million, HHSC says its health care operations will be severely impacted. The agency notes that the money is needed because HHSC was not fully funded for negotiated and arbitrated pay raises for this fiscal year and next....
Interim Attorney General Russell Suzuki said his department needs $1.1 million to cover “extraordinary litigation expenses.” The AG wants the money for expert witnesses and specialized legal counsel to defend the state in multiple class-action lawsuits, including claims filed by 2,781 people against the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands....
DHS is asking for $2.51 million for its general assistance program. The department says it’s unable to maintain the current maximum payment of $348 per month for some 5,752 disabled residents who depend on the money to help cover living expenses.
A volcano is to blame for $1.73 million in emergency money requested by two charter schools, the Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science and Kua o ka La.
read ... $30M
Hawaii leads nation in nursing home ratings
SA: Some 39 percent of isle care homes receive the top rating under a revised system by federal officials....
Link: http://data.staradvertiser.com/nursinghomes/
read ... Hawaii is #1
Dobelle's lawyers drop out, cite failure to pay bills
AP: Lawyers for former University of Hawaii president Evan Dobelle, who is suing Massachusetts state education officials, cite an "irreconcilable difference" and a failure to pay bills, in their effort to drop him as a client.
DN: Does the Hawaii legislature know anything at all about running a university?
read ... Dobelle
Abercrombie Rushjob on H1 to Influence Primary Election?
KHON: The administration of former Gov. Neil Abercrombie, which unveiled an H1 Freeway re paving and improvement project just days before the primary election last year, decided against including key safety upgrades that would have taken months longer to complete, Hawaii News Now has learned.
The state finished an 11-month project late last July on the Honolulu portion of the H1 Freeway between Punchbowl and Middle Streets. It spent $42 million adding an extra lane in both directions and re-surfacing the freeway for the first time since the late 1990's.
Hawaii News Now has learned the state still needs to spend about $5.5 million to replace outdated guardrails with concrete barrier walls at 10 overpasses and off ramps along the same stretch of freeway....
read ... Imagine what they would to to traffic to win support for rail
Is a Weak Lobbying Law Getting Weaker?
ILind: Kondo told the commission that he planned to review the policy toward goodwill lobbying because he now believes the specific language of the law is not broad enough to demand disclosure of social gatherings, whether one-on-one dinners between legislators and lobbyists, or receptions bringing dozens of legislators together to drink and dine with special interest groups, where specific legislation is not discussed.
“Professional lobbyists take legislators to meals off-session all the time, not to talk about any bill, but maybe just to talk about how the family is doing, how your health is, or how the weather is,” Kondo said. “But they are building a relationship, so that when they need to pick up the phone, they can get access, they can get somebody on the other side that says, ‘Yeah, I’ll talk to him.’”
And while these are important — and from the public’s perspective, perhaps the most important kinds of lobbying activities — Kondo said he no longer has confidence in the commission’s legal authority to compel disclosure.
Kondo had already cancelled a workshop for lobbyists at the Hawaii Convention Center that had been scheduled in January. He told the commission it had been cancelled “due to uncertainty about certain interpretations of the statute.”
Kondo said he feared the commission’s authority to require full disclosure of goodwill lobbying would be publicly challenged during the event.
read ... Weaker
Commission investigates DLNR ethics complaint
HNN: The state Ethics Commission is looking into potential conflicts of interest at the Department of Land and Natural Resources' enforcement division.
A complaint filed by environmental activist Carroll Cox alleges potential misconduct by staffers with the DLNR's Conservation and Resource Enforcement Division, who do part-time security work for Sodexo, the concessionaire for the Blaisdell Center and the Waikiki Shell.
Cox's complaint alleges that Jason Redulla, the acting chief of the DOCARE unit, works part-time for Sodexo. One of his deputies, Kirk Smythe, also works part-time at Sodexo and is his manager at the private company.
"There's a climate there that invites abuse of authority," said Cox.
"When you have two supervisors supervising one another and down the line a chain of command being conflicted and supervising, there might be a problem." ...
