HB2739: Hawaii Democrats Blind Suicide Leap
Battle Not Over: Protect Hawaii's Elderly from Assisted Suicide
Time to Throw out OHA Old Guard Trustees
Research Shows Russians Firmly Behind anti-GMO Activism
Visitor Spending $1.69B in January 2018--Highest Monthly Total in Hawaii History
Auditor: Hawaii PUC Another Tech Disaster in the Making
VIDEO: Why economic freedom matters to Hawaii
What are the Amendments to Suicide Bill?
SA: …Mizuno said the two biggest changes to the bill were removing advanced practice registered nurses as eligible to provide a lethal prescription, and requiring mandatory counseling after two physicians confirm the patient’s diagnosis, prognosis, competence….
read … Amendments
Kill Golden Goose? Hawaii Tourism Authority faces $30M budget cut after 'abusive' spending?
HNN: One bill now moving through the state Senate takes $30 million from the HTA's marketing budget. Senate Ways and Means Chair Donovan Dela Cruz said the money could be used to pay for (whatever)….
“So do we continue to have the HTA have a budget of $80-plus million when we've already reached what people feel is a heightened capacity.”
Another potential target: the HTA’s procurement exemption.
In the past, state lawmakers gave the agency freedoms from state purchasing rules so it could compete with other visitor destinations.
But the state Legislative Auditor Les Kondo recently concluded that the HTA abused that privilege and didn't properly manage its money, especially when it came to money spent on contractor AEG Management HCC, which operates the state convention center.
"We saw that AEG was reimbursed for first-class airfare, almost $50,000 for air fare, which included $8,000 of air fare for round trip for Australia. We saw they were reimbursed for cost of hotel at the Ko Olina Resort, as well as the Royal Hawaiian hotel,” said Kondo.
"To spend that money for those kinds of reason … that's excessive. That's an abuse of the discretion.”
The HTA didn’t directly responding to the criticisms but late Wednesday afternoon, AEG did agree to repay the HTA for the questionable travel expenses.
HTA CEO George Szigeti said the HTA should be credited for attracting more visitors than ever…..
Related:
read … Abusive
Airbnb Revenue Loss Leaves a $33M Hole in Executive Budget
HPR: …The governor’s fiscal year 2019 operating budget request is $7.4 billion in state general funds. But, 25 percent of that money is required to pay-down the unfunded liabilities for public employee retirement and health benefits. Budget Program Planning and Management Division administrator, Neal Miyahira, says the state’s annual required contribution or ARC has also gone up….
“The increase as part of pre-funding for the unfunded liability, and that’s $25 million. And then, benefit payments for the current year, we need another $23 million. So, overall, we’re looking at $48.9 million going out.”
The governor’s financial plan included revenue increases and $33 million in projected revenue from online accommodations marketing company, Airbnb. The governor’s administrative director, Ford Fuchigami, says the Airbnb tax collection offer is currently off the table…
“A couple of days ago we received a letter from Airbnb saying that they will not voluntarily participate as a collection agent. That kinda threw a loop in it. Prior to that, there should have been no reason why we couldn’t collect the $33 million.”…
Senate Ways and Means Committee Chair, Donovan Delacruz, says the state should pursue the Airbnb option and expand the incentives available to them.”
“You know we gave them amnesty on the taxation component. But what about the land use component. We should meet with the counties in regards to land use violations to see if that would help bring everybody to the table. We need a carrot and a big stick.”…
read … Airbnb Revenue Loss Leaves a $33M Hole in Executive Budget
State Money to Ship Homeless Back to Mainland?
CB:…359 people who the Institute for Human Services, the state’s largest homeless shelter organization, has helped buy one-way plane tickets home through its 3-year-old Airline Relocation Program. The Family Life Center on Maui and Kauai Economic Opportunity launched similar relocation programs for the homeless with grants from the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association.
In total, the programs have moved 491 people off Hawaii streets and into airplanes….
House Bill 2012 that would allow the Hawaii Tourism Authority and HLTA to use transient accommodations tax revenue to fund programs that address homelessness in tourist and resort areas, which could include adding money to existing relocation programs. The bill would require public funds to be matched dollar-for-dollar by the private sector.
