Hawaii's Good Friday Holiday - What's Up With That?
PUC: Decoupling Boosts Electric Rates--'Adjust Revenue' up by 229% 'Without Review'
SCR181: Interisland Ferry System Study
Hawaii AG Joins call for Congressional Investigation of ‘Natural’ Supplements Industry
Mauna Kea Protesters Arrested for Blocking Road to the Top
Ige Nominates Six UH Regents
Success of independently funded GMO papaya confounds anti-tech ideologues
'Conservative Hawks' See Tulsi Gabbard Senate bid as 'Natural'
Where Do Our Tuition Dollars Go?
Schatz apparently following Michael Corleone's advice on Gabbard
Boreca: What Sen. Schatz wants is money to run for the Senate again next year.
Last year against former Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, Schatz did just fine with the campaign bucks. He raised almost $5.5 million. But, he eked out a win by just 1,782 votes in a race where Hanabusa raised just $2 million....
This weekend Schatz will be hosting a Lanikai fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who is turning 34 and about to get married and apparently running for re-election.
Special guests at the fundraiser in the home of Elizabeth Grossman will be House Democratic Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer and Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy III.
Also, the campaigns of Schatz and Gabbard are formally joined at the checkbook. The Star-Advertiser's Kevin Dayton reported last week that the pair filed with the Federal Elections Commission the Schatz-Gabbard Re-Election Fund.
The two campaigns would be able to raise money together for each candidate's campaign.
The political gossip since Schatz's narrow victory and Gabbard's overwhelming win over former Mayor Mufi Hannemann in 2012 has been that Gabbard had Schatz in her sights....
But as Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said, links such as the Schatz-Gabbard one are uncommon because "today's ally can become tomorrow's adversary."
The Michael Corleone quote from "The Godfather" about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer proves the truth that there is nothing as unsentimental as a political friendship.
read ... Corleone
Kenoi Spend Hundreds at Another Hostess Bar-- Criminal Charges Considered
HNN: Already in political hot water for his $900 night at the Club Evergreen, Hawaii News Now has learned that Big Island Mayor Billy Kenoi also took the county credit card to the Camelot Restaurant & Lounge on Sheridan Street, dropping $400 at the hostess bar.
That was September 2009. Kenoi immediately paid back the county for his bar tab but political experts say that's not the issue.
"This is the kind of thing people resign over. I don't really understand why you would ever think it was appropriate to use a county credit card, even if you intended to pay the money back," said Colin Moore, HNN political analyst and political science professor at the University of Hawaii.
"I think any other county or state official would have been fired over a one- or two-time occurrence of something like this."
The latest hostess bar disclosure comes at Big Island Prosecutors are mulling a criminal investigation.
Attorney General Doug Chin said he spoke briefly with Hawaii County Prosecutor Mitch Roth at the state Capitol and offered his office's assistance if needed. If Big Island prosecutors go ahead with an investigation, they're likely turn it over the AGs office due to potential conflicts....
Kim said Kenoi is not being watched like he was. Kim said he rarely used his county credit card and added that he was taken to task by county officials back in 2002 when he spent $100 on his card to buy lunches for school children on a field trip.
read ... Criminal Charges
Kenoi Paid Bar Association Dues with Taxpayer Funds
KHON: We found tens of thousands in travel expenses within the islands, to the mainland, even international.
There are charges for rooms or meals and drinks at hotels like the Four Seasons in San Francisco, the Mandarin Oriental in D.C. and JW Marriott in Los Angeles.
Locally Kenoi has spent money at the Sheraton Waikiki, Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Moana Surfrider, Executive Center and others.
Retailers like Quiksilver, a surf shop, bike shop, even hundreds of purchases at a time at online and Oahu-based flag-and-banner stores.
KHON2 had asked Kenoi if there were any other bars like Club Evergreen where he spent more than $500.
Kenoi told us no, but according to the statements, there were: $620 at Honolulu’s Aloha Lounge, $753 at Shokudo, $422 at Camelot, $479 at the Hilton Lobby Bar in Baltimore, hundreds at a time at Sansei, an $800 tab at Kenichi in Kailua-Kona, another there for $900, $700 at Palms by the Bay in Hilo.
One of the smallest was $6 at McDonald’s.
In addition to the bar spending, Kenoi, who is also an attorney, rang up his nearly $600 Hawaii State Bar Association dues on his pCard.
As for the alcohol, the mayor’s spokesperson gave us a 1999 memo that states there’s an exception allowing alcohol purchases if “necessary for the entertainment of dignitaries by the Mayor” or others.
Exceptions are supposed to have the written approval of the Mayor or council chair.
Questions are now being raised about Kenoi’s political career.
