Auditor Persecution Continues
Army invites public comments on draft EIS for Pōhakuloa Training Area
Hawaii taxpayers deserve a rebate — a big one
Hawaii lawmakers propose $300 rebate checks
UHPA: UH Faculty Approve 14.35% Pay Hike
246 Candidates Pull Papers
To Keep Housing Prices High, BWS is Slow Walking New Well and Already Using Fake Crisis to Block New Construction
SA: … Beginning late last year, BWS began informing developers that there may not be enough water for their projects. At least 15 projects have received warning letters, according to BWS documents provided to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser....
...Many other projects in various stages of development could also be stalled in the event of a moratorium. There are 1,145 pending building permits islandwide that require BWS review, according to Curtis Lum, a spokesman for the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting. “We have not limited our report by geographical area because the BWS has said the impact to the water supply in the urban area could have an impact on other parts of the island,” Lum said by email….
(Translation: This is 100% phony.)
BWS has begun to explore the development of a new well to make up for the lost capacity, but it typically takes five to seven years to develop another water source. Lau recently warned that Oahu is expected to be “in this crisis situation for many years.”
(WRONG: It does not take 5-7 years to drill and connect a new well.)
Planned affordable housing developments make up a significant portion of the projects that have received BWS letters.
The projects include the city’s planned “transitional village” along the Honolulu rail route by Middle Street, which is expected to include 80 to 120 units to help homeless transition into stable housing and another potential affordable housing project in Iwilei. Catherine Taschner, deputy director of Honolulu’s Department of Land Management, said the city is factoring the uncertainty into its analysis of development potential. The projects are in the very early stages of development….
The Hawaii Public Housing Authority and The Michaels Organization have been working to redevelop public housing in Kalihi. The Kuhio Park Terrace Low Rise and Kuhio Homes Redevelopment project is expected to include 625 affordable housing units. That project has also received a BWS letter cautioning that there may not be enough water to support it.
‘Ikenakea Development is looking to develop 50 units of affordable housing on Kekaulike Street, where rent for studios would start as low as $521 a month, with two-bedroom units going for about $1,200 a month. The developer is seeking a tax credit from the state for building low-income housing, but needs BWS to indicate that it will provide the water, said Keegan Flaherty, a development associate with ‘Ikenakea Development….
Another city project that could get caught in the crosshairs of water constraints is the city’s Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is required to upgrade its facility so that wastewater undergoes a secondary treatment process before being deposited into the ocean. The project must be completed by 2035 to comply with an order by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It’s not clear how much additional water the project may need….
Carr said that for him, the scarier prospect is if the Red Hill facility suffers a bigger failure as Navy officials work to defuel it. The underground facility, which includes 18 active tanks and holds about 180 million gallons of fuel at any given time, is about 80 years old. The Navy is working on a plan to drain those tanks, but regulators and documents provided by the Navy have raised concerns about the safety of the facility’s pipeline system and whether fixes need to be made to safely drain that amount of fuel....
Jan, 2022: Red Hill: BWS Smokes out Congress?
SA: Hot, dry summer could bring mandatory water restrictions on Oahu
read … Oahu developers face fallout from the Navy’s Red Hill water crisis
Sylvia Luke Thinks You Will Sell Your Vote for $300
SA: … State Rep. Sylvia Luke has a clear advantage over the four other candidates running for lieutenant governor as the only one currently serving in elected office and, especially, as chairwoman of the powerful House Finance Committee.
On Wednesday, Luke joined her Senate counterpart — Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee — on the Honolulu Star- Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream program, where they announced that a dead idea to give $100 rebates to every Hawaii taxpayer and their dependents had been reborn.
Instead, the leaders of the House and Senate money committees said that, if approved, every taxpayer would receive a $300 rebate for them and their dependents, meaning $1,200 for a family of four….
“Resurrecting Gov. Ige’s plan for a tax rebate and increasing the amount gives her a big advantage,” said Colin Moore, director of the University of Hawaii’s Public Policy Center. “Her name is in the paper a lot. She’s getting a fair bit of attention as House Finance chair and she can attach her name to a popular idea. It costs her campaign nothing.”
