Individual Income Taxes--Hawaii Drops 9 Places to 47th
Obamacare: 38-state lawsuit reveals deep national divide over states’ rights, federal role, taxation
Justice Department Signs Off on CVS-Aetna Merger
Planned Parenthood Endorses Ige-Green Ticket
Guam Argues for Native Voting Law Before 9th Circuit
City Council schedules meetings to fund rail
SA: The Honolulu City Council is forming a special committee and scheduling a series of meetings later this month to deliver $44 million to the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation as requested by the Federal Transit Administration.
The FTA last month warned HART that it would consider taking unspecified action against the city and the rail authority if the city fails to deliver the money to help HART finance the rail construction by Nov. 20.
Mayor Kirk Caldwell said the city wouldn’t be able to meet that deadline because it needs more time to float bonds to borrow the money, but Honolulu City Council Chairman Ernie Martin said the Council would fast-track a bill and resolutions to clear the way for transferring the funds.
In a written statement issued Thursday, Martin said the Council is re-establishing a Legislative Matters Committee made up of all nine Council members to hold public hearings on Bill 42 and Resolutions 18-127 and 18-132. The meetings are scheduled for 1:30 p.m., Oct. 17 and at 9 a.m., Oct. 30.
Those meetings will be followed by special Council meetings at 3 p.m., Oct 17 and 10:30 a.m, Oct. 30 to consider the same measures.
Bill 42 would authorize the city to spend city funds on rail construction, while the resolutions would authorize the city to issue bonds to borrow money to fund rail….
read … City Council schedules meetings to fund rail
Honolulu rail or a new spaceship to Mars?
ILind: …Her email began: “We could have had a rocket to Mars instead of a fixed rail to Howard Hughes land!”
Then she linked to a Washington Post story about the “massive” funding needed to keep the NASA Mars aspirations alive.
… The powerful new rocket NASA has been developing for years in its quest to get to the moon and Mars will require a massive amount of additional funding that would double the initial cost of the project to nearly $9 billion, according to a scathing government report released Wednesday….
read … Honolulu rail or a new spaceship to Mars?
Hawaii County: Only a quarter of lava evacuees have found permanent housing
HNN: …“At best we feel like 25 percent have moved into some type of permanent housing through their FEMA benefit or through rental assistance from the non-profits,” he said.
Alameda says the county knows of 157 families who aren’t eligible for federal assistance and are still looking for permanent housing. He says about 10 percent left the island and moved to the mainland.
However, the vast majority of evacuees — including those who were granted FEMA aid — are still in temporary living situations, either with friends or family, in shelters or on the street.
“I know it’s a significant number. Best guess would be around 400 to 500 households,” said Alameda.
“A lot of those people are still looking for housing because the max that FEMA could allow was $34,000 and we know $34,000 isn’t going to build you a home.”….
read … Hawaii County: Only a quarter of lava evacuees have found permanent housing
Caldwell signs bills to keep homeless from blocking sidewalks
SA: …The American Civil Liberties Union Hawaii chapter has warned repeatedly that the bills are unconstitutional, suggesting that they may mount a legal challenge to block them from being enforced.
Bill 51 makes it illegal between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. to “create, cause or maintain” an obstruction on a public sidewalk if it blocks pedestrians from passing freely. The measure applies to anyone who obstructs the sidewalk, including vendors who operate mobile kiosks. Violators could be subject to fines of up to $100.
Bill 52 makes it a petty misdemeanor “to lodge” on a sidewalk or other public places. It defines “to lodge” as “to occupy a place temporarily; to sleep; to come to rest and refuse to vacate” a public place. A police officer issuing a citation must first verify there is shelter space available within a reasonable distance and then offer to take the person being cited to the shelter.
Caldwell had raised concerns with a stipulation inserted into both bills by Council members requiring that his administration first submit a report updating them on the city’s initiatives to combat homelessness, and then have the Council approve the report, before enforcement of the new laws can take effect.
Caldwell said even when his Department of Community Services submits the report — which is expected to occur in the coming days — it will take time for the Council to approve it via resolution, delaying implementation of the new laws….
read … Caldwell signs bills to keep homeless from blocking sidewalks
Plan Takes Aim at Hardened element of homeless
SA: …The city’s updated, 95-page action plan for tackling homelessness unveiled by Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell on Thursday calls for launching public safety initiatives and providing more health care services for the unsheltered….
“In the urban core, we have a very hardened element of homelessness, people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol,” Caldwell said, citing a man who was killed by Honolulu police officers Sunday after he lunged at them with a knife. “We want to get those people off the street, and into shelter and being taken care of. That is the more compassionate thing.”…
According to the report, those new initiatives would be done primarily through partnerships with various agencies including the state Health and Human Services departments and the Honolulu Police Department.
It noted that HPD recently partnered with the private sector to establish a medical services center in Chinatown.
“Efforts to address the increasing aggressive and violent behavior among homeless persons require partnerships with law enforcement and health care entities,” the report said.
“The advocates for mentally ill homeless persons are reporting increased psychotic behaviors on the street and individuals who are extremely service resistant,” the report said. “Any success with housing the current population of individuals living with severe mental illness will require professional skills beyond the social services currently contracted by the City and enters into the scope of health care services.”…
Related: Mental Health: Can Reform Solve Hawaii’s Homeless, Prison and Unfunded Liability Problems?
read … Updated homelessness plan targets health services, public safety
Police Shootings Up Sharply
SA: … So far in 2018, the Honolulu Police Department has had 11 officer-involved shootings, six of which resulted in a fatality. That eclipses the highest recent full-year counts in 2013 and 2014, with four officer-involved shootings resulting in two fatalities each year.
In the latest incident, a man was shot on Sunday morning, near state Health Department headquarters on Punchbowl Street, after striking an arresting officer with a machete….
SA: Hawaii island police fatally shoot woman in stolen SUV in Puna
read … Police shootings need close review
Kelly King: Why I’m Voting ‘No’ On The Proposed New Tax
CB: …The proposed new tax on investment real property has been described by supporters as applicable only to out-of-state millionaires and developers, as posing no threat to the counties, and as targeted to properly fund our public schools. Unfortunately, none of this is guaranteed in the current proposal.
Early versions of the bill would have limited the tax to second homes worth at least $1 million dollars, but that and other limitations were eliminated from the final language. As written, this proposed constitutional amendment would empower the Legislature to define investment real property to include every apartment building, every farm, every small business, possibly even the ohana units at our personal residences. There would be no limit on the tax rate, and no thresholds to protect the owners of properties worth less than a million dollars.
It also concerns me that, while the proposed new tax would be earmarked for education, the Legislature would remain free to reduce appropriations from the general fund by a like amount. It could then use the freed-up general funds in any way it wanted. There is no guarantee that the new tax money would be in addition to, and not instead of, current levels of funding.….
read … Why I’m Voting ‘No’ On The Proposed New Tax
Case: I will Join Reformers Caucus
CB: …Whether Case’s moderation will be rewarded by national party leadership if he returns to Congress remains to be seen.
“The Blue Dogs are kind of an endangered species,” said James Thurber, a professor at American University and co-editor of “American Gridlock: The Sources, Character, and Impact of Political Polarization.”
“Moderate to liberal Democrats are endangered,” Thurber said. “You have people on the left and on the right.”
In 2008, shortly after Case left Congress, the Blue Dog Coalition counted more than 50 Democrats among its ranks. Today there are fewer than 20.
And he’s not sure if he’d rejoin the Blue Dog Coalition, but that he would definitely join the Congressional Reformers Caucus, a new bipartisan group seeking to overhaul campaign finance and ethics rules. The caucus also has the goal of bringing some semblance of civility back to Washington.
Case traveled to Philadelphia in March to take part in an event called “Renewing the Founders’ Promise.” Nearly 200 former members of Congress, governors and cabinet officials were in attendance.
The Reformers Caucus today is made up of 10 Democrats and nine Republicans….
read … Can A Moderate Like Ed Case Still Thrive In Washington?
Kauai: Council Members Want To End Term Limits — On Themselves
CB: …The chief proponent of the ballot measure is Councilman Ross Kagawa. If it fails, he could be term-limited out in 2020….
read … Kauai: Council Members Want To End Term Limits — On Themselves
Trustee Akana says investigation into her OHA spending is hampering her campaign
KITV: …Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Rowena Akana says an ongoing investigation by the state ethics commission is hampering her campaign. Akana is suing the state after it concluded she violated ethics code on 50 separate occasions.
Her case brought against the commission was continued for a second time at Honolulu's First Circuit Court Wednesday. Akana was not present.
The longtime trustee's attorney says the commission over-stepped its authority by dictating how OHA funds are spent.
She's expected to appear before the commission later this month.
"By scheduling the hearings one week before the General Election, one, they effect the perceptions of the public regarding the candidate, and two, they effectively hobble her by tying her down the last week of major campaigning in a week long hearing," Steve Tannembaum, Attorney representing Akana….
read … Trustee Akana says investigation into her OHA spending is hampering her campaign
Lab: More than 20 percent of Hawaii medical marijuana products rejected for sale
HNN: …The state’s first and largest medical marijuana testing lab says that more than one-fifth of the cannabis products it tests in the islands are rejected for sale.
“About 20 to 30 percent gets rejected, fails the compliance test. And I would say that 95 percent of that is from biological organisms," said Michael Covington, chief operations officer for Steep Hill Hawaii.
The state has required rigorous testing of medical cannabis products since medical marijuana dispensaries opened last year.
Covington said in its raw form, marijuana grown for a dispensary can pick up mold, yeast and bacteria.
But he said unlike mainland growers, medical marijuana dispensaries in Hawaii rarely use pesticides, so that’s not a big issue here.
“We seldom pick up pesticides and if we do it’s usually a mistake, someone used the wrong can of something and sprayed it," he said.
Rejected marijuana is either destroyed or broken down into oils and retested for contaminants….
read … Lab: More than 20 percent of Hawaii medical marijuana products rejected for sale
5th Circuit Refuses to Revive Hawaii ERS Lawsuit Against Whole Foods
TL: …The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said that the Employees' Retirement System of the State of Hawaii could not demonstrate that it suffered financial harm when it invested in Whole Foods….
read … 5th Circuit Refuses to Revive Shareholder Lawsuit Against Whole Foods
Election News:
QUICK HITS: