Hawaii Supreme Court to Decide if Land Can be Stolen from Owners Without Compensation?
Unaffordable Housing? Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Tropical Storm Olivia Crosses Maui and Lanai
Free speech comes to UH Manoa: Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk speaking
Chief Justice Seeks Public Comment on First Circuit Oahu Judicial Nominees
Supreme Court: Applicants Sought for Disciplinary Board, Bar Examiners
CSC: Dozens of Candidates Hit With Fines
HTH: …Fourteen Big Island candidates are among dozens throughout the state settling with the Campaign Spending Commission after they failed to disclose how much they spent on advertising leading up to the primary election.
The candidates for the state House and Senate and County Council ran afoul of laws governing what’s known as “electioneering communications,” ….
There were a flurry of settlement agreements on the commission’s agenda last month, and just as many for the meeting scheduled today in Honolulu….
The law has been on the books for a while, but the commission didn’t start enforcing it until December, 2016, after a lawsuit was resolved….
Heather Kimball, an unsuccessful challenger to state Sen. Lorraine Inouye ended up paying $750 in a settlement, and then paid another $250 for a late report of a $12 Facebook ad. Inouye paid $4,000 in fines, according to commission records….
Inouye’s campaign ran into problems because of rules governing social media. Gordon Inouye, in charge of social media for the campaign, said it took some time to get guidance from the commission on how to report boosts on Facebook. Once the campaign understood each separate boosted post was a separate communication, it filed a report.
By then, the campaign faced more than $10,000 in fines for about $1,200 in Facebook advertising before entering its settlement with the commission….
The law requires candidates to report within 24 hours how much they spend or contract to spend on electioneering communications once they pass their first $2,000 of expenditures during a calendar year.
The rule is in effect within 30 days of a primary election and 60 days of a general election. The general election reporting period started Friday….
CB: Bigger Fines Considered To Send Campaign Lawbreakers A Message
read … Big Island candidates hit with fines
Food Hysterias, Federal Regs Squeeze Hawaii Small Farms
CB: …If Hawaii’s small farms want to grow significantly or sell a major portion of their produce in grocery stores, they’ll soon need to comply with new regulations created under the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act. Designed to protect the food supply from dangerous germs like salmonella, E. coli and listeria, the regulations went into effect for larger farms in January; small farms have to comply by 2020 if they want to sell to big retailers.
That’s potentially a big deal for Hawaii, where the vast majority of farms are small.
Hawaii has some 7,000 farms, but only about 500 had sales of over $100,000 in 2012, according to the latest available numbers from the USDA. Fewer than 150 farms earned $500,000 or more, the agency said. About 1,200 farms, meanwhile, had sales of less than $1,000.
Technically, these small farms won’t have to comply with the new law. That’s because regulations carve out an exemption for farms with that sell less than $500,000 in produce annually and sell most of their product straight to end users like consumers and restaurants. The problem, Kelly says, is that the exemption doesn’t apply in the real world, where people are increasingly concerned about food-borne disease (thanks to wave after wave of mindless hysteria)….
SA: Lines form, friendships blossom in Waimanalo
read … Why Hawaii Farmers Are Actually Embracing Government Regulation
Federal Money Is Running Out For Charter Schools’ Pre-K Programs
CB: …A four-year $14.8 million federal grant awarded in 2014 helped establish 18 new pre-K classrooms across 11 public charter schools in Hawaii. The maximum reach is 360 students per year, since classroom size is limited to 20 students.
The grant expires next year, meaning the future of these public charters’ pre-K programs could hinge on whether the Legislature doles out funding next session to help keep them afloat. The Hawaii Public Charter School Commission, the statewide charter school authorizer, plans to ask the Legislature for $4.1 million annually to sustain the existing pre-K classrooms, said executive director Sione Thompson….
read … Federal Money Is Running Out For Charter Schools’ Pre-K Programs
Will Renewable Energy Trading Allow HECO to Keep Lowest Cost Electric Producer?
IM: …A Renewable Energy Credit (REC) is a tradeable unit of renewable energy sold above and beyond legal requirements. That is if 100 units of renewable energy are produced, but 60 are needed to meet a Renewable Portfolio Standard legal requirement, then 40 units can be sold as RECs.
A GHG REC can be sold to offset greenhouse gases from air flights, conferences, or to meet other utilities RPS requirements.
The Hawaii Legislature allows, but the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has not approved, the ability of HECO, MECO, and HELCO to trade RECs among themselves. That is, the PUC requires that each utility must meet its RPS targets as an individual utility….
HECO filed an application to DOH, currently under review, so that O`ahuʻs coal plant can continue to produce coal-based electricity to power the grid and electric vehicles.
The Hawai`i PUC has not allowed utilities and independent power producers to engage in selling RECs or Greenhouse Gas credits outside of the state….
Hawai`i could go 100% green tomorrow by buying wind RECs from Iowa and solar RECs from Arizona to offset fossil fuel generation in Hawai`i.
Instead, it will take longer because Hawai`i wants to produce all of its own renewable energy….
read … Hawaii Renewable Energy Credits
Coco Palms: Usual Suspects Smell Blood in Water, Grab for Control of Property
KGI: …This is not a new conversation and residents have proposed community based solutions in the past. One such group that I was a part of, the “Friends of Coco Palms,” had in fact secured a tentative commitment from the state via Sen. Ron Kouchi for over $200,000 to conduct the research and local outreach needed to develop a true community based vision and plan for the Coco Palms property.
Unfortunately, when the private development proposal was put on the table, the still in its infancy public option then fell to the wayside.
The “Friends of Coco Palms” community option, while still in its very early state of development, envisioned a cultural, educational, historic park that preserved elements of the modern Coco Palms and also reclaimed the ancient history honoring the Hawaiian Royalty that resided in the area.
The thought was there would be places set aside for music, for hula halau, and for cultural practitioners to practice and teach. There would be perhaps a canoe hale offering convenient access to the nearby Wailua River, and expanding mauka beyond the coconut grove there could be small farms and the growing of kalo and other native crops.
Since most of the land involved is already public and owned by the state, it was further envisioned that the state, the county, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Kamehameha Schools and other Hawaiian Trusts could possibly partner in the purchase of the privately owned portion, via eminent domain if necessary….
read … Grab for Control
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