Prince Kuhio’s Fight to Americanize Hawaii
Lawsuit: Puna Geothermal Plant at Center of $122M Federal Grant Fraud
OHA COO Resigns Amid Management Shakeup
OHA's Secret Funding Plan
Opt Out of Common Core Test?
Video: Cynthia Thielen, Robert Harris Discuss NextEra Merger
$150M State Loans to Finance Solar Contractor Sales to Nonprofits
Video: The Jones Act -- A Better Day
Eminent Domain And The Honolulu Rail
Honolulu Auditor Releases Citizen Centric Report
Court Creates Loophole Allowing Child Molesters to Walk Free
HNN: It's a technicality that has already forced two child molestation convictions to be overturned.
Bryan Muller was convicted of sexually assaulting a 12-year old when he was 19. But the State Court of Appeals ruled last year that court documents lacked one key line, which stated that Muller and the young victim were not married.
Just last week, the child molestation conviction of Edward Ayau was also thrown out for the same reason.
"The law says that a person is only guilty if they were not married to the other person," says defense attorney Victor Bakke. "That language has to be in the document."
Bakke says prosecutors should have known better and should have been using that line in indictments years ago.
"By not doing it and waiting for 2-3 years for this decision to come down... every case that took place during that 3-year period has now got to be thrown out or modified," says Bakke.
Honolulu's Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro is currently out of town, but a spokesman says his office did start adding the line before the ruling last year, but are now reviewing child molestation cases that could be affected.
Kauai's Prosecutor, Justin Kollar, says he respects the court's ruling, but feels the required language is not necessary.
"It certainly seems self evident that if an adult is accused of having improper sexual contact with a person who is less than 14 years old, it goes without saying that they are not married to each other," says Kollar, who also points out that state law would have prevented victims that young from marrying anyway....
"A huge amount of strain on the people involved, especially the victims who are often children," says Kollar....
Wisdom: Dissenting Opinion
read ... Child Molesters Walk
Panel pulls $28 million debt plan from health exchange bill
KGI: A legislative committee has approved a bill related to Hawaii's health exchange, but it removed a key part of the proposal that would allow the exchange to issue $28 million in debt financing.
The decision came after concerns were raised about the plan, including the idea that the state would back the debt using its reserve fund.
"We're not saying we don't want it, we're saying we want the finance committee to look at the serious issues," said Rep. Angus McKelvey. "You don't want to pull money out of the reserves."
The House Committees on Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection voted Wednesday to remove the debt-financing plan from the bill, but McKelvey said the finance committee could later put the language back in and approve the bill.
The Hawaii Health Connector will need about $28 million to maintain operations through 2022, according to the latest sustainability plan from its CEO Jeff Kissel. At that point it's expected to break even and begin paying off the loan interest estimated at $4 million through its revenues, Kissel said.
If the bill fails, the exchange will get by, but it would hamper enrollment efforts, he said.
"There's sufficient funding for us to reduce our activity to a minimal level so that people won't lose their coverage," Kissel said. "We can protect our people, but it would effectively stop the growth of new enrollments."
In its first year, enrollment fell far short of projections, reaching about 10,000 people instead of the 100,000 to 200,000 some public officials predicted. The enterprise only collected about $121,000 in issuer fees instead of the $1 million it anticipated in its budget, and the state granted the exchange $1.5 million.
read ... Not Dead Yet
House committee approves audit of rail project
KITV: Members of the state House Transportation Committee unanimously passed two resolutions Wednesday (HCR 181&HR 119) that call for a state audit of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, which is overseeing construction of Honolulu's $5.3 billion rail project.
Transportation Committee Vice Chair Rep. Matt LoPresti said even though HART has internal audit mechanisms in place, including outside audits by the Federal Transit Administration, committee members felt an additional state audit is appropriate given that the project is already facing cost overruns and budget shortfalls totaling at least $910 million....
Two bills currently alive in the state Legislature seek to extend the half-percent rail tax on Oahu to complete the initial 20 miles of the project. The Senate measure would extend the tax for an additional five years, while the House measure would extend it in perpetuity. The Senate bill also calls for an audit of HART finances, which was added as an amendment by members of the Senate Transportation Committee after a hearing last month.
read ... Audit HART
Senate Considers 5 HART Audit Resolutions
SA: In HART's first independent audit, in 2012, another firm, PKF Pacific Hawaii LLP, found a handful of accounting errors that it blamed on a lack of sufficient HART staff resources at the time. The second, in 2013, found accounting problems related to the project's reimbursements from HART's federal partners.
Meanwhile, the Senate will consider at least five additional rail-related resolutions during hearings next week. They include:
- Senate Concurrent Resolution 112, which would ask for a state audit of the state Taxation Department to understand why rail's GET revenues are down despite an overall increase in state GET collections.
- SCR63, which would urge HART to seek more cost-cutting measures.
- SCR143, which would ask HART to develop a plan to fund rail operations and maintenance.
- SCR65, which would urge HART to incorporate bus rapid transit links from several parts of the island into the future rail line.
- SCR124, asking the auditor to look into the status and progress of rail's completion.
Whether a state audit of rail takes place because of the House resolution, the Senate bill, or some other measure, it would nonetheless occur after a vote has already taken place in this legislative session on whether to extend the rail tax.
read ... HART x 5
Council report shows rail technology, length cannot be Changed
KITV: A report released Wednesday by the City Council details some tough choices that must be made regarding Honolulu’s $5.3 billion rail project.
The three-page Permitted Interaction Group report, or PIG, comes about a month after council members Brandon Elefante, Joey Manahan, Ernie Martin and Trevor Ozawa met with top officials from the Federal Transit Administration Feb. 24 in Washington, D.C. The face-to-face came after the council learned in January from a KITV4 report that the project was facing cost overruns and budget shortfalls totaling $910 million.
The main conclusion of the fact-finding mission is this: the city has very little wiggle room when it comes to changing certain aspects of the project that were agreed to under a full funding grant agreement signed in December 2012....
"I think where there is, or may be leeway, would be in the completion date if anything,” Manahan said in an interview with KITV4. “But then again, that would also have to be justified to the FTA."
The PIG report states the city is “locked in” to its contract with the FTA and the approval of any changes to the rail project would be “extremely unlikely.”
Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation Executive Director and CEO Dan Grabauskas said the City Council’s findings mirror his understanding of the FFGA contract.
"It looks like it confirms a lot of the basic questions we get frequently,” he said. “Can we change the technology? The answer is no. Can we reduce the length of the guideway or number of stations without breaching the contract? The answer is no and those things were all confirmed in the meeting."
read ... Straw man Argument used as Tax Hike Sales Pitch
Cowardly Council to Vote on Ordinance Accepting GE Tax Hike (if given), but Refuse to go on Record with Resolution
Omidyar Uses Civil Beat to Pander to National Democrats, Congressional Delegation
Protesters Demanding Payoffs, Target Mauna Kea Telescope
HNN: Another standoff is looming in the battle over the Thirty Meter Telescope.
Protestors on the Big Island are taking action to block heavy construction equipment from getting to work on land they consider sacred.
Kamahana Kealoha with Sacred Mauna Kea says about 100 protestors went up to the entrance to the Mauna Kea Observatory Road Wednesday night and will be staying overnight. He says several others will join them Thursday morning. They plan to create a human blockade to keep more construction crews and equipment from going up.
University of Hawaii spokesman Daniel Meisenzahl says about five tractor-trailers carrying heavy equipment drove up to Mauna Kea early Tuesday morning to begin construction for the world's most advanced telescope. Once word got out, Native Hawaiian protesters began making the journey up to the 13,796-foot summit.
SA: Mauna Kea draws 'protectors'
Reality: Telescope: The Shakedown begins
read ... Shakedown
63% Know '100% Renewable' is Pipedream
Star-Adv: Boost Economy by Making More People Dependent on Foodstamps
SA: National research shows that a large percentage of Hawaii residents who are eligible for SNAP are not receiving benefits. More aggressive outreach could be worth $50 million to $150 million annual spending in the state, if all those eligible folks signed up, according to the research.
The task rightly lies mainly with the Department of Human Services, which administers SNAP at the state level. DHS supports the intent of HB 1347, but understandably prefers that lawmakers support its budget request as the avenue to boost SNAP, including through staffing and technological improvements....
An average of 193,565 people in Hawaii enrolled to receive monthly SNAP benefits in fiscal year 2014, about 40 percent of whom were children. The benefits received totaled more than $520 million for the year.
Some critics question whether the state government should be encouraging more people to seek out such assistance....
read ... Your Dependency = Our Profit
Government data from Grassroot
SA: The new website is a selective repository of public information the institute has culled. Some of its favorite focal points have been the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Native Hawaiian Roll Commission. The site already includes a check register from OHA, so visitors can see who got what money.
The group is filing a lawsuit to compel the release of the names of enrollees, who must be Native Hawaiian to qualify.
Mostly what's on the website is government salary data. There's also a top-10 annual pension list: It doesn't give the department, but No. 1 gets a maximum allowance of $195,108.62.
read ... Government data from Grassroot
Ready or Not, Hawaii Should Prepare for Concealed Carry
CB: Should permission to carry concealed firearms be more widely available? Two court cases argue yes, and both have implications for gun owners here in Hawaii.
read ... Ready
House adds a bill, subtracts a bill -- HGEA's Sick Leave Gambit Dropped
DN: If you were planning to drive down to the Capitol from the North Shore this morning to testify on SB129 (sick leave), sorry about that… it was taken off the agenda—and another bill, SB1324 (allows ERS to directly pay divorce settlements), snuck in—without the 48-hour notice as required by House rules.
Totally Related: HGEA Pushes Mandatory Private Sector Sick Pay in Bid to Kill Hospital Privatization
read ... House adds a bill, subtracts a bill
Lawmakers Take Another Step to Restore Preschool Money
CB: About 1,300 families rely on the Preschool Open Doors program to cover preschool costs, but money for the program was inadvertently left out of the governor’s budget for the coming fiscal year.
Senate Bill 64 was introduced by Sen. Kalani English to restore funding to the Preschool Open Doors program and had already passed the Senate....
As originally written, SB 64 would have allocated $6 million to provide subsidies and another $440,000 for three positions and other services to run the program. However, it was amended to leave the funding amount blank so lawmakers could factor in the budget request later in the legislative session.
Another bill, Senate Bill 844, would set up a program to establish universal pre-K at public and charter schools that would be administered by the Executive Office on Early Learning. The bill would allow parents to enroll their children in pre-K programs at public and charter schools across the state.
The House Education Committee hasn’t scheduled SB 844 for a hearing yet. In order to move through the rest of the legislative process, the bill must be passed by the House Education and Finance Committees.
read ... Preschool
Hawaii Could Have Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Next Year
CB: The dispensary bill passed two Senate committees with amendments that move up the time frame for implementation.
On Wednesday, the Senate Health and Public Safety committees passed House Bill 321, the bill that would create medical marijuana dispensaries and production centers in each Hawaii county.
But first, lawmakers amended the bill to allow dispensaries to begin operating next year. Sen. Josh Green, who chairs Health Committee, wants potential dispensary owners to be able to grow and prepare their product starting this fall.
The earlier draft of the bill would have put off dispensary operations for another three years, Green said.
SA: Hawaii's marijuana users could see outlets as early as next year
MN: Time has come
read ... Keep the people doped up
Homeless Overrun Capitol, Chase legislators, Staff Out
HNN: Some state lawmakers want the State Capitol to reduce the hours its open to the public to increase security since homeless people are entering the building early in the morning and late at night.
Several longtime state lawmakers were surprised to learn that the State Capitol is officially open to the public from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. daily, even when there are no public events going on.
That means the elevators keep operating long past the 4:30 p.m. closing time of other state offices.
"10 p.m. does seem to be a bit late to have it open on a weekday, especially if nothing is happening," said State Senate Public Safety Chairman Will Espero, who suggested that the Capitol should reduce its hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m....
People who work at the Capitol said homeless people are increasingly entering the building in the early morning and at night.
Homeless have been discovered bathing and washing clothes in Capitol restrooms, littering and asking for free food and coffee from lawmakers, sources said.
"We need to be cognizant of the safety of not just the legislators and the public but the staff that work here sometimes until very late or early morning hours," said Shawn Tsuha, who oversees the state sheriff division as deputy director for law enforcement in the Department of Public Safety.
Tsuha said his deputies respond to more calls about the homeless than anything or anyone else in and around the Capitol.
Sheriff deputies responded to 226 calls dealing with the homeless in January and 386 homeless calls in February in the several-block area surrounding the Capitol, known as the civic center.
"They (the deputies) are doing quite a bit of liaison and work with the homeless in the civic center complex, not just at the Capitol building," Tsuha said....
read ... Capitol hours may be reduced
More flew here than grew here in the past four years
WHT: When it comes to population increases in Hawaii County, more of us flew here than grew here, according to the latest data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Hawaii County’s population grew 4.9 percent, to 194,190 people, according to the data that tabulated births and deaths and estimated domestic and international migration between the 2010 census and June 30, 2014.
The state as a whole grew 4.4 percent, while Maui and Kauai, with smaller population bases, grew more than 5 percent, the latest estimate shows. The United States as a whole, meanwhile, grew an estimated 3.3 percent.
Hawaii County led the state in the rate it grew this past year, according to the figures. Hawaii County’s population jumped 1.5 percent between 2013 and 2014, compared to 0.75 percent statewide.
SA: More residents are packing up and leaving Oahu
read ... Census
Employees Retirement System claims $14 million in investment losses
KITV: KITV has learned the Employees Retirement System is to be the sole US plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against a Brazilian gas and oil company.
The ERS handles pensions and benefits for thousands of government workers in Hawaii.
It is trying to recover losses totaling some $14 million from investing in bonds and securities with Petrobras.
The suit points to misstatements and omissions by the Brazilian energy giant.
The company has been embroiled in a government corruption scandal that has spurred large demonstrations in Brazil.
On Wednesday the ERS board held a special meeting to be briefed on the latest developments.
The Hawaii pension fund is involved in two other lawsuits involving Metronic and Intuitive Surgical, but for much smaller losses.
The attorney general says the lead plaintiff for the Petrobras lawsuit is a British pension fund.
Feb 2015: "Widespread Bribery and Corruption" Hawaii ERS Sues Petrobras
read ... PetroBras
Feds: Whale Watchers Must Stay out of Whales Path
WHT: Boaters intent on getting close to humpback whales will no longer be allowed to put themselves in front of the giants and wait for them to swim past, under just one new rule being proposed by the Hawaii Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.
The rule against intercepting a moving whale addresses a safety issue both for whales and for the people on the boats, said sanctuary superintendent Malia Chow. Boaters frequently skirt the 100-yard approach limit by placing themselves in the humpbacks’ path, she said.
“It’s also about not altering the whales’ behavior by getting in the way,” she said.
In the draft management plan that is out for a 90-day public comment period, additional species would be protected in the sanctuary and its overall area would be expanded to include 235 square miles of water around Oahu, Maui, Kauai and Niihau. New rules would create special management areas where sea floor disturbance, sewage discharge, explosives and introduction of invasive species are prohibited, and special “focus” areas to engage communities in partnerships.
SA: Proposal broadens sanctuary to protect all species
read ... Proposal would expand, increase protections of humpback sanctuary
Kuhio was ‘Citizen Prince’
MN: After annexation, the Territory of Hawaii was run by an appointed governor and an elected Legislature. Although they couldn't vote for the president, citizens of the territory could elect a nonvoting delegate to Congress. Wilcox was the first, serving one two-year term. In 1902, Prince Kuhio, running as a Republican, was elected delegate and served until his death Jan. 7, 1922. He was 50.
In Washington, D.C., where many considered Hawaiians to be simple natives, Prince Kuhio cajoled Congress into appropriating millions for the construction of Pearl Harbor, the Territorial Building in Honolulu and the Hilo wharf. He was credited with creating the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which originally included Haleakala. The prince created the Hawaiian Homes Commission to get his people out of urban slums and back on the land. The creation was flawed, but the ever-pragmatic prince took what he could get.
In 1920, the last of the ali'i to wield real political power introduced the first congressional resolution calling for Hawaii statehood.
KGI: Prince Kuhio events continue with cave tour, luau on Friday
read ... Kuhio Day
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