Who’s Giving a Quarter of a Million Dollars to Nai Aupuni?
Hawaii: Four Anti-Gun Bills Pass Floor Vote
Chief Justice Appoints Darien W.L. Ching Nagata as Hawaii Island District Court Judge
Jones Act: A new fight and a new argument
Marijuana Dispensary Licenses Delayed
Federal Grant Backs New Honolulu Homeless Court
Appleseed: Hawaii’s Poor Need a Tax Cut
Bloomberg: Hawaii Republicans Have Responsibility to Challenge Schatz
BV: Four states lack a major-party competitor for current U.S. Senate races, the Smart Politics blog at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Policy reported this week. Democrats have yet to field a candidate in Alaska or Oklahoma, and Republicans have blank slates in Hawaii and Vermont.
The paucity of candidates in these states is no great surprise. In Oklahoma, Democrats have failed to break 30 percent in the past three Senate contests. Hawaii Republicans, for their part, have lost 16 consecutive Senate races, usually capturing less than 40 percent of the vote….
American political parties represent the whole of the nation. (When they fail to, the results are profoundly ugly.) They should field qualified candidates for every seat in the House of Representatives and, certainly, the Senate — and make sure those candidates have the resources to make their appeals to voters.
read … Ugly
Hawaii Democrats Closed Primary Case Before 9th Circuit May 4
AP: … Essmann released a statement Wednesday afternoon indicating that one of the factors in the decision to seek a dismissal was the fact that there is a similar lawsuit pending in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that was filed by the Hawaii Democratic party. The statement indicated that the Montana party could file a friend-of-the-court brief in that case if it chooses to do so.
The Hawaii case will be heard in Portland on May 4. The tentative trial date for the Montana case is in September ….
read … May 4
Kauai GE Tax Hike decision delayed
KGI: … In a 4-3 decision Wednesday, the Budget and Finance Committee voted to defer the proposed GET increase to May.
“We have amendments we need to vote on, so let’s have those ready by then,” said Councilman Arryl Kaneshiro, chair of the Budget and Finance Committee.
One of the amendments the committee will consider is a .25 percent raise over 10 years, Kaneshiro said.
Originally, Bill No. 2610 proposed a half percent hike, to 4.5 percent, which is expected to generate about $250 million. If passed, the added revenue will go toward transportation and traffic improvements around Kauai.
Kaneshiro, along with Mason Chock, JoAnn Yukimura and Gary Hooser, voted to defer the measure.
“I don’t support any tax increase,” Hooser said. “It’s a bad tax, and the community deserves a break.” …
read … Tax Hike
Maui Budget: Rates, Fees, and Fuel Taxes Going Up
MN: Rate increases proposed by Mayor Alan Arakawa's administration are "substantial" ….
The Department of Water Supply is proposing to double water meter installation costs for 5/8-inch meters, the most common size of meter, from $6,030 to $12,060….
The department also has proposed increasing water user fees by 5 percent. For the average single-family home using 16,000 gallons of water a month, this means bills would go from $70.40 to $72.95 a month, according to county Budget Director Sandy Baz….
Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works is proposing a fuel tax bump from 18 to 23 cents a gallon for gasoline and diesel….
Goode said a 1 cent increase in gas tax translates to about $650,000 to $700,000 (vacuumed out of consumers pockets)….
The Department of Environmental Management is proposing a 5 percent increase to sewer user fees. For the average single-family home, this would bump monthly maximum sewer charges from $61.65 to $64.30, Baz said.
Trash collection on Maui and Molokai, which receive once-a-week manual or twice-a-week automated service, would go from $22 to $24 a month. Rates for Lanai residents, who get once-a-week trash collection services, would go from $11 to $12 a month….
The committee's next community meetings are 6 p.m. April 14 at the Haiku Community Center, 6 p.m. April 18 at Helene Hall in Hana and 6:30 p.m. April 19 at Lihikai Elementary in Kahului.
read … Rates, Fees and Taxes
HB1581: Since All Development Issues are Settled in the Courts, Lets Just Get to it Already
SA: …House Bill 1581, HD2, SD2, now advancing, is a measure that would allow contested cases that are before some state boards and commissions to proceed directly to the Hawaii Supreme Court.
Lawmakers should reconsider the impulse to pass this measure without serious revisions in conference committee. As written, HB 1581 would short-circuit critical judicial review and, as some observers point out, potentially overload the calendar at the state’s high court.
The change, if enacted, would affect appeals of contested cases arising under the State Water Code, the conservation district, the Land Use Commission, the Public Utilities Commission and the Hawaii Community Development Authority.
It also would allow the Circuit Court to appoint a master to oversee contested cases that are remanded back to government agencies.