Hawaii Pacific University professor John Hart told KHON2 any criminal charges would be devastating. But if Big Island voters still support him, Kenoi, who still has two years in office, still has the possibility of getting elected into a higher office.
“If they support him, will he still be able to run for governor? Definitely
View the full statements: 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | Reimbursements
read ... And they're still talking Kenoi for Governor, LOL!
Star-Adv: Authorize Maui hospital plan
SA: There comes a point when the diagnostic testing has to end and the treatment must begin. Maui County has reached that point with its financially ailing public hospitals, the only critical-care facilities Maui residents have, and it's time to transition to a new business plan involving a private nonprofit corporation.
This means state legislators should reject proposals that the state first conduct an audit of the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. Instead, House Bill 1075, which enables such a public-private partnership, should be passed.
Hawaii Pacific Health, operators of major private hospitals, has been in talks with the governing authority of Maui Memorial Hospital on a deal that would keep the property in state hands but would privatize its operation. Under the umbrella of the Maui region and its board are also Kula Hospital and Lanai Community Hospital.
HB 1075 — which now has passed the Senate Health and Commerce and Consumer Protection committees, chaired respectively by Sens. Josh Green and Rosalyn Baker — does not specifically name HPH as the partner.
Instead, it authorizes the Maui board to lease facilities under its control for "operation by a new private nonprofit corporation." Plainly, lawmakers are viewing this as a kind of pilot program for such partnerships as a means to make other state-run hospitals more sustainable fiscally.
The measure moves on to a joint hearing by the Judiciary and Labor, and Ways and Means committees and, according to the report signed by Baker and Green, the next panels to weigh the bill are urged "to review any monetary or labor agreement matters that may need to be further clarified." ...
Maui's hospital services are deeply in the red and need a rescue plan. The Maui board last week ordered a $28 million cut in services and positions for the next fiscal year, in the face of continuing deficits.
Maui County residents simply cannot afford to lose their primary care facilities, and the status quo is leading them precisely toward that end. The crisis has been studied at length, most recently in the 2009 Stroudwater Associates report that recommends the state take exactly the direction HB 1075 lays out.
read ... Authorize
After Carmageddon, DoT Decides to do Simple Things They Should Have Done Years Ago
KHON: Backup units for the computer battery pack that failed will now be held in reserve in the event of future problems. Previously, this unit was not held in reserve due to its limited, one-year shelf life in storage. HDOT and ZipMobile vendor Lindsay Corp. are also preparing a list of additional electronic backup parts that are practical to keep on hand.
Lindsay Corp. will allow HDOT use of its proprietary software and train local staff on re-installation procedures.
HDOT is submitting a budget proposal to the State Legislature this week for the long-term rehabilitation or replacement for one or both ZipMobiles.
Highway operational improvements are being considered to formalize use of freeway shoulder lanes during afternoon rush-hour traffic in various locations, such as the H-1 right shoulders from Pearl Harbor to Salt Lake and from Aiea to Pearl City, that were used in the Tuesday and Wednesday traffic backups.
read ... Simple Things they Should have done Years Ago
In Desperate Effort to Con Legislators into Raising Taxes, Grabauskas Pretends to Skip Bonus This Year
SA: The top executive overseeing Oahu's cash-strapped rail effort is asking to forego his annual bonus this year because of the agency's money problems.
Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation Executive Director Dan Grabauskas told board members Thursday that the agency is working "diligently and responsibly to reduce costs and demonstrate that we are responding seriously to the public's call for fiscal austerity and self discipline," in an April 2 letter.
HART board members on the Human Resources Committee considered Grabauskas' request in executive session. The full board is slated to consider Grabauskas' request later Thursday.
Several lawmakers have questioned whether the rail project is doing all it can to contain costs as they decide whether to vote in favor of extending the rail tax....
The request also comes amid Grabauskas' annual job evaluation, a process that will play out this month. (Translation: They might fire him for incompetence.) He first joined HART as its director in April 2012 and has received two annual $35,000 performance-based bonus.
Grabauskas' original three-year deal, paying an annual base salary of $245,000, ends this month. His new contract pays a base of $257,000 and make him eligible for a 3.5 percent raise in the subsequent two years.
His new contract also replaces the annual flat-rate bonus of $35,000 that Grabauskas was eligible for with a range of bonus amounts that could equal as much as 15 percent of his salary. (Or as little as 0--meaning he is giving up nothing.)
PDF: Letter from HART CEO
read ... Anything to Raise Taxes
Maui might exit HEI, create its own utility
SA: Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa said he is considering turning Maui Electric Co. into a publicly owned utility.
Arakawa said making MECO a public utility would help Maui adopt renewable energy resources at a faster pace and save customers money.
"We have come to the conclusion that we have to start looking at this thing very seriously as to what our potential is in actually investing and creating our own utility," Arakawa said in an interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Maui is the second of Hawaiian Electric Industries' three service areas looking at possibly stepping out from underneath the HEI umbrella.
A group on Hawaii island said in February it is considering turning Hawaii Electric Light Co. into a cooperative....
Arakawa said the county is looking into a variety of options and is still researching what would be the best fit.
"There are any number of ways we can do this," he said. "We need to research it. We could start our own utility. We could purchase the electric companies. We could form cooperatives," Arakawa said. "We've been talking to Kauai and Big Island and some of the other users, potential power producers. We feel we could put it together."
Maui County has been looking at Kauai's model and talking to Parker Ranch Inc. on the Big Island, Arakawa said.
Kauai launched the nonprofit Kauai Island Utility Cooperative after Kauai residents bought their electric utility for $215 million in 2002 in a completely debt-financed deal. The co-op is guided by a board elected by its 33,000 ratepayers, who each get one vote.
Parker Ranch is considering building its own "micro-grid" to break with the utility and potentially reduce costs.
"There are a number different proposals we have been talking to different people about," Arakawa said.
The sale of HEI to NextEra, first announced in December, needs to be approved by the state Public Utilities Commission, which is expected to make a decision by June 2016.
read ... Maui Seeks Exit
School guidelines prevent testing 'opt-outs'
SA: Parents seeking an "opt-out" for their children from standardized testing now underway in Hawaii public schools are being told that the state cannot grant the requests, according to new guidelines issued to schools.
Citing an advisory opinion from the state attorney general's office, the Department of Education says state law does not allow for opting out of the tests. A few states, including California and Utah, have laws that allow parents to prevent their child from taking standardized tests, while others, like Arkansas and Texas, prohibit opt-outs.
"According to an opinion from the Hawaii Department of the Attorney General, students who are educated in Hawaii's public schools must participate in the statewide assessment program," the DOE wrote in its guidelines.
The department says the guidance was prompted by "heightened national efforts by various groups promoting the opting-out of testing." But a spokeswoman said opt-out requests have not been widespread since the Smarter Balanced Assessment testing window opened last month. It wraps up in June.
Some 93,000 elementary and high school students are expected to take the test, which replaces the former Hawaii State Assessment.
Related: Opt Out of Common Core Test?
read ... No Escape
Monday Deadline Looms for Ige to Pick New DLNR Chair
CB: ...the governor has until Monday to nominate someone else if the Senate is to confirm him or her this session...
“We’re very much aware of the Monday deadline,” Ige told Civil Beat Thursday.
He wouldn’t say who, if anyone, is being seriously considered or if he has a new name to submit to lawmakers on Monday.
“I would prefer to take the time to find a quality candidate,” he said. “It has been one of my priorities to really transform the culture in government, in all departments. So I have been looking for leaders that can help do that, in every role.”
The governor said his office quit accepting applications earlier this week....
read ... Monday
Maui County audit: $21 million lost
MN: Maui County lost out on more than $21 million in interest earnings when the county Finance Department failed to send payments from fiscal years 2010 to 2014 to the state agency that provides health and life insurance benefits to county employees, according to an independent audit of the department's Treasury Division released Thursday.
"Funds held by the Treasury were not sent to the Hawaii Employer Union Health Benefits Trust Fund (EUTF) for nearly five years. While those funds sat in the county's Treasury earning less than 1 percent per year, the EUTF could have invested those funds on behalf of the county and earned over 10 percent per year," the report states.
The audit was conducted from May through March by the Office of the County Auditor, which was formed in 2013 following voter approval.
In fiscal 2009, $12.6 million was sent to the OPEB account. The year and amounts sent to OPEB since then follow: 2010, $16.7 million; 2011, $14.8 million; 2012, $22.8 million; 2013, $22.4 million; and 2014, $18 million.
It is the Finance Department's duty to transfer funds from the OPEB into the EUTF, and though the department did so in fiscal years 2008 and 2009, the department did not transfer any additional funds into the EUTF for nearly five years from fiscal years 2010 to nearly the end of fiscal 2014, which ended June 30.
Fiscal year 2010 was the last full fiscal year - which runs from July 1 to June 30 - of the administration of Charmaine Tavares, who was defeated by Alan Arakawa in November 2010. Arakawa's administration took office in the middle of the 2011 fiscal year.
The Finance Department transferred $97.2 million from OPEB into EUTF at the end of June, but the delay cost the county $21.6 million in interest earnings that could've been used to pay down the $344 million the county owes in unfunded liabilities for health benefits for current and retired county employees, the report states.
read ... Price of OPEB
Hawaii corrections OCCC might be moved to Halawa
SA: The governor will release $5 million to plan the relocation of the jail to Halawa from its site in Kalihi....
read ... Moving?
