SB1350: Hawaii House Votes to Suspend Pay Raises for Legislators
‘Plan C’ for rail?
Could Compensation Smooth the Path for Jones Act Reform?
Ige Signs Bill Allowing Nurses to Kill Babies in Abortions
Mokuleia Crash: A Nest of Incompetents Surrounding 11 Deaths
Aipoalani: Being banned never stopped him
Another $800M For Rail? Don’t Count On It, Schatz Says
CB: … The message from the nation’s capital is becoming increasingly clear when it comes to Honolulu’s $12.4 billion rail project, which is now nearly 150% more expensive than originally promised and at least a decade behind schedule.
Don’t come begging for a bailout.
The $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package signed into law last month by President Joe Biden included $70 million to help make up for lost tax revenue for the project due to the pandemic.
But Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, who sits on the Appropriations Committee, admits those funds were secured more through the art of legislative linguistics than as a part of some grand bargain to fix a multibillion-dollar deficit….
“The expectation should be that as long as local agencies can provide a path forward for completing the rail, that all of the federal funding previously committed will be made available, but not a penny more,” Schatz said.
The time for “magical thinking” is over, he said. Billions of dollars will not “fall out of the sky from Washington.”
Such strong words from Hawaii’s senior senator have done little to deter city officials from asking for more money, especially after Biden announced his $2 trillion infrastructure proposal earlier this month.
Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi sent a letter to Schatz and the other three members of Hawaii’s federal delegation Tuesday asking them to lobby for an additional $800 million for rail to help build the final four miles from Middle Street to Ala Moana Center.
City Council Chairman Tommy Waters and Lori Kahikina, who is the interim executive director of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, also signed the letter….
read … Another $800M For Rail? Don’t Count On It, Schatz Says
Blangiardi’s Pick For Police Commission Withdraws Nomination
CB: … Ben Mahi, a former Honolulu police officer whom Mayor Rick Blangiardi nominated to serve on the Honolulu Police Commission, has withdrawn his name from consideration.
A resolution regarding Mahi’s nomination had been slated for the City Council’s agenda for Wednesday but was removed on Tuesday.
“I hope to have another applicant for your consideration in the near future,” Blangiardi wrote in a short letter to council members Tuesday that announced Mahi’s decision….
SA: Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s pick for Police Commission withdraws nomination
Background:
read … Blangiardi’s Pick For Police Commission Withdraws Nomination
Homelessness: Team Blangiardi in Disarray
SA: … Krucky is now taking inventory of various initiatives to help the homeless and piecing together new city policy that envisions partnerships with homeless communities and working closely with the state in order to avoid duplicative efforts. Still, in the absence of a working comprehensive plan, Honolulu Hale should hold off on altogether scrapping “enforcement actions,” or sweeps, which, in some respects, do work.
The sweeps are useful in fending off potential public health and safety threats in parks, business districts and other areas. They involve city crews removing trash — sometimes by the ton — and storing possessions, such as tents, clothes and bicycles, that can later be retrieved cost-free from the city within a 45-day period. They also involve outreach offers aimed at helping campers relocate to homeless shelters and secure social services assistance.
Blangiardi and others have rightly pointed out that compassionate disruption, in many cases, has merely moved homeless individuals from “park to park and street to street.” But for those who elect to leave the streets, the compassionate component can include access to promising initiatives such as the Punawai Rest Stop in Iwilei. Its permanent residents live in “Housing First” apartments, which come with social service case management.
Also, promising but fallen by the wayside: the city’s Homeless Outreach and Navigation for Unsheltered Persons (HONU) project, which involves erecting temporary inflatable tents to provide cots and shelter, while smaller stations provide social-service staff who work with homeless persons to transition into more-permanent shelter and other help.
Launched as a pop-up operation, HONU saw early success in a test run that wrapped up in March 2020. Since then the project has been continued as the Provisional Outdoor Screening and Triage (POST) program — focused on mitigating the spread of COVID-19 among the homeless population. As vaccine and other tactics diminish COVID-19 threats, the city should reactivate HONU in areas seeing significant homelessness concerns….
More homeless mayhem: Rape in Puna
Mobile hygiene unit back in service after homeless strip copper
read … City needs urgency on homelessness
Vaccinations for K-12 Students Before Schools Reopen
WHT: … “You know, we expect to have vaccinations for those 12-16 in the coming months, and hopefully, before the fall semester starts,” Ige said. “And I do know, on the call with the White House, that there are studies right now of vaccinations of children 6-12 in progress. And, hopefully, we’ll have vaccinations for children 6 and older. That will allow us to encourage parents to get their children vaccinated.