This last provision, clearly prompted by the recent experience with the Thirty Meter Telescope controversy, is the one element in the bill worth retaining. It could shorten unnecessary delays for future cases that are especially time-sensitive….
HB1581: Text, Status
read … Beware shortcuts in contested cases
What To Do With The Tax Sinkhole That Is Honolulu Rail?
CB: Eliminating the final four miles of the current rail route and building the Nimitz Viaduct would provide better commuter service and avoid major disruption to downtown….
We need an open-minded mayor, governor, city council and Congressional delegation to make something out of the HART disaster that has clearly become a tax sinkhole….
SA: Horner a victim of blame-shifting
read … Sink Hole
City Councilman wants to turn city's Sand Island homeless shelter into parking lot
HNN: …The shelter, made out of retrofitted shipping containers, cost about $1 million and welcomed its first residents in November.
Since then, the program has gotten 103 people off the streets, 27 of whom have since moved into permanent housing.
Manahan is proposing that instead of shipping containers, the city allow homeless who live in their cars to park on the property.
At least one other City Councilman told Hawaii News Now he supports the plan.
Manahan says homeless living out of their vehicles could park at the site overnight and have access to restrooms and showers. "I would be very open to re-purposing it and in fact if we need to enhance it in terms of funding I am open to doing that," Manahan said.
The proposal is causing no small amount of disbelief among homeless advocates, and comes as the state struggles to address the crisis.
"I was just shocked, and quite frankly livid," said Connie Mitchell, executive director of the Institute for Human Services, which manages the facility.
She says shutting the shelter down would be a waste of taxpayer money, and she adds the proposal alone could make people reluctant to give the shelter a try.
"This is really not OK to have our homeless guests to actually have to fear that there won't be a place after they've made the step of coming in," Mitchell said.
The mayor agrees.
"I think the program is working," he said. "So I wouldn't want to stop something that's actually working. I'd much rather add to it because there are different types of homeless." …
KHON: "Homelessness has become a political football.”
read … Idiot Council
Health Beat: Cutting Corners with Primary Care Doctors
CB: Health care is expensive, and the costs continue to rise. But rather than fixing the problem, insurance companies have made it harder and harder for doctors to get paid.
Pay for performance, prior authorizations for imaging, and now monthly capitation rates are just the latest ways that our local insurer has tried to cut costs. Has it led to better care? What do you think?
First came pay for performance. This started a few years ago. Doctors were given a list of “quality measures” for their patients, and while their standard reimbursement rates were frozen, they could earn a bonus if they could get their patients to meet all of the requirements….
read … Cutting Corners
Tax Credit Giveaway for Solar Battery Scammers
SA: …Just as incentives spurred the proliferation of solar panels on Hawaii rooftops, lawmakers hope to achieve a similar result with the next evolution in clean energy — the widespread use of solar-power batteries providing electricity for the home.
Two measures in the Legislature would use tax credits or rebates to encourage residents to buy batteries linked to their rooftop solar systems. The measures, House Bill 2291 and Senate Bill 2738, have their critics, and the technology is still pretty expensive….
SA: What do you think about the state House passing a blank bill related to geothermal energy, with the contents to be added later without public input?
read … Vaporware
City Charter Change Would Let Lobbyists Give More Gifts
ILind: The Honolulu Charter Commission is scheduled to take up a proposal this week that could undermine the Honolulu Ethics Commission’s enforcement of conflict-of-interest provisions of the charter.
Proposal No. 153, introduced by commission member Donna Ikeda, is described as a way to clarify the charter’s conflict-of-interest provisions prohibiting city employees and officials from soliciting or accepting gifts under certain conditions.
But the “clarification” amounts to a wholesale rewriting of the charter in a way that likely will make it far harder in the future to enforce gift and conflict-of-interest restrictions, an especially troublesome issue when gifts are from lobbyists.
Ikeda’s proposal is scheduled to be considered at the Charter Commission’s meeting Thursday.
The proposal comes in the wake of ethics investigations that resulted in two former City Council members agreeing to pay fines. They paid in order to settle allegations they accepted and then failed to disclose improper gifts received from lobbyists.
In September 2014, former council member Romy Cachola agreed to pay a $50,000 fine, the largest in commission history. The commission’s lengthy opinion in the matter cited dozens of improper gifts to the councilman from lobbyists for interest groups backing the rail project or involved in other land matters.
The aggressive pursuit of investigations into similar allegations against other council members by the Honolulu Ethics Commission’s executive director may have led to his recent temporary suspension by the commission….
read … More Gifts
Don Horner Leaving Hawaii BOE
CB: The former chair steps down June 30, something he promised Gov. Ige he’d do when he was reappointed to the Board of Education a year ago….
read … Leaving
Lawsuit: Homosexual Child Molester ‘Active in Gay Community’
HNN: …The first sexual abuse allegation against Ferrario was made back in 1976, when he was the pastor at Saint Anthony Church in Kailua, according to the report. Since then, Ferrario has been accused of sexually abusing boys in at least five cases between 1969 and 1981, most of them at Saint Anthony Church. All of the alleged incidents happened before he became bishop; he headed the Catholic Church in Hawaii from 1982 to 1993.
(NOTE: A homosexual child molester was knowingly put in charge of the Catholic Church in Hawaii in the decade leading up to the invention of gay marriage for the first time in the history of the human race. Do the math.)
Ferrario died in 2003.
According to court documents, the 1976 allegations involved a 12-year-old victim who went to Ferrario to confide in him about an incident of sexual abuse involving another priest three years earlier.
"He recalls that as they spoke Fr. Ferrario was becoming sexually excited," the report said. "It ended up with J.R. being forced by Ferrario to perform oral sex."
Doyle is one of the expert witnesses in the "Joe Roe 2" lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu and Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers. He also oversaw the process in which Ferrario was investigated prior to his appointment as bishop.
The report alleges that 13 years prior to the alleged incident at St. Anthony's, a priest sent a letter to superiors expressing concern about Ferrario's behavior with minors as a father.
"Over the years I could not help noting, nor could the others here, that Joe (Ferrario) has been exceedingly thick with individual seminarians and former seminarians," the letter said. "I am concerned that Joe is losing his judgment."
Doyle's report outlines several investigations into accusations of sexual abuse and inappropriate behavior against Ferarrio prior to his appointment as bishop of Honolulu. It also mentions a letter-writing campaign urging the Holy See not to elevate him.
"They claimed that Bishop Ferrario was active in the gay community and was regularly seen in gay bars in the company of younger men," the report said….
Gallagher says he anticipates he'll be filing at least six more lawsuits against various defendants before April 24….
read … Active in Gay Community
Soft on Crime: 24 Priors Out on Street Allegedly Kills Farrington HS Football Player
KHON: …Police arrested Adrian Bringas, 27, for several offenses including second-degree murder and attempted murder.
A sharp-edged weapon was recovered from the scene.
Police say all three live in the general area. No word yet on what may have led to the stabbing.
This is not the first time Bringas has been in trouble. We dug into his criminal history and found he’s had 24 prior convictions. They range from misdemeanors such as theft, driving without a license, terroristic threatening and harassment, to felonies such as breaking into a home, robbery, and abuse of a family member….
read … Soft on Crime
In wake of promotion controversy, HPD to name new assistant chief
KHON: Honolulu police Maj. Janet Crotteau is expected to be promoted to the position of assistant chief, sources say.
Crotteau is currently a major in the legislative liaison office, which reviews bills and resolutions that affect the department….
CB: Cops, Coffee and Conversation: HPD Reaches Out To Citizens
read … Controversy
UFCW Pitches Unionized Cannabis Dispensaries
SA: …UFCW is one of the largest private unions in the country. We represent not only retail and pharmaceutical workers but also cannabis industry workers in states where marijuana — both medical and recreational — has been legalized. This has made us a leading voice in the cannabis industry across the country, advocating for a system that works for all stakeholders — patients, workers, dispensaries and the communities where we operate.
Now we in Hawaii — and in particular the regulators at the state Department of Health who are licensing cannabis dispensaries — are facing a critical crossroads as we begin approving licensees.
We think most people who fought for legalized medical marijuana have the same basic goals: ensuring patients get the safe medicine that they need, that workers get treated with respect and earn a fair day’s wage, that dispensary owners are responsible members of the community, and that the broader Hawaii economy gets the full benefit of this new industry.
But what we’ve learned from our experiences across the country is that these dreams don’t always come true.
Some business owners don’t operate responsibly. It is therefore important that the state consider awarding licenses to companies that are committed to operating at the highest standards.
We’re working with a company that seeks to set the bar by which other medical marijuana dispensaries will be measured. It has already committed to meeting and exceeding mainland standards for its workers, worker training and medicine….
read … Union Dope
HNL #1 for Runway Incursions
HNN: …Honolulu Airport had the highest number of runway incursions in the nation for the past three years in a row, Federal Aviation Administration figures show.
There were 13 incidents in 2013, which more than doubled to 42 in the following year. In 2015, there were 36. These incursions include minor runway lane violations, more serious mishaps and even one near-miss.
In April 2015, a helicopter came within 100 feet of a Piper Apache, but avoided contact in time.
"My understanding is that if the FAA doesn't like the numbers they put pressure on the airport," said local aviation expert Peter Forman. "So they then consider alternatives such as reducing the light plane and helicopter activity at the airport."
Concerns over airport safety drew dozens of those pilots to a forum Wednesday evening at the Honolulu Airport. …
read … Incursions
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