"Tax the rich" not the answer
Hawaii Senate Schedules Joint Hearing on Retroactive Ban of Homebuilt Firearms
Hawaii Family Forum Legislative Week in Review
Oʻahu Neighborhood Board Elections Kick Off on April 23
New Strategic Plan Will Guide OHA’s Work Through 2035
Help for Native Hawaiian Businesses Facing the COVID Storm
Ige Joins other High-Tax State Governors to Call on Biden to Restore $670B Federal Subsidy
New CDC Guidance Paves The Way For Hawaii To Implement ‘Vaccine Passports’
CB: … The federal agency said it’s safe for fully vaccinated people to travel without testing or quarantine….
Guidance issued Friday by the CDC gives Hawaii the green light to modify the program that lets arriving travelers avoid a 10-day quarantine by showing proof of full vaccination, the program’s author said on Friday.
But key details, including how to verify that the travelers have been vaccinated, still must be worked out, Lt. Gov. Josh Green said. Still, Green said, the announcement marks another step toward reopening Hawaii’s key tourism industry….
(EDITOR’s NOTE: As COVID fades in the face of mass vaccination, how long will the un-vaccinated—ie Republicans and evangelicals susceptible to Trumpster conspiracy theories—be banned from travel? This ‘Vaccine Passport’ can easily evolve into something similar to China’s social credit system. It is easy to support when the victims are people you revile—but you could be the next victim.)
read … New CDC Guidance Paves The Way For Hawaii To Implement ‘Vaccine Passports’
Watchdogs question HPD chief’s personal purchases from vendors awarded CARES Act fund
HNN: … Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard bought personal equipment from companies that her agency awarded CARES Act contracts to, Hawaii News Now has learned. Watchdog groups are calling the purchases a conflict of interest.
Ballard declined a Hawaii News Now request for an interview on the purchases. But in a series of emails, a spokesperson for HPD did acknowledge that Ballard bought two scooters from businesses that supplied a large order of ATVs and UTVs the police department purchased last summer….
In August, the department spent $102,695.85 at Montgomery Powersports to purchase four utility terrain vehicles and 150 helmets.
HPD confirmed in an email that in November, Ballard ― using her own money ― purchased a Suzuki Burgman scooter from Montgomery Powersports for herself….
“The scooter was about $8,500,” said HPD spokesperson Michelle Yu.
Also in August, the department spent $625,949.48 at Cycle City Hawaii for 40 all-terrain vehicles, five utility terrain vehicles, and 18 utility trailers.
About the same time, Ballard purchased a “2018 Honda 150 for $4,200″ Yu said. The spokeswoman added, in an email, that Ballard did not get special treatment for the personal purchases….
Ballard is still using the Suzuki Burgman scooter, but sold the Honda 150 late last year….
read … Watchdogs question HPD chief’s personal purchases from vendors awarded CARES Act fund
OHA Will Sue to Build Kakaako Makai
KWO: … On March 15, OHA learned that the House will not be scheduling hearings on our bill meaning that unless something drastic happens, OHA’s Kakaʻako bill will not pass this year.
The OHA trustees’ obligation to their Native Hawaiian beneficiaries is to protect their rights and to challenge laws which unconstitutionally prevent them from developing their makai properties as private developers mauka of Ala Moana are now allowed to do.
One strategy is to legally challenge HRS 206E-31.5(2) as “special legislation” which preserves view planes for residential towers mauka of Ala Moana Boulevard by prohibiting Hawaiians from building housing on any of its 30 plus acres of its Kakaʻako makai lands. Another strategy is to pass SB1334 SD1.
This isn’t about OHA but is instead about “special interest” politics. OHA is entitled to parity with the same zoning allowances that other mauka developers have already received.
HRS 206E-31.5(2) discriminates against Hawaiians and favors special interests over the public interest. It must either be overturned by a court or repealed by passage of SB1334 SD1….
read … E Hoʻoulu i ka Lāhui
Hawaii Voter Suppression Worse than Georgia
NDN: … Democrats have been mysteriously quiet when it comes to rules enforcing the same opening and closing times set by the Democratic governments of California, Delaware, Massachusetts and Rhode Island; the Democratic governors of Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania; the Democratic Legislature of Maryland and the Democratic mayor and city council of Washington. More urgently, when will Ms. Abrams and her associates castigate the Democratic suppressors who run Colorado and Hawaii, where polls close at 7 p.m.? That’s a whole additional hour lost!
The Iowa law also drew fire for reducing the number of early voting days to 20 from 29. If this is evidence of suppression, what should we call the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, New York, Wisconsin and 15 other states, all with shorter in-person voting periods than Iowa? And what about Connecticut, Delaware and New Jersey, none of which have early in-person voting at all? Will Ms. Abrams and Ms. Harris condemn these blue states as centers of voter suppression? ….
Nov 3, 2020: Oahu Election results delayed for hours as polling locations see long lines of in-person voters
read … Voter Suppression
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