“And if many of our students are vaccinated, that will allow us to open schools for in-person learning in a much safer way.”
read … Ige sees public schools being able to fully reopen for in-person learning by this fall
Miske Gang Trying to Access Internet from Prison
CB: … The sheer volume of evidence undergirding the 22-count federal indictment of alleged racketeering kingpin Michael John Miske Jr. and 10 co-defendants continues to create tricky legal and practical issues.
A legal motion filed in Honolulu’s U.S. District Court last week seeks special privileges in the form of significantly greater computer access for Miske’s younger brother, John Stancil, one of those facing charges. Stancil’s attorney, Walter J. Rodby, said the special computer arrangements, not available to all detainees, are necessary to cope with the mountain of evidence.
Prosecutors have already turned over approximately 187,000 pages, more than 150,000 files, and 32 disks of audio or video recordings, comprising nearly 500 gigabytes of data, with more expected to be released in the months ahead, according to court records….
Magistrate Judge Kenneth Mansfield granted Miske’s similar request for expanded computer access on January 15. Mansfield’s order requires the detention center to allow in-person contact visits between Miske and his legal team, as well as confidential telephone calls with an attorney and investigator assigned specifically to address death penalty issues, “at all reasonable hours.” In addition, Mansfield ordered officials to provide Miske up to eight hours a day to use one of the computers in the detention center’s library along with a hard drive containing the digital evidence files, or to provide access to a non-internet connected tablet or laptop containing the discovery materials and word processing capability….
The court has ordered the warden and “independent counsel” for the Federal Detention Center, along with prosecutors, to meet with Rodby this week by telephone or video “in an effort to resolve or limit the issues raised.”
A hearing on Stancil’s motion has been set for 10 a.m. on May 28….
ILind: Attorney says mountain of evidence in Miske case is expected to grow
read … What will they do with this access?
HMSA’s Mark Mugiishi To Chair State Redistricting Panel
CB: … Dr. Mark Mugiishi, president and CEO of the Hawaii Medical Services Association, was elected Tuesday to lead a state panel charged with redrawing Hawaii’s political boundaries once every decade.
It was the first order of business for the Reapportionment Commission, a panel tasked with drawing district boundaries for state representatives and senators. Six members of the eight-member commission voted in favor of Mugiishi’s nomination.
“He’s a proven entity that knows how to run a big organization and navigate difficult situations,” said Dylan Nonaka, a commission member and realtor who nominated Mugiishi….
read … HMSA’s Mark Mugiishi To Chair State Redistricting Panel
Honolulu building inspector is 4th to plead not guilty to federal bribery charges
SA: … The last of the five former and current city Department of Planning and Permitting employees who were federally charged for accepting bribes has pleaded not guilty and will proceed to trial.
During a court appearance today, Jason Dadez, a building inspector at the DPP, pleaded not guilty to the charges that allege he accepted thousands of dollars in payments for conducting city services.
Wayne Inouye, a former building plans examiner, Jocelyn Godoy, an employee of the data access and imaging branch and Jennie Javonillo, a former building plans examiner have all also pleaded not guilty.
Kanani Padeken, a building plans examiner at the department pleaded guilty last week to charges of wire fraud along with an architect, William Wong, who is not employed by the department, but was accused of participating in the pay-to-play scheme.
Inouye and Dadez’s separate trials are scheduled to begin in June. Godoy’s trial is scheduled to begin in September. Javonillo’s trial is scheduled to begin in March 2022….
read … Honolulu building inspector is 4th to plead not guilty to federal bribery charges
Anti-Tourism Protesters Protest Being Called Anti-Tourism
HNN: … More tourists are visiting the Valley Isle so over the weekend activists staged a demonstration on the beach. A day before the “Take Back the Beach” event, the general manager of the Four Seasons in Wailea warned employees of the planned protest ― and said security will be amplified.
“The group of protesters hopes to make the beach as uncomfortable as possible for the tourists enjoying the beach, minding their own business and supporting our economy,” General Manager Marc Bromley said, in the memo to employees.
State Rep. Tina Wildberger called the memo “highly offensive” and said it presented an “us versus them” tone.”
Maui activist Kai Nishiki organized the demonstration, in which families spent the day at the beach with signs and beach chairs….
HNN: Leaders look for ways to balance economic recovery with anti-tourism sentiment
read … As Uncomfortable as Possible
Despite potential flooding threat, Wahiawa dam owners get more time to make repairs
HNN: …Carty Chang, chief engineer for DLNR, did point out that the company has known about some of the safety issues since 2009.
