OHA Elections: Throw These Bums Out
Hawaii: Only 11,949 Sign up for Obamacare
HB1170: Geothermal Fast-track, part two
HB1524: Obama Opens Door to Home Energy Project Loans
Bed Bugs—Honolulu Slips to 49th Place
Full Text: State of the Union Address
Republican Response to State of the Union
Fake Cap becomes Real Threshold—Council now demands HART Spend Money Planning to Extend Rail to UH Manoa
KITV: The Honolulu City Kabuki Council now has before it a new version of a bill (Bill 23, CD2) that it hopes will satisfy federal funders to release needed money to pay rail contractors going forward.
Council Chair Ernie Martin and Transportation Chair Joey Manahan crafted the latest version that says the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation can spend up to $4.815 billion.
Anything collected in excess of that may be used to fund federal requirements. But maybe more importantly, for infrastructure around rail for affordable housing and for planning to extend the route to Waikiki and the University of Hawaii. (After acting like they were ready to shut rail down -- They’re extending it!)
What Martin (wants you to) sees as a spending cap, Horner prefers to call a threshold. (The threshold to more Rail!)
Question: Why is Horner floating such an obviously bone-headed idea?
Answer: To shift debate to the question of how to extend Rail rather than the question of whether to extend rail or whether to complete rail.
read … Kabuki Curtain Drop
Rail Operating Subsidy will Require 9% Property Tax Hike
PBN: When it's finished and operational, Honolulu’s rail transit system will lead to a 9 percent overall increase in property taxes on Oahu, Gary Kurokawa deputy director of the City and County of Honolulu’s department of budget and fiscal services told a City Council committee Wednesday….
The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation had previously confirmed the operating budget was estimated to be $120 million, 30 percent of which would be covered by fares. This means the city would have to subsidize $90 million for the rail's operation.
“Based on broad calculation, if you need to raise $90 million it will be an overall increase of 9 percent in property taxes,” Kurokawa said….
read … Tax Hike
Hawaii’s Top Lobbyist Quitting?
PBN: Blake Oshiro, a former Hawaii lawmaker who served as deputy chief of staff under former Gov. Neil Abercrombie, has left a Honolulu law firm to join the lobbying firm Capitol Consultants of Hawaii.
The firm also said that its president and co-founder, John Radcliffe, will retire and assume a new role as president emeritus.
Oshiro will join founders Radcliffe and G.A. “Red” Morris, and Bruce Coppa, who was Abercrombie’s chief of staff at the firm, whose clients include Central Pacific Bank, ProService Hawaii and Seven-Eleven (Hawaii) Inc. He was most recently with Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing in the firm’s government relations division….
Flashback: Gaming Industry Lobbyist, Progressive activist screen Abercrombie cabinet picks
read … Radcliffe Out?
More on Land and Power from Nai Aupuni Wanna Be
CB: …The state has initiated a three-pronged approach to solve the housing crisis: (1) deregulate development to facilitate a construction boom, (2) go full steam ahead with transit-oriented development, and (3) let homeowners build more rentals on their property. This approach will supply Hawaii residents with homes….
What do we want Hawaii to look like? And is there another way? ….
Answer: Sure. Create a tribe and let it control development.
read … What Nai Aupuni Wanna-bees are thinking about
Hawaii Health Connector board members resign
PBN: The five private members of the board resigned at the end of 2015….
The six other board members are state executives, including Department of Health Director Virginia Pressler, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Director Linda Chu Takayama, Department of Human Services Director Rachael Wong, State Office of Information Management and Technology Chief Information Officer Todd Nacapuy, State Healthcare Transformation Office Coordinator Beth Giesting, and Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Director Catherine Awakuni Colon.
Private members of the board included Maui Medical Group and Connector board chair Administrator Clifford Alakai, Healthcare Association of Hawaii Legislative Director Andrew Garrett, Ceridian Vice President and General Manager Calvin Hutton, and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142's Joanne Kealoha.
Johnston said some HHC staff members were retained by the state to assist in its transition to using healthcare.gov to facilitate health insurance enrollment.
It is unclear what entity will take on any pending legal claims or liabilities for the Connector.