The complaint also alleges that Smythe's secretary at the DLNR also does for Sodexo, using her state computer and cell phone on state hours to conduct work for Sodexo.
read ... Commission investigates DLNR ethics complaint
Shield Law Bill Clears House Judiciary Committee
CB: There was a shield law in Hawaii until 2013 when it was allowed to sunset because lawmakers couldn’t agree on the language amid pressure from the Attorney General’s office.
The Judiciary Committee made several amendments to House Bill 295, including language to make it clear that the privilege is held by the journalist and not the source. The goal there, Rhoads said, is addressing concerns that if a journalist feels a source isn’t being truthful, there won’t be any legal or moral obligation to keep the source secret.
Rhoads said language would be also added to ensure that if a journalist revealed a source to someone also protected by a confidential relationship, like an attorney or priest, that it would still be privileged. But if a journalist told someone at a bar, for instance, who a source was then the privilege was waived forever.
read ... Shield
Randy Iwase confirmed as chairman of Hawaii PUC
PBN: Iwase was confirmed by a 24-0 vote, with Sen. Les Ihara Jr., D-Kaimuki-Kapahulu-Palolo, excused, Cindy McMillan, spokeswoman for the governor's office confirmed to PBN....
He is part of a three-member commission, which also includes Michael Champley and Lorraine Akiba....
Iwase said the top three cases that he would be dealing with in his new position involves the NextEra-HECO merger, liquefied natural gas and getting the state agency in order....
read ... Iwase
Hawaii lawmakers consider raising legal smoking age to 21--but only for Tobacco
AP: People who are younger than 21 years old could be banned from smoking traditional or electronic cigarettes under a proposal in the Hawaii Legislature. (This will help push them to smoke marijuana instead. Legislators need voters to be as doped up as possible.)
The House Committee on Judiciary heard testimony on the bill Tuesday....
Another bill would ban smoking traditional or electronic smoking devices, regardless of age, in state parks.
HM: Field Notes: Where People Go to Smoke
read ... Marijuana Legal, Tobacco Illegal for 18-20 years old
Hawaii Medicare patients saved an average of $1K each on prescription drugs last year
PBN: Last year, 24,137 Hawaii Medicare beneficiaries, including seniors and people with disabilities, saved $26 million — an average of $1,087 per patient, which is more than the national average....
The savings are attributed to the ACA's ongoing closure of the "donut hole," or a gap in prescription drug coverage under Medicare Part D.... The Affordable Care Act closes the coverage gap by 2020.
Hawaii's uninsured rate dropped from 7.1 percent in 2013 to 6 percent in 2014, placing it in the top three states with the lowest uninsured rates in the nation, along with Massachusetts and Connecticut.
read ... Medicare
TPP Coming Mid-March?
R: A meeting aimed at sealing a Pacific trade deal has been called for April, Mexico's economy minister said on Tuesday, February 24, adding he was hopeful it would be finalized in the next few months....
Chief negotiators are due to meet in Hawaii in March.
On Jan. 22, Guajardo said a mid-March deal was "feasible," though Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Meade said earlier this month he expected the pact to be finalized during the first half of the year.
The TPP would link a dozen Asia-Pacific economies by eliminating trade barriers and harmonizing regulations in a pact covering two-fifths of the world economy and a third of all global trade.
read ... TPP Coming
China Testing New Subs able to Nuke Hawaii
WC: ...Pool said the JL-2 was described in the report as a weapons system which enables the PLA Navy its "first credible long-range sea-based nuclear deterrent." The congressional US-China Economic Security and Review Commission in its own annual report also said the SLBM has reached initial operating capability as part of the PLA's expanding strategic nuclear forces. With an attack range of approximately 4,600 miles (7,400 kilometers), the JL-2 gives China the ability to conduct nuclear strikes against the US.
Both Alaska and Hawaii would be in range if the missile were fired from waters south of Japan. From waters west of Hawaii, the missile could reach the west of the continental United States. From waters east of Hawaii, all 50 US states would be in range, according to the report....
read ... Nuke Hawaii
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