Appearing on Spotlight and then on the front page of the Star-Advertiser means “no one else (running for lieutenant governor) enjoys those advantages,” Moore said. “No one else has the ability to both shape legislation and be in the public eye.”…
Borreca: Gubernatorial candidates can ride budgetary surplus surge in wake of make-no-waves Ige
read … Working in Legislature gives Sylvia Luke a leg up in lieutenant governor’s race
House Corruption Commission has done nothing
CB: … What they came up with in just five week’s time is a list of 14 bills as well as legislative ideas to consider beginning in the 2023 session. As of Friday, seven of those measures had survived a key internal deadline, five others were dead and two were signed into law.
On first blush, that may look like progress. But keep in mind that the commission was tasked with its work in the middle of a legislative session.
The Legislature may pass several pieces of legislation identified by a standards of conduct commission to improve public trust in government. But much more work must be done, and it’s up to lawmakers to make it happen. Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2022
For that reason, it spent a lot of its time examining bills already moving through the legislative process — ones that were introduced before Rep. Ty Cullen and Sen. Kalani English were busted by the feds. To put it another way, the bills under consideration were not directly inspired by the fallen lawmakers.
The commission’s report even concedes that it may not be feasible for the Legislature to adopt its recommendations, as the session ends May 5. There are constitutional restrictions on bills receiving three readings in each chamber and adhering to subject and title limitations….
Shapiro: We’ve become too quick to scoff at attempts to clean up our muck
read … The Onus Is Upon The Legislature To Restore Public Trust
Special Purpose Revenue Bonds: Jon Riki Karamatsu pushing Another Garbage Burner for Oahu
SA: … Honolulu-based Next Level Solutions Group Inc., which was incorporated in August, is asking the Legislature for authorization to issue and sell $50 million in special-purpose revenue bonds to help finance a gasification waste-to-energy project in Honolulu….
(Clue: BREG registration docs for ‘Next Level Solutions Group’ --incorporated Aug 2021-- show the company is part owned by drunk driver and former legislator, prosecutor and rave promoter Jon Riki Karamatsu. His HQ office is the dingy beige building, upstairs. Would you sink $50M into that?)
House Bill 1682, which would authorize issuance of an unspecified sum of revenue bonds for Next Level, has been passed by two House committees, the House of Representatives in a 45-2 vote and, most recently, three Senate committees.
A few environmental groups that oppose burning more waste have testified against the authorization….
Markus Owens, public information officer for the city Department of Environmental Services, said H-POWER is receiving about everything on the island that can be burned.
H-POWER consumes about 2,000 tons of waste per day and reduces the volume of refuse going to the municipal landfill in Kapolei by 90%, according to the city. Electricity produced by the plant generates about $70 million a year and is enough to power about 60,000 homes, or up to 10% of Oahu’s total demand….
One of the few votes against the revenue bond bill was cast by Sen. Laura Acasio (D, Hilo), who tried to research Next Level and found little to go on.
Acasio, a member of the Senate Agriculture and Environment Committee, joined Sen. Kurt Fevella (R, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point) as dissenters in a 3-2 vote by the committee on March 21….
CB: A Bill To Finance A New Waste-To-Energy Plant On Oahu Raises Questions
2019: SB652: Will Legislators Give Drunk Rave Promoter $50M?
read … Upstart company wants to establish garbage-to-energy power plant to rival Oahu’s power facility
Commercial Property Tax Bills Jump 40%
HTH: … Hawaii Island business groups, facing steep increases in property values, are clamoring for relief from taxes set forth in a record high $689.9 million budget proposed by Mayor Mitch Roth.
Council members say they’ve been hearing from real estate and business improvement associations as well as the island’s numerous chambers of commerce about taxable property values in commercial, industrial, agricultural and vacant land categories facing 40% to 128% increases compared to last year.
Property tax revenue, based on the new valuations at the current tax rate, are expected to go up 12.9% or $45.9 million, according to the preliminary proposed budget Roth released March 1. But because property in the homeowner class is limited to a 3% valuation increase annually until it’s sold, it’s expected that the other property classes will bear the brunt of that increase….
read … Sticker shock: Businesses beg for property tax relief
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