"The State of Hawaii is prohibited by the law establishing the Hawaii Health Connector from assuming any of HHC’s claims or liabilities," she told PBN
PBN: Nearly 12,000 Hawaii residents have signed up for health insurance since November
read … Resign
Marijuana Money Rains Down on Bishop Street
PBN: …“There's a lot of opportunity here for lawyers — it’s a very complicated industry,” says Honolulu lawyer Duane Fisher, managing director at Starn O'Toole Marcus & Fisher and a partner with Pono Wellness, one of the teams applying for a Hawaii medical marijuana dispensary. “The statutory scheme is fairly complex, and so is the regulatory scheme. There are a lot of moving pieces. Virtually every applicant is going to need legal advice, and that's just for the application process. For the companies that are fortunate enough to receive a license, those folks will need lawyers to help them as they begin operations as well.”
The business and real estate lawyer is an owner in the company but will not represent the company legally.
Licenses will be awarded by April 15.
read … Downtown Green
Know-Nothings Talk up Plantation Closure as Boon to Agriculture
PBN: …even if they do find an Oahu market, the interisland transport is burdensome and is generally not worth it, the economist explained.
Brewbaker pointed to Richard Ha, owner of the Hamakua Springs Country Farms on the Big Island, which announced it was shutting down last week, as an example.
Ha said the closure was “all related to the price of oil."
Ha’s recent announcement “reflect an encroaching virus,” which will hit farms on the Neighbor Islands, according to Brewbaker's analysis.
“Any time you hear somebody, especially on Maui, talk about how HC&S [Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co.] shutting down will be a boon to agriculture reveals that they haven’t lived there for five minutes and don’t know much about Hawaiian agriculture,” Brewbaker told PBN in an email.
read … 5 minutes
Kouchi: Millions Earmarked for UPW Suit vs Maui Hospital Privatization
CB: While the Hawaii Council of Revenues’ recent slight increase in its forecast for economic growth means the state has another $40 million, legal challenges may eat that up quickly. Kouchi mentioned the United Public Workers complaint about the privatization of the three state hospitals on Maui and a First Circuit Court decision ordering the Legislature to pay tens of millions of dollars to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands….
read … Earmarked
Staff at HYCF rack up $1M-plus in overtime – With only 23 Inmates
SA: Staff at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility in Kailua continues to rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime pay annually even though the number of inmates at the facility has dropped to just 23 youths, down from 80 to 90 several years ago.
The generous overtime has allowed 14 corrections officers and supervisors and one human services professional at the jail to earn six-figure salaries and accumulate weeks of paid time off, according to documents submitted by the Department of Human Services, which oversees the facility, for a legislative budget briefing on Wednesday.
Flashback: Hospital Crisis: How to Use Union Work Rules for Fun and Profit
read … Work those Work Rules!
City Finds Way to Start Losing Money on H-Power
SA: The head of the City Council’s Committee of Public Works, Infrastructure and Sustainability demanded answers Wednesday from the Department of Environmental Services to questions raised in a scathing report that found HPOWER’s contracts and procurement practices appear to have violated city policies and state procurement rules.
The audit released last month says operating revenues increased 5.5 percent while expenses increased 18 percent between 2008 and 2015, resulting in “a precipitous decline in net operating income from over $18.8 million to a loss of $543,500 in 2015.”
During a public hearing on the audit held Wednesday, committee Chairwoman Carol Fukunaga asked Environmental Services Director Lori Kahikina, “What are the guidelines for procurement and use of external consultants?” …
The audit, conducted by the Office of the City Auditor, revealed that taxpayers ended up paying more than $1 billion for HPOWER — the city’s waste-to-energy facility — although the original contracts were for $313.7 million. It also questioned the use of sole-source, cost-plus and time and materials contracts and 79 contract amendments, change and task orders to construct, improve, expand and refurbish the facility that cost $993.3 million. The addition of $14.7 million in consultants’ fees brought the final total to more than $1 billion….
Flashback: Audit: H-Power Contracts Designed to Hide Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
read … Municipally-Owned Utility
Lawmakers open to gambling
HTH: …North Hawaii Sen. Lorriane Inouye…said a lottery could be a good thing, and something residents would be happy with, if a significant portion of the proceeds were dedicated to education or a struggling health care system.
Kohala Rep. Cindy Evans floated a bill last year to pave the way for slot machines at airports for departing passengers….
Kona Sen. Josh Green is warming to the idea of a local lottery or participation in Powerball, “provided that’s the extent to which we’ve OK’d gambling, and that any resources generated went to education and health care (blablabla),” he said….
Kona Rep. Nicole Lowen said lotteries and other state gambling programs amount to a tax on the poor.
“I don’t support it, although I realize we have to come up with other out-of-the box ideas to supplement state revenues,” she said. “Politically — and I can only speak for the House — I think there is very little likelihood we would pass anything under current leadership.”
Naalehu Rep. Richard Creagan said he opposes gambling generally for its impact on “the little guy,” but reasoned that a lottery geared and marketed to tourists could improve education, put air conditioning in classrooms and have other benefits….
In 2013, Maui Rep. Joseph Souki, the current house speaker, sponsored a bill that would have established a 20-year license for a stand-alone casino in Waikiki, a state gaming commission, a gaming fund, a problem gamblers program and a wagering tax on gross receipts. The bill, one of several sponsored by Souki to enable gambling in Hawaii, passed over to the 2014 session but failed to gain traction….
read … Gambling
State ignored HPD’s recommendation not to hire officer now charged with sex assault
KHON: “HPD does give out information when it receives inquiries from prospective employers. In the Ferguson case, we specifically disclosed that he had been discharged from our department and that we did not recommend him for hire by the State. This information was provided to the State of Hawaii, Department of Human Resources in response to their inquiry in April 2013. We also provided our contact information should State DHR have any further questions. To the best of my knowledge, no one ever contacted us for more information. We believed at that time that he had not been hired based on the information we had provided.
“We would have made the same disclosure if an inquiry had been made by a private employer as well as a governmental agency whether law enforcement related or not.”
read … Ignored
Killer Gets to Stay Free Until September
KHON: The family of a motorcyclist killed on the H-1 Freeway last April must wait longer for justice to be served.
Chantel Andrade was driving an SUV near Waikele when she hit 25-year-old Keith Jantoc. She pleaded guilty to accident involving death or serious bodily injury in November.
On Wednesday, Judge Dean Ochiai granted a request to allow Andrade to complete a rehabilitation program at The Salvation Army’s Women’s Way facility in Kaimuki. She has been on supervised release since November….
“It’s like there’s more compassion for the criminal than the victim, and the victim’s family,” said Jantoc’s uncle, Eiichi Jumawan. “We got family members that are suffering right now. I got a niece that can’t go to work. It’s like they have PTSD right now.”
None of it made any sense to the family, so KHON2 spoke to former city prosecutor Peter Carlisle about what happened at court.
“If she’s mentally sound to plead guilty, why is she not mentally sound to hear her sentencing?” we asked.
“I think what you need to do is take a look at how it’s progressed. She’s found to be capable of pleading guilty, but then she was basically put into a mental health regimen. They want her to complete it, and then that will allow the court to have a better understanding of what the next step to take,” replied Carlisle, adding that the decision is ultimately up to the judge….
Andrade will face the court again on Sept. 6….
read … Soft on Crime
Meth Dealer Arrested 100 Times, Out on Street Does it Again
AP: Federal and state authorities are searching for a man who didn’t show up to start serving his 10-year prison sentence for meth trafficking in Hawaii.
A federal judge in Honolulu sentenced Luke Warner in April. He was supposed to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons but didn’t show up.
He’s also facing a prison sentence from the state.
The U.S. Marshals Service said Wednesday Warner is a career criminal who has been arrested more than 100 times….
read … 100 Times
Bizarre News: Government Employees Forced to Work Thru Lunch Break
HNN: The U.S. Labor Department has found the Honolulu Board of Water Supply violated federal labor law by routinely denying its investigators lunch breaks for a two-year period in a case that could have implications for government and private sector employers across the state.
The Wage and Hour Division investigation involved about 15 Water Board investigators -- the people who check the accuracy of water meters or look for leaks if a customer's water bill spikes.
"Sometimes they'll either eat and work at the same time or they'll disregard their lunch until they finish their work day," said Terence Trotter, district director of the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour division.
Trotter said the Water Board automatically deducted a half hour for investigators' meal breaks regardless of whether they actually took them.
"When we found that workers, on average, weren't taking their meal breaks two to three times a week, that impacted their hours, work that they were paid in fact, they weren't paid for all their overtime hours," Trotter said.
So the 15 Water Board investigators have now been paid $16,152 in unpaid overtime wages, he said.
read … Bizarre
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