Legislature unlikely to bail out UH Athletics
SA: University of Hawaii Regents were told Wednesday it is unlikely the Legislature will grant any of the $3.5 million being sought to help bail out athletics this session.
UH President David Lassner had asked for the money to help the athletic department address its latest budget shortfall.
But Kalbert K. Young, UH Vice President for Budget and Finance/CFO, told the Regents’ Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics, “the House and Senate (budget) version does not include any specific funding directed for athletics although that was part of the ask.”
read ... No Bail Out
Ethics ruling could put public school trips in jeopardy
HNN: Trips by hundreds and perhaps thousands of Hawaii public school students could be in jeopardy after the state Ethics Commission said teachers are breaking the ethics law by accepting free trips from travel companies.
The Department of Education asked for guidance from the Ethics Commission on a trip to Washington, D.C. and New York City taken by about 50 eighth graders from King Intermediate School in Kaneohe. Five school employees, including three teachers, traveled for free and had their trips paid for by the travel company Education First Explore America. The school staff served as chaperones for the trip, which cost students about $2,600 and parents about $2,900.
"Notwithstanding the 'educational benefit' of the trip …" an Ethics Commission lawyer said the free trips violated the ethics code because "…we believe there is a reasonable inference that the free travel and other related benefits are offered to the teachers to 'influence' their official actions or as a 'reward' for their official actions."
Ilind: Hawaii News Now “exclusive” lags the news by six weeks
read ... Exclusive?
Off-duty officer involved in Honolulu bar shooting
AP: Yu says a 40-year-old woman working at the bar was taken to a hospital in critical condition with a single gunshot wound to the torso.
It's not clear if the gun involved was the sergeant's service weapon.
Yu says the sergeant is 25-year veteran of the force who is friends with the woman who was shot. She says it appears that the gun was accidentally discharged.
News reports say the shooting took place at King's Sports Bar.
read ... Another One
Hawaii Has Lowest Proportion of Teen Drivers--53.8%
CDC: Nationwide, 76.3% of U.S. high school students aged ≥16 years reported having driven during the 30 days before the survey (Table 1); 83.2% of white students had driven, compared with 67.6% of black students and 68.9% of Hispanic students. The percentage of students who had driven increased with age from 69.8% for students aged 16 years to 84.2% for those aged ≥18 years. Across the 42 state surveys, the percentage of drivers ranged from 53.8% in Hawaii to 90.2% in South Dakota (median: 80.8%) (Table 2). Among students aged ≥18 years, the percentage who had driven varied from 57.9% in Hawaii to 94.9% in North Dakota (median: 84.4%). Driving prevalence was higher in the midwestern and mountain states compared with other regions of the country (Figure). Across the 21 districts, the percentage of drivers ranged from 30.2% in San Francisco, California, to 76.0% in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina (median: 57.7%) (Table 2).
read ... The Study
Ride sharing company protests proposed Hawaii regulations
HNN: The ride sharing company Uber is threatening to shut down its Hawaii operations if a SB1280 pending in the state Legislature is passed.
The bill aims to regulate transportation companies like Uber and Lyft where customers order rides using a smartphone app. Drivers use their own cars to give customers rides.
The bill is being taken up by the House Finance Committee Thursday.
(Uber & Lyft are using County regulation of taxi companies to protect itself from the competition.)
read ... We Demand Special Treatment, We Are Uber
Bowie steps down as head of Maui Tomorrow, Returning to California
MN: Maui Tomorrow Foundation is losing its executive director, Irene Bowie, who successfully assisted challenging the legality of the Hawaii Superferry operations.... They challenged various longtime island practices such as cane burning....
"I'm going to the West Coast. Not just leaving Maui Tomorrow, but leaving Maui. I'm kind of ready for a new chapter and some new adventures and working a little bit less, to tell you the truth. I think I'm ready to pass the baton to someone else," said the 62-year-old Bowie, who describes the next chapter in her life as semi-retirement....
The Kahului resident will leave the island later this month to live with her sister in Laguna Beach, Calif. Bowie is originally from Los Angeles and has lived on Maui for more than three decades. She was a founding member of the Pacific Whale Foundation in 1980....
Perhaps Bowie was best known when Maui Tomorrow challenged the legality of the Hawaii Superferry operating in the islands more than six years ago. That challenge led to the operation eventually folding....
Environmental groups, including Maui Tomorrow, maintained that the ferry could strike whales... (which is pretty funny considering that nobody in Hawaii kills more whales than the Pacific Whale Institute....)
read ... Returning to California
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