School Choice: Hawaii Ranks Dead Last
Taxes and Regulations Even Make Marijuana Unprofitable in Hawaii
CB: … Market structure and regulation have made medical cannabis far more expensive than illegal products, and consumers are choosing the cheaper option…..
A new state report estimates only about 20% of the marijuana sold in Hawaii last year came from local marijuana dispensaries, and blames “market structure and regulation” for driving consumers to buy from illegal growers and sellers.
The report by the Tax Working Group of the Dual Use of Cannabis Task Force estimates the existing marijuana market in Hawaii is worth about $240 million a year, and a mature market could grow to about $354 million annually if recreational marijuana is legalized….
The report comes as Hawaii’s eight legal dispensaries of medical marijuana have struggled to make a profit. Randy Gonce, executive director of Hawaii Cannabis Industry Association, said only about three of the dispensaries operating in Hawaii are breaking even, and none have been able to pay a return on their investors’ money.
“On paper, they’re not successful businesses,” which makes it difficult for the operations to attract new capital, he said. “You’re working on a very limited consumer base with heavy, heavy regulations. Your tax is really, really high, you can’t write your taxes off … at the federal level — it’s just a hard industry to be in.”
2016: Celebrities, politicians and attorneys vie to get in on the ground floor of an industry forecast to be worth millions
PDF: Tax PIG Report
read … Black Market Weed Is Still The Buyer’s Choice Over Legal Marijuana In Hawaii
Corruption: DPP Internal Investigation Quietly Abandoned
SA Editorial: … DPP has expressed resolve to excise its culture of corruption, which springs in part from its moribund business processes. This led last year to federal charges being filed against five current and former DPP employees who accepted bribes.
There is nothing as potent as frustration over a bureaucratic barricade to provide the conditions for corruption. If applicants see bribes as the cost of doing business with the city, they will be tempted to try that route. In the wake of the March 2021 indictments, DPP explored ways of righting the ship, including hiring an investigator to identify lapses in procedures. That mission has yielded little fruit, and now it, too, has been left to the side….
read … Take strong steps to fix DPP’s woes
Hawaii hospitals 100% Fail on price transparency
SA: … Hawaii’s hospitals must post online the prices of procedures and services, such as cataract surgery or a mammogram, to comply with new federal price transparency requirements that went into effect in 2021. The rules are designed to allow consumers to shop and compare prices at different hospitals and estimate the cost of services to help shield them from getting hit with surprise bills, as well as bring competition to the marketplace.
But whether hospitals in Hawaii are fully complying with the new rules is a subject of dispute, and a review of hospital websites shows that how navigable the pricing information is for consumers is largely up to the hospital.
A report released in August by PatientRightsAdvocate.org, which advocates for health care price transparency, concluded that a year and a half after the law went into effect, none of the 10 hospitals in Hawaii that it evaluated were fully compliant. The hospitals included in the report are Adventist Health Castle, Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center, Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children, Kohala Hospital, Kuakini Medical Center, Kula Hospital, Lanai Community Hospital, Maui Memorial Medical Center, The Queen’s Medical Center and Wahiawa General Hospital….
PDF: Hawaii Report
read … Hawaii hospitals move toward price transparency
Hawaii bankruptcies rise as streak of falling cases ends
SA: … For the first time in 16 months, statewide bankruptcies increased from the year-earlier period as filings jumped 21.8% in August.
The 106 cases in August also marked the first time they had reached triple figures after 13 consecutive months of fewer than 100 filings, according to recent data released by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Hawaii. There were 87 cases in the year-earlier period….
read … Hawaii bankruptcies rise as streak of falling cases ends
Bicycles to be Banned to Make Maui Roads Safe for Cars?
CB: …If the council decides to make it a law, commercial bike tours down the iconic volcano would be banished from some Kula roadways….
read … Maui May Crack Down On Haleakala Bike Tours That Crowd Narrow Roads Down The Mountain
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