Completing the Work of Restoring OHA's Credibility
Biden formalizes Jones Act support in 'Buy America' Executive Order
COVID Tourism: 2020 visitor arrivals total 2.7 million
Former Honolulu Federal Aviation Administration employee sentenced for severing air traffic communications
Feds Again Doing the Job the State Won’t Do: Ex-Husband of HPD Officer’s Druggie Girlfriend found with 24 pounds of cocaine
Republican Legislative Update
2021 Neighborhood Board Elections UPDATE
Hawaii Leads Nation in Unspent CARES Act Higher Education Funds
State Workers Got $150M in Raises this Year—How Will Legislators Get them More?
CB: … Kouchi later added,“It’s going to be challenging to make the case how you can get pay raises in this current economic climate.”
Yet, last year lawmakers approved $150 million for public worker pay raises for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.
Saiki said at the time that it would have been difficult to not pass pay raises for those workers because other workers in similar positions already received raises.
Hawaii’s unions still have much political sway in the Aloha State. But the statements Thursday from Hawaii’s two highest ranking legislators is the first indication that the unions may not get all they want this year.
The statements also come in the same week that Gov. David Ige announced he may be walking back a proposal to lay off 149 state workers….
During the panel discussion, Saiki also said the House will hold an informational briefing on the Agribusiness Development Corp., which has come under scrutiny in recent weeks after a scathing audit found that that agency has not fulfilled its mission to put farmers on former plantation lands.
The University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization followed with another critical report Jan. 22.
Saiki wasn’t specific on what exactly the House inquiry would dig into. But he said that he was concerned with the agency’s land acquisitions.
The UH report found that the ADC is adept at procuring land, but less so in putting farmers on that land….
read … Legislative Leaders: Pay Raises For State Workers May Be Tough This Year
HB433: Rental Car Tax Will Pay Enviros to go Hiking
CB: … Starting July 1, 2024, the surcharge revenue would be deposited into a new “climate change mitigation special fund” that would be used for conservation of natural resources, sustainable tourism practices, environmental education and other climate-related projects.
The money might also be used to help relocate coastal roads or other infrastructure that is threatened by rising sea levels, he said….
The first draft of House Bill 433 does not indicate exactly how large of a tax increase lawmakers have in mind. When Hawaii visitor arrivals and car rentals are near their peak, a $1 per day increase in the existing car rental surcharge can raise $10 million or more per year.
House Consumer Protection and Commerce Chairman Aaron Ling Johanson said lawmakers are deliberately leaving the size of the new fee open for discussion because “there is a balance.”
(These are the same geniuses who drove Hawaii into depression during the 1990s internet boom.)
“We need tourism to be able to come back, but we also are exploring this so that we’re ensuring it’s the kind of tourists that are best for Hawaii, and it’s not necessarily mass, budget tourism where everybody’s looking for the cheapest prices and people are just coming here in droves,” he said.
“We’re looking more for the higher dollar, higher spend kind of tourists,” he said….
(Translation: A $50/day rental car tax will keep the little tourists out and ensure that more of the remaining tourism revenues go to the government and less to the private sector. In essence tourism is being nationalized stepwise.)
Paid to go hiking: This UH Researcher Is Studying An Unusual Invasive Species — Figs
Don’t worry, they have a plan for the rest of you: “Max Holloway And Hawaii's Brain Drain”
And they have a plan for a Hawaii without tourism: Kauai Mayor hopeful for more federal funds
read … Pay Enviros to Practice Their Religion
Some parents say Hawaii is moving too slowly to bring students back to class
HNN: … Roughly 74% of Hawaii’s public school students are spending all (few) or part (most) of their instructional time on campus.
“I believe strongly that it’s doing more damage keeping them out of school this long,” said Speshel Baybayan, who has four school-aged children.
“It’s time already. It’s been a year and our children need to get the education that is due on to them,” Baybayan said. “I see that they’re not learning at the same pace as they normally would in school.
“They are falling behind.”
In its latest cluster report Thursday, the state identified dozens of infections tied to hotels, restaurants, construction sites and apartment complexes — but none in schools.
Epidemiologist DeWolfe Miller said as long as protocols are following “it certainly would be good for the kids” to resume more normal schedules.
The DOE says schools were moving toward transitioning to more in-person learning. That was the goal for the start of the third quarter, which began on Jan. 5.
However, (the HSTA used) an uptick in cases following the holidays (to) slowed that effort (and if there hadn’t been an uptick, the HSTA would have used something else because they like getting paid to do nothing.) ….
read … Some parents say Hawaii is moving too slowly to bring students back to class
To ease courts backlog, prosecutors are considering plea deals in DUI cases
HNN: … The deal would only be for first-time offenders so drivers with a previous drunk driving arrest are eliminated as are those with any arrest in the last five years.
The case also cannot involve an accident or injury.
Prosecutors have discretion so someone who meets the previous qualifications but had an exceptionally high blood alcohol content can still be denied.
For those who are offered the deal, the charge would be amended to reckless driving….
KHON: Family, friends, HPD honor second anniversary of deadly Kakaako crash
read … To ease courts backlog, prosecutors are considering plea deals in DUI cases
What Emergency? Temporary University of Hawaii stadium on campus will cost $5M
KHON: … The cost to build a temporary stadium would be $5 million if the University of Hawaii (UH) football team plays its home games at the Manoa campus. Lawmakers would have to approve the funding and some say there are many benefits in the proposal.
The Rainbow Warriors are without a home for now because Aloha Stadium is not allowing fans in the stands. UH needs to make improvements at the Clarence TC Ching Complex to have the games on campus starting in fall, 2021.
Lawmakers, including the governor, visited the complex as UH shared details on what can be done to have it ready. Lawmakers were told that 7,000 more seats will be added so it can hold 10,000 fans. The turf will be replaced, the press box will be upgraded and a new scoreboard will be installed along with a new speaker system. The estimated cost is $5 million….
read … University of Hawaii stadium on campus will cost $5M
Big Island EPA Mandate Sewer Cost $400K per Home
HTH: … Faced with sewer hookup fees higher than the value of the homes themselves, property owners have cajoled, badgered and even filed a lawsuit to stop sewer projects in Naalehu and Pahala that are aimed at getting the county out from under a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency consent order.
Now, new Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth’s administration is taking a second look.
Faced with sewer hookup fees higher than the value of the homes themselves, property owners have cajoled, badgered and even filed a lawsuit to stop sewer projects in Naalehu and Pahala that are aimed at getting the county out from under a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency consent order.
Now, new Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth’s administration is taking a second look….
Jerry Warren and Sandra Demourelle asked the county to go back to a less expensive wastewater treatment project in Naalehu that the community favored and a 2007 environmental assessment found had no significant impact. A judge dismissed Demourelle’s lawsuit seeking redress, while Warren was penalized for not paying his sewer bills in protest….
Both were praised by Commissioner Dee Fulton.
“Thank you to Mr. Warren and Ms. Demourelle for their persistence,” Fulton said. “Hopefully we will have an administration seeking alternative solutions.”
Commissioners seemed amenable to more cost-effective alternatives.
“This doesn’t need a $100 million solution to a $5 million problem,” said Commissioner Rick Gaffney.
The EPA has been pushing the county since the 1990s to replace the gang cesspools previously owned by C Brewer & Co. The county missed its 2005 deadline to comply, creating the current dilemma the county faces between expensive hookups and stiff fines. The county has a July deadline to submit design plans….
read … Alternatives sought for Ka‘u sewer project
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