The measure originally allocated up to $2 million in tax revenue for the tourism organizations to spend on homelessness, but it has since been amended with the dollar amount left blank for now….
of the estimated 7,220 homeless people in Hawaii are local. Morishige said only about 10 percent have lived in Hawaii a year or less….
(722 tickets needed x $500 ea = $361K)
An 18-month investigation by The Guardian analyzed relocation programs in 16 American cities. The investigation found “an almost total lack of long-term follow-up” to determine if those who had been relocated were better off at their final destination…..
read … Back where they came from
Will Tent City Be Slipped into Ohana Zone Homeless Bills?
HTH: …Ohana zones, as proposed in House Bill 2281, which cleared its final House committee Friday, would function as transitional housing.
“The endgame would be 90 days … to get them into permanent support housing,” said Rep. John Mizuno, an Oahu Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Health and Human Services and introduced HB 2281.
(Mizuno has been pushing tent cities for years. Has he changed?)
Homeless villages, on the other hand, would serve as permanent housing. A homeless villages program exclusive to Hawaii Island was proposed in HB 2461, which died earlier this month.
However, a bill proposing a similar program statewide — HB 2014, introduced by Rep. Tom Brower, another Oahu Democrat — moved through the House Committee on Finance on Tuesday.
(Brower has been pushing tent cities for years. Has he changed?)
The Puuhonua homeless villages program, as the statewide initiative would be called, pushes for “a minimum of 8,000 homes” to be developed on state land within two years of the bill’s passage or within two years of the necessary land becoming available, whichever comes last.
The county’s initial notion for Village 9, which was developed after Kim ordered police to evict dozens of homeless illegally residing at Old Kona Airport Park, was that the site would function as permanent housing for at least 100 of West Hawaii’s homeless.
A homeless villages initiative would allow the county to maintain that vision. However, if the state decides it favors ohana zones, the county is willing and prepared to adjust its plans.
“We’re going to ask if we can be considered as a test site for that project,” Niimi said.
Mizuno said language from the homeless villages proposal could eventually be folded into ohana zones legislation to add a permanent housing element or vice versa….
Not mentioned HB2753: Text, Status
read … Tent City Tricksters
City council passes bill to stop affordable ‘monster homes’ by unanimous vote
KHON: …Bill 110 (2017), CD2, FD1 sets guidelines depending on how large a home is. There are restrictions on how many parking spaces must be provided, how many bathrooms a home can have, and even the minimum amount of yard space.
If a home exceeds these guidelines, its building permit will be withheld….
In the past, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell has supported the effort to curb monster homes. He hasn’t said yet if he’ll sign this bill into law.
He said in a statement Wednesday: “I’m glad the City Council took its time to craft legislation that allows the construction of large homes as long as they are not physically imposing on the lots their built on and don’t negatively impact the quality of life in our residential neighborhoods. This really is an issue about the high cost of housing and I remain hopeful the City Council will pass my administration’s affordable housing legislation (Bill 58) in order to ensure more affordable units are built. The passage of Bill 58 is especially critical now that incentives have been provided to developers under Bill 59, which I recently signed into law.”
read … City council passes bill to stop ‘monster homes’ by unanimous vote
HB2139: State-Level Title IX for Trannies
CB: …(House Bill 2139 and Senate Bill 2353) that will put into law prohibitions of sex, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation discrimination in educational programs and activities that receive state funding….
Feb 26, 2018: After Pushing ‘Gender Equity’ and Trannies in Bathrooms Worldwide, Hawaii Progressives Suddenly Notice that DoE Girls Haven’t had Locker Rooms for 50 years
read … Kill off old people and elevate Trannies
Big Island will need $500M to Comply with Maui Injection Well Ruling
HTH: …Environmental officials are bracing for local repercussions from a U.S. appeals court ruling that Maui County violated the federal Clean Water Act in handling its treated wastewater.
The Feb. 1 ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said sewer systems that discharge effluent into the ocean, even if it arrives there through groundwater, are required to have a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.…
The Hawaii County Environmental Management Commission, meeting Wednesday, unanimously directed the county administration to create steps toward addressing the problem of sewer plant discharges. The issue will be taken up during its next meeting scheduled for March 28 at the West Hawaii Civic Center.
“This ruling, in my estimation, will have a profound influence on wastewater discharges into the ground for the state and perhaps the United States,” said Commission Chairman Richard Bennett.
Commissioners urged the administration to be proactive.
“I will assume there are environmental organizations out there who will in fact litigate this further if the state does not react,” said Commissioner Jon Olson. “It’s not like nothing is going to happen. … Then we pick up the tab for the litigation and we pick up the tab for the repairs.”
It won’t be cheap. Costs to remediate all effluent on the island are estimated to top $500 million….,
“This isn’t new,” Olson said. “All the … politicians have done is make it more expensive by putting it off. … They’ve made it incredibly more costly.”
Environmental Management Director Bill Kucharski said the island’s cesspools pose a far greater risk, accounting for about 15 million gallons of waste a day, compared with about 3 million gallons per day for the county’s seven wastewater treatment plants.
“Cesspools have a bigger impact on water quality than any of our sewer plants,” Kucharski said. “All of our facilities, whether NPDES permit or not, have discharge standards that must be met.”…
Feb 1, 2018: Lahaina Injection Wells: 9th Circuit Rules Against Maui County
Meanwhile: High bacteria levels found at Waimanalo Beach
read … $500M
HART Driverless Rail Control System Activated
HNN: …The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit announced the electronic Automatic Train Supervision (ATS) system at the Rail Operations Center in Waipahu was brought online for the first time.
The system uses eight large monitors to oversee the entire 20-mile rail route. HART says operators will use the vital system to control and monitor trains during interim and full-service operations.
Cameras with the system also provide technicians a live view of the entire route, stations and inside the trains.
Now that the system is online, HART says they can now start doing life-like simulations…..
read … Driverless
Reform of HPD won't be easy
HNN: …New Chair Loretta Sheehan was the only member to publicly reject the buyout for Chief Kealoha – and her election to chair is a signal from the commission that it will finally play the role the public expects as a watchdog and over the department.
Meanwhile there was also an indication of how difficult that can be – as an officer who got in a video-taped fight with a woman and was fired won back his job in an arbitrator's decision.
We don't know exactly why that happened because the decision was secret and all the parties – including the police commission – were gagged from talking about it.
So much for transparency and concern for public trust.
We have high hopes for the new commission chair and the new police chief – but reform of this department won't be easy or come overnight….
read … Reform
Lucky Criminals Get More time in Arizona Away from Corrupt Expensive UPW-Controlled Hawaii Prison
HNN: …A major construction delay at Halawa Correctional Facility will keep hundreds of Hawaii inmates on the mainland, and cost millions of our tax dollars.
A $10 million project to replace the electronic locking system at the state’s largest prison was supposed to done last December.
But according the state, it will take another year to finish because a specialty subcontractor couldn’t perform the job.
That extra time will cost another $6.7 million, and that has nothing to do with the renovations.
The money is needed to house the 246 inmates that had to be relocated to Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona while the work was being done.
For them to stay through December, it will cost the state about $27,000 per inmate….
($27K is waaaay less than the cost of keeping them at Halawa …but UPW members are probably being paid to guard the empty cells.)
read … Costly error keeps hundreds of Hawaii inmates on the mainland
Lifelong Criminal Gets $175,000 from City, Now on Lam
HNN: …Topinio failed to show up for court just days after he and a friend were awarded a $175,000 settlement from the city for having their civil rights violated by Honolulu Police Officers in 2014.
Topinio was kicked in the face and had a bar stool thrown at his head in an Ala Moana area game room. His friend got slapped, punched and kicked.
It was a high profile police brutality case that was caught on surveillance video.
Topinio had to go to the hospital and had staples in head.
Then Honolulu Police Officer Vince Morre pleaded guilty to the attack and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. He has since been released.
Two other officers who were there did not participate in the beating but didn't report it right away and got probation.
Topinio has been in and out of jail for years for drug convictions and car theft.