And, he added, “If the dam were to fail it would result in the probable loss of human life.”
Chang said a failure could result in catastrophic flooding for Otake Camp, Waialua and Haleiwa town….
… Nellis, meanwhile, said repairs could cost upwards of $15 million….
read … Despite potential flooding threat, Wahiawa dam owners get more time to make repairs
High court to hear Hu Honua Bioenergy LLC’s appeal
SA: … Hu Honua Bioenergy LLC’s appeal to the Hawaii Supreme Court to allow the company’s wood-burning plant to begin operating on the Hamakua Coast will be heard Thursday in oral arguments.
The case will be held remotely starting at 2 p.m. and livestreamed for public viewing via the Judiciary’s YouTube channel at YouTube.com/hawaiicourts. The case is No. SCOT-20-0000569.
This will be the second time that the case has gone before the Supreme Court. …
read … High court to hear Hu Honua Bioenergy LLC’s appeal
Drug Oligarchy: Will State Clamp Down on Competition?
HNN: … If the measure passes, it would limit the number of patients who could grow at a single site to five for a total of 50 plants.
That means 99% of growers at the North Shore site would have to go elsewhere. For many, it would essentially mean losing access to their medication….
(Translation: This is a 5,000 plant grow-op.)
Of Hawaii’s 31,509 medical cannabis cardholders, the state says only 36% purchased from a dispensary last year. Many opt to grow their own instead.
Among those patients, there are nearly 3,800 who are registered to cooperative grow sites….
The state said they’ve seen sites with up to 4,000 plants, more than what is initially allowed at a licensed dispensary.
The agency also claims it has gotten a variety of complaints ― everything from patients who reportedly felt coerced by collectives into signing over their growing rights to things like unpermitted indoor lighting and problems with the smell….
read … Patients fear losing access to medical cannabis amid push to restrict amateur grow operations
Hawaii family horrified by video of autistic boy getting beaten in school bus
KHON: … There is new and disturbing footage of an autistic boy getting kicked and punched on a Hawaii school bus.
The boy’s family released the video because they believe there are more victims and that the State and the school bus company are covering it up….
The boy is a student at Roosevelt High School. His father says he knew something was wrong when his son started acting aggressively when he came home and he did not want to ride the bus anymore.
The father was horrified when his attorney obtained video evidence from the school bus company Roberts Hawaii. Kahi Logan did not want us to show his son’s face, who was 16 years old in the video from 2020.
He noticed bruises on his son’s leg for months, but his son was not able to tell him because he has a hard time communicating.
“As soon as I saw the video, I knew where those bruises were coming from. It was when she was kicking him,” said Logan.
Roberts Hawaii told Logan that the woman has been fired, but he filed a lawsuit against them and the Department of Education. His attorney believes there could be other victims and incidents, but he was told that all other videos have been recorded over….
KHON: Mental health experts react to disturbing video of Hawaii boy with autism getting beaten on a school bus
read … Hawaii family horrified by video of autistic boy getting beaten in school bus
Hawaii Jails COVID-free but ACLU Wants Supreme Court to Keep Releasing Criminals Anyway
SA: … The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii has called for continued judicial supervision of COVID-19 safety measures in Hawaii correctional facilities, arguing that the state’s incarcerated population remains at risk of contracting the virus and causing clusters in jails, prisons and the community.
The ACLU of Hawaii filed a friend of the court brief Thursday urging the Hawaii Supreme Court to continue its oversight of the state Corrections Division’s management of COVID-19.
The ACLU also urged the Supreme Court not to terminate orders that have prohibited judges from imposing bail on defendants accused of certain low-level offenses during the pandemic….
read … COVID Emergency Forever
Money News: Historic duo puts climate on Indian Affairs agenda
EE: … In the first months of the 117th Congress, Schatz and Murkowski are putting the environment on the committee's front burner, keenly aware of the fact that, like other Indigenous populations, Alaska and Hawaiian Natives face a host of serious challenges — poverty, lack of health care, environmental pressures — that are all increasingly exacerbated by climate change.
One of the panel's first meetings this year was a climate change roundtable featuring Native witnesses from across the country, and an early hearing focused on water infrastructure needs in tribal communities.
A test of the commitment to their partnership could come in the months ahead, as Schatz pledges to engage the Indian Affairs Committee with legislation to address climate change within Native communities.
It would be the first time the issue has ever been dealt with legislatively with this specific population in mind, and while Murkowski has a history of bipartisan engagement on environmental policymaking, it's not clear whether Schatz's vision is one that would bring Republicans on board….
read … Money
Legislative News:
Corona Virus News:
QUICK HITS: