HGEA Maui Endorsements Leaked
HGEA: Ige Preparing Reduced Hospital Severance Package
Healthcare: Legislators Muddle Definition of ‘Direct Primary Care’
VICTORY! Nai Aupuni Won’t be Ready with Fake Indian Tribe Before Obama Leaves Office
SA: A plan with a timeline to raise $2 million and bring the newly created Native Hawaiian constitution to a ratification vote by the end of the year might have been a tad ambitious.
Those involved in the effort say the ratification campaign, while still moving forward on a “grass-roots” level, is progressing at a slower pace than some had originally hoped.
The participants in February’s Na‘i Aupuni convention, or aha, say it’s now looking like a vote won’t be held until the latter part of 2017….
In the weeks following the convention, it became clear that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs trust fund-supported Na‘i Aupuni nonprofit — hamstrung by a lawsuit accusing it of using public funds for a racially exclusive election — would be unable to underwrite the ratification effort. (MAHALO Grassroot Institute!)
So a small group of aha participants, plus former Gov. John Waihee, came together to formulate a pathway to ratification.
With talk of seizing the momentum created by the historic convention, the group developed a plan for raising $2 million to educate Native Hawaiians about the new constitution, register new voters and stage a ratification vote by the end of the year….
The group figured at least a quarter of the donations would come from small individual donors. The funds would be held in coordination with the Tides, a California foundation dedicated to social change and which has worked with the Protect Kahoolawe ‘Ohana and other Hawaii groups.
Despite the creation of a couple of fundraising and informational websites and the collection of a quick $70,000, there has been little buzz about the effort over the past several months. The silence has left some to speculate that the governing document was doomed to collect dust in the file cabinet of history…. (Translation: Nobody wants to pay for this Turkey except OHA.)
Soon said the fundraising continues in earnest while a low-key “grass-roots” educational campaign is being carried out by individuals making presentations to civic clubs, community groups, homesteader associations and families and friends.
She said no formal organization is overseeing the ratification campaign — at least not yet. (Translation: Nobody wants to work for this Turkey unless OHA pays them to do it.)
HNN: Vote to ratify new Native Hawaiian constitution pushed back a year
AP: Vote on new Native Hawaiian constitution put on hold
Obama’s Last Day: January 20, 2017
read … Vote on new Native Hawaiian constitution might occur in late 2017
Problems In Interior’s Rule On Hawaiian Home Land
CB: Scheduled to take effect Tuesday, three days after the 95th anniversary of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act being signed into law, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Final Rule on Land Exchange Procedures and Procedures to Amend the HHCA is supposedly aimed at clarifying how Interior reviews land exchanges involving Hawaiian home lands and amendments to the HHCA.
What the rule actually does is extend the authority of the federal government in significant ways and at the same time stops short of ensuring the United States fulfills its duty as trustee of public lands transferred to the state at the time of statehood….
Political insiders, however, had extensive influence over the content. Two years prior to the notification, media outlets reported that Robin Danner, president of the Sovereign Councils of the Hawaiian Homelands Assembly and former president of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, asked President Obama to authorize Interior to start the process for developing federal regulations. Danner was acting as one of a dozen Asian-American and Pacific Islander advocates from across the country who were invited by the White House to meet with the president as part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month….
The comments in opposition primarily objected to federal rulemaking based on the assertion that the U.S. violated and continues to violate laws by illegally occupying the Hawaiian Islands and is thus without jurisdiction. There were also concerns shared of the influence of political insiders.
The remaining substantive comments detail concerns that the consultation is discretionary instead of mandatory, the proposed rules include requirements that unduly burden DHHL and have an unintended effect of making it more difficult for critical amendments to the HHCA, and pointing out that the last time the DOI engaged in an active in-depth review of the HHCA/DHHL was the 1983 Federal-State Task Force….
Background: Full Text: Interior Department Issues Rule on Procedures to Amend Hawaiian Homes Commission Act
read … Problems
Feds to OK New Kahuku Wind Farm
GH: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will in the July 12 Federal Register announce the availability of the final environmental impact statement (EIS) and final habitat conservation plan (HCP) for Na Pua Makani Power Partners LLC’s 25-MW Na Pua Makani Wind Energy Project.
The applicant is requesting an incidental take permit (ITP) to authorize take of one threatened and six endangered species listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). If issued, the ITP would authorize incidental take of the covered species that may occur as a result of the construction and operation of the project over a 21-year period. The HCP describes the applicant’s actions and measures to minimize, mitigate, and monitor incidental take of the covered species. The final EIS has been prepared in response to the permit application in accordance with requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
The applicant proposes to construct and operate the wind project on approximately 707 acres of public and private lands near the town of Kahuku on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.
read … Dead Birds and Bats
Sister Islands: Registered Dope Fiends Exceed 2% of Population
HNN: …"We're looking at a robust industry about to develop. We're looking at somewhere around $30 million in the next year and as much as $80 million at a conservative estimate by 2018," said Christopher Garth, executive director of the Hawaii Dispensary Alliance.
"There is significant economic boom that could come about for the dispensaries ... but of course the tax dollars are another component."
The report's author said the forecast is conservative because it relies on national statistics that medical marijuana patients users represent about 2 percent of the population.
But already, the number of medical marijuana patients users on Kauai, Maui and the Big Island have exceeded 2 percent of their counties' population, the report said….
read … Keep the People Doped Up
Disbarred Ex-Con Hired at UH Richardson Law School
CB: Lawson has a fascinating backstory of how he rose to prominence as a lawyer in Ohio, then lost his wealth and law license because of drug-related crimes, then salvaged his life in Hawaii, through service to the William S. Richardson School of Law, an up-and-down-and-up-again story that he acknowledges in his bio on the school’s web site.
Despite his personal redemption, his disbarment means he cannot practice law here. He does have his juris doctorate degree, though, making him eligible to teach. Students seem to enjoy his classes, so much that they voted for him to be their commencement speaker in 2014. He is knowledgeable about criminal law practices. He also is comfortable in front of a news camera.
Yet his official title at University of Hawaii is “faculty specialist,” meaning he is not considered a “professor.”
read … Ex-Con
Four Killed by Police in Hawaii So Far This Year
CB: Hawaii police have shot and killed four people so far this year, twice as many as were fatally shot by officers during all of 2015, according to data collected by The Washington Post.
The newspaper has been studying fatal police shootings over the past two years in response to a series of high-profile cases that have led to widespread civil unrest, particularly in black communities.
Hawaii hasn’t experienced the same level of frustration among its citizenry….
WaPo: Fatal Force
read … Four
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