He is on HOPE probation and when he didn't show up at his hearing in December of last year, a bench warrant was issued. …
HNN: Woman suspected in hit-and-run that killed 2 asks for supervised release
read … $175K
Lawsuit Jackpot: Druggies Golden Noose Costs Queens $4M
SA: …A jury on Wednesday unanimously awarded a former Queen’s Medical Center nurse nearly $4 million in damages in a whistleblower case in which the African-American woman found an image of a noose taped to her workplace locker and an unsigned racist note left in her hospital mailbox.
The 12-person jury awarded Ellen Harris $630,000 in general damages and $3.2 million in punitive damages after finding that she was harassed and discriminated against for reporting suspected wrongdoing in 2011, that her race was a substantial motivating factor in the harassment and that the conditions created a hostile work environment….
The plaintiff needed only 10 jurors to find in her favor, but all 12 joined in the verdict. The trial lasted five weeks.
“All 12 jurors just said, ‘This is not Hawaii,’” said Carl Varady, Harris’ attorney. “’We’re the Aloha State. We’re not going down the pathway of hate.’”
Queen’s issued a brief statement late Wednesday.
“We are very disappointed in (Wednesday’s) verdict and will be filing an appeal,” said spokesman Cedric Yamanaka in a written statement. “Because this is pending litigation, we will not comment further.”
The Harris case was one of two discrimination cases in Hawaii filed by African-American workers that went before state judges and that included the use of a noose….
In the second case, Hawaiian Airlines worker Timothy Degrate, who supervised a grounds crew that directed planes at airport gates on Hawaii island, complained to management for months about a hostile work environment, including racial harassment, according to his lawsuit.
Despite the complaints, he found a noose fashioned from rope hanging on the locker next to his in August 2016….
In the Queen’s case, jurors were told that Harris, the only black nurse at the time in the medical intensive care unit, reported concerns to management about another nurse jeopardizing patient safety, including Harris’ suspicion that the other nurse was stealing narcotics intended for patients, according to Varady. Two other nurses eventually reported the same drug-use suspicions to management, the jurors were told.
After Harris reported her initial patient-safety concerns to management, the harassment against her intensified, and she found the racist note in her mailbox the next day and the noose image on her locker seven weeks later on Christmas Eve, according to Varady….
In the meantime, Queen’s gave the nurse who Harris reported to management the option to resign or be fired, he added.
“They gave that nurse more protections than Ellen or her patients,” Varady said.
read … Golden Noose
As a REIT, A&B’s Profits Soar
SA: …A $225 million tax benefit in the fourth quarter helped major Hawaii retail property owner Alexander & Baldwin Inc. earn $231 million last year that grossly overshadowed an $8 million loss the year before.
Honolulu-based A&B announced its latest financial results Wednesday and said the tax benefit mainly related to its conversion last year to a real estate investment trust. The recent federal tax overhaul also would have had a similar effect.
As a REIT, A&B was able to erase about $220 million in deferred tax obligations that it incurred from selling mainly commercial real estate over many years. A&B deferred paying taxes on gains from the sales by using proceeds to buy other properties, though the company could have had to pay the taxes one day if it sold the properties without reinvesting proceeds in more real estate….
read … The REIT Way
Council OKs incentives for owners in high-rises to install fire sprinklers
SA: …Bill 101 (2017) will offer condominium and apartment owners a property tax credit of up to $2,000 if they install sprinklers in their own units or pay a share for systems in their buildings’ hallways or other common areas. Only owner-occupants will be eligible for the credit under the bill, which is expected to be signed by Mayor Kirk Caldwell. Applications must be filed within 24 months of an installation.
Also approved was Bill 102 (2017), which gives condominium and apartment owners a waiver on fees they would otherwise need to pay the city for plan reviews and building permits that are tied to the installation of automated sprinkler systems….
Bill 69 (2017), which would require the owners of about 150 Oahu residential towers to install at least common-area sprinkler systems, is still being discussed by the Council’s Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee. Condominium and apartment owners in those buildings argue that forcing them to install sprinkler systems is unnecessary, and could cause some of them to lose their homes.
Honolulu Fire Department officials estimate it would cost each individual property owner between $8,000 and $22,000 to install sprinklers in an entire building, and between $5,000 and $10,000 each if only common areas were retrofitted….
read … Incentive
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