Rep Sylvia Luke Kills In-Session Fundraising Ban
Hawaii Open Budget: A bold step towards fiscal transparency
Second Amendment Update: Bills & Hearings
DoE 'Anxious': Hawaii Common Core Testing Begins March 10
Lawsuit Could Legalize Prostitution in Hawaii, Western States
Applicants Wanted for Ethics and Campaign Spending Commissions
Hawaii has Fewest 'White Christians' of Any State
Coaches, Administrators Screw UH Again and Again Because they are HGEA Members
SA: A Division I college basketball coach is a manager, right? He or she supervises around 20 people, and most are compensated with six-figure annual salaries and plenty of perks.
They're not punching timeclocks and working on assembly lines.
So someone tell me. Why is Gib Arnold filing a union grievance against the University of Hawaii? Why are UH coaches in a labor union to begin with?
Yes, the answer to the first question is obvious: Because he can. The other is a head-scratcher.
Sort of like what UH faced when it didn't want a coach under NCAA investigation running the Rainbow Warriors when the season started. No good answers.
And here's why this really matters: When UH fired Arnold, one of the reasons it did so was because it didn't have the option of putting him on paid administrative leave.
Why? Because of his union membership.
It was leave him be until the NCAA letter of allegations, fire with cause or fire without cause. Manoa interim chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman chose fire without cause and stands by it. Now, in addition to the union grievance UH faces a $1.4 million legal challenge from Arnold because of a poorly written clause in their contract.
read ... David Reardon
Senate Panel Grills HART, OKs 5 Year Extension of Rail Tax
SA: The state Senate Ways & Means Committee approved a bill Wednesday to extend the rail tax, but not before trimming the proposed extension by 20 years.
The 6-2 vote came after the committee members spent more than four hours grilling Mayor Kirk Caldwell and Honolulu rail leaders on the project's financing. Sens. Sam Slom (R, Diamond Head-Hawaii Kai) and Gil Reviere (D, Heeia-Waialua) voting against it.
The bill still has several more hurdles to face in the state Legislature. If passed by the full Senate, it will be sent to the House for consideration.
During the hearing, committee chairwoman Sen. Jill Tokuda repeatedly suggested changing Senate Bill 19 to extend the rail surcharge on the general excise tax on Oahu for five years past its 2022 sunset, instead of extending it 25 years as the bill was written.
Based on the financial details that rail officials have provided to senators, a five-year extension would get the project out of the "funding hole" that it faces to complete the 20-mile, 21-station route to Ala Moana Center and leave the project with an additional $192 million or so, Tokuda said during Wednesday's hearing....
"Five years gives us enough," Caldwell told Tokuda. "But I don't want to be back in five years, whether I'm here or not" needing another vote on funding for route extensions. "To put the community" through that kind of "pain" would be difficult, he said.
Besides, Caldwell added, "If you listen to everyone in this community they say it's crazy" that the rail route doesn't go to Manoa.
Tokuda (D, Kailua-Kaneohe) told rail leaders and Caldwell, "I think those are separate decisions ... from why the Senate thought you came here, which is to finish what you started." She also noted that those route extensions still haven't received official approvals from city elected leaders or federal transit officials.
Tokuda further noted that the City Council has not submitted any written testimony lending its support to SB19 -- and she wondered why that was. "This is a big deal and we don't even have a piece of testimony," she said.
Senate President Donna Mercado Kim sat in and said that Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit officials should have alerted the agency's board months earlier than they did of the financial hardships ahead.
HART officials first made the looming shortfall public in December.
"You're saying everything happened at the beginning of December? ... It didn't all happen overnight," Kim (D, Kalihi Valley-Halawa) said Tuesday. "If somebody's paying attention, you know that something's happening."
read ... Massive Tax Hike
House Cuts Rail Surcharge in Half
SA: House lawmakers, meanwhile, expressed more discomfort than the senators Wednesday toward rail officials' tax extension proposals — but they still passed a bill by a slim margin.
With an 8-7 vote, the House Finance Committee advanced House Bill 134 to extend the surcharge but also to cut it in half — from a 0.5 percent surcharge to 0.25 percent.
The committee intentionally did not specify whether the measure would make the surcharge permanent. Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke said House officials are still struggling with how long to extend the rail tax, if at all.
The bill at this point is a conversation-starter on how best to deal with the rail budget crisis, Luke said. It now goes before the House for a floor vote. If passed, it goes to the Senate.
read ... 8-7 Vote
Maui Memorial, losing $43M a year, could be privatized
HNN: A proposal to allow the privatization of the financially hemorrhaging Maui Medical Center gained preliminary approval this week by a key state House committee, but it's coming under attack by the head of the state's largest union for being a “sweetheart deal.”
Maui Memorial Medical Center lost $43 million in the red last year and it's expected to need another $46 million from taxpayers to cover its losses this year.
A proposal before state lawmakers would allow a private operator such as Hawaii Pacific Health, the parent company of Straub and three other Hawaii hospitals, to take over Maui Memorial as well as community hospitals on Lanai and in Kula, Maui.
Under the deal, taxpayers would pay HPH $32 million a year for ten years and share in new construction costs. ($43M x 10 = $430M-$320M = $110M savings)
"We wanted to be proactive and come forward to the state with option as opposed to saying 'Give us more money' over and over again. I just don't think that's a sustainable model," said Wes Lo, regional chief operating officer of Maui Memorial Medical Center and the Kula and Lanai hospitals.
Dr. Linda Rosen, who runs the state's public hospital system, said it's a good deal.
"Because it will save the state money eventually, and it will also bring improved, I think, health care services to Maui County," said Rosen, who oversees 14 hospitals statewide.
But the proposal is opposed by Randy Perreira, the executive director of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, the union that represents 800 employees at Maui Memorial such as nurses, clerks and medical technicians.... (Why? Because Hospital Reform? Randy Perreira Says "F*** You". That's why.)
Under the proposal, current hospital employees would be guaranteed employment for just six months but would have to re-apply for their jobs.
The former state workers would probably see their private sector salaries increase (Yes, that's right. Workers make more actual money when they're not represented by the HGEA. Learn this.)-- but their vacation, sick day and retirement benefits would decrease. Private health care workers generally lack pensions and lifetime medical benefits that state workers receive. Private health care employees also have significantly less vacation and sick time, since state workers receive 21 days a year in each category.
State officials estimate Maui Memorial would save $26 million a year in fringe benefits under the deal....
(Paid more but cost less. How is that possible? Here's how: Hospital Crisis: How to Use Union Work Rules for Fun and Profit)
read ... Could Be
GEMS: Much-Touted Green Energy Program Falls Far Short of the Hype
CB: The initial program is not going to benefit renters at all, and very few homeowners. Only nonprofits — and well-established ones at that — are going to be eligible to participate.
Background: HECO Finally Admits GEMS is a Rate Hike
read ... GEMS
87% of Pesticides not Used by Agriculture
KE: Back when Bill 2491 —which solely targeted pesticide disclosure by Kauai Coffee and four seed companies — was up for debate, the County Council amended it to include this bit of reality:
In 2012, restricted use pesticides were used on Kaua’i by agricultural operations (7,727 pounds, or 13%), county government operations (28,350 pounds of Chlorine Liquefied Gas, or 49%), and nongovernment operations for structural pest control (25,828 pounds, or 38%).
Yet even though the termite treatment guys use far more pesticides than agricultural operations, and they use them everywhere, including on and around schools, none of the anti-GMO folks or Councilman Gary Hooser seem to think they should be included in the pesticide disclosure bills moving through the Legislature.
The pest control guys agree. Tim Lyons, executive director of the Hawaii Pest Control Association, submitted testimony on SB 1037 that ironically mirrors the concerns of the seed companies:
We don't believe and hope that we are not the target here and, therefore, there should be an exemption section within the bill.
We are particularly concerned with eco-terrorism. That is, situations where neighbors fight with neighbors regarding what they are about to apply via the use of a structural pest control operator. We are also worried about compromising information between pest control operators dependent on the type of information they would have to disclose and the possibility that a competitor can receive that information and use it to their advantage.
So they get a free pass while the attack on agriculture continues, with SB 1037 now amended to require all farmers to disclose their pesticide use. But non-farmers in the ag district can spray home and landscape pesticides to their heart's content, with no disclosure. WTF?
read ... Kauai Eclectic
HB819 Bullying: Mainland Homosexuals Want to Help Hawaii Youth 'Grow up Gay'
HRC: Yesterday, HRC the Hawaii House Committee on Judiciary held a hearing on HB 819, a comprehensive anti-bullying and unanimously voted to move the bill forward. HRC submitted testimony in support of this critical anti-bullying measure. The bill will now be considered by the full Hawaii House....
Last month, the Hawaii Education Committees in both the House and the Senate held hearings on versions of this bill.
The deck is stacked against young people growing up LGBT in America and the impact of family rejection, bullying, and daily concern for safety weighs heavily on our youth. HRC’s groundbreaking report, Growing Up LGBT in America, found that LGBT youth are twice as likely as their peers to say they have been physically assaulted....(by the homosexual child molester that 'turned' them....)
Reality: The transsexual agenda for Hawaii schools
read ... Gay Bullying Agenda
Hawaii Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights Deferred
CB: A Senate committee decides the proposed constitutional amendment was flawed and expects a new version next session.
LINK: Senate Bill 679
read ... Soft on Crime
Apple Back in Classroom Teaching Chemistry for $300K/Year
KL: After leaving his position as the UH Mānoa chancellor, Tom Apple is enjoying his new job and colleagues as a professor in the chemistry department at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa campus.
Apple has been working as a tenured professor since the beginning of Spring 2015, following his dismissal last July from his UH administrative position. He currently teaches four classes – two sections of physico-chemical measurements and one section of both professional ethics for chemists and theory of chemical bonding.
“It’s refreshing to see students who not only work hard in the classroom, but in the professional field as well,” Apple said. “They value their education because a lot of them are paying for this themselves.”
read ... Happy to be away from Administrators
New UH Violence Policy Could Backfire
MW: Sorry, but I’m uncomfortable with the proposed new University of Hawaii policy on sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking — the one so many want under the Violence Against Women Act and Title IX of the U.S. Code.
It makes its administrators act as forensic police and investigative psychologists in the complex matters of sexual encounters on all campuses —
not just between students or faculty members, but also for “volunteers, visiting interns, guests, patrons, independent contractors, or clients of the University.”
UH staffers are not detectives. Yet the policy says, “Each campus will investigate complaints in a manner that is equitable and reasonably prompt. Where appropriate, the campus will take prompt and effective steps including disciplinary sanctions.”
Sexual harassment? Sure. It’s well-qualified there. Police, judge and jury on sexual acts? Read on.
“University proceedings need not await the disposition of any related criminal investigation or prosecution. The University has the right to proceed with an administrative investigation at any time.”
That should ring alarm bells everywhere because it gives UH “investigators” the power to determine if there was consent for the sexual act....
it’s a dangerous step to push campuses too far in the direction of presumption that every complaint of “I said no” might be valid on its face. It would be unjust and unlawful to presume guilt and deal out interim punishment....
read ... Backfire
Mandatory DNA Testing for Rape Cases
AP: The bill originally called for new response teams to be established in every county, but it was amended following advice from the attorney general, said Sen. Jill Tokuda, chairwoman of the committee. Tokuda said the amended proposal would include funding for the program, although the exact amount was unclear at the legislative hearing.
The proposal lays out guidelines for testing DNA evidence collected by health care providers, and it sets timeframes for processing the DNA. Health care providers would have to turn over evidence to authorities within 72 hours of getting written consent, and then the Department of the Attorney General would have to submit the evidence to the next party within 14 days. Then there would be a 90-day deadline to analyze the evidence.
The bill also would mandate including the DNA evidence in a state database.
The Honolulu Police Department supported the intent of the bill, but it was concerned about the cost, according to its written testimony. The Department of the Prosecuting Attorney from Maui County opposed the bill, saying that requiring testing of every "rape kit" goes too far.
read ... DNA Testing
Health Department Scraps Request to Delay Posting Inspection Reports
CB: In February, the Developmental Disabilities Division, which oversees one of seven types of care homes, started posting its inspection reports online. There are 295 homes under its jurisdiction, with each providing care for up to two people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
Now the Office of Health Care Assurance, which is in charge of the other six types of homes, says it can follow suit and start posting its inspection reports by “early- to mid-March.” The office oversees more than 1,600 facilities providing care for several thousand people in neighborhoods throughout the state.
read ... Up in March
Hawaii regulators deny energy groups' petition to Delay Sale of HECO to NextEra Energy
PBN: ...The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission has denied a petition from a group of renewable-energy industry stakeholders that asked it to finish an energy road map for Hawaiian Electric Co. before looking into Florida-based NextEra Energy's proposed $4.3 billion acquisition of the utility.
The PUC ruled this week that the matters addressed by the petition "have been rendered moot" by its decision to move ahead with its review of the proposed acquisition.
However, the PUC said the petitioners will have seats at the table during the review process. They include The Alliance for Solar Choice, Blue Planet Foundation, Hawaii PV Coalition, Hawaii Solar Energy Association and Sierra Club of Hawaii....
read ... Moot
Bus Pass Price Hike: City Boosts its Take of UH Tuition 40%
KHON: The U-Pass is given to each student at the beginning of the semester when they validate their IDs. Its cost is included in tuition.
The pass currently costs $30 per semester, but starting next year, it could go up to $40, then $50 the following year.
When it came time for the school to renew its contract, the student government negotiated with the city to lessen the fee increase. It may be pricey, but students say the U-Pass really helps students.
read ... City Gets a Cut of the Action
Suspect Arrested in Big Island Church Arson
BIN: A 52-year-old Captain Cook man has been charged with arson following a suspicious fire reported on Thursday morning (Feb. 26) at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Captain Cook.
Detectives charged Richard Paul Read with one count of first degree arson on Wednesday, Mar. 4, at 2:00 p.m....
Read’s bail has been set at $15,000. He is currently being held at the Kona cellblock pending an initial court appearance scheduled for Thursday, Mar. 5.
read ... Suspect Arrested
Pearl Harbor Bike Path 'A Giant Homeless Camp'
SA: I am a regular commuter along the Pearl Harbor bike path. It is a shame what portions of it look like now, with homeless camps, garbage piled high and mopeds coming at you....
read ... Garbage Piled High
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