Senate Committees Advance Bill Legalizing Hashish and Honey Butane Oil
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Ninth Circuit wades into debate on abortion in Guam
Hanabusa: Feds Have Still Not Agreed to Cut Rail Short
SA: … board Chair Colleen Hanabusa said the rail project’s original full funding grant agreement — which helps pay for major rapid transit projects nationwide through the Federal Transit Administration — was not amended and still considered the rail’s terminus at Ala Moana Center.
“We expect to get it amended, but we don’t know when. And then we have the issue of how we’re going to proceed after that,” Hanabusa said. “So how are you going to handle that?”
In response, Meddings said the project has the “financial capacity” to get to the Civic Center but that not having a “modified FFGA (full funding grant agreement) still provides a minimal risk” in terms of going beyond the Civic Center Station in the future. “We do want to put out an option to go to Ala Moana in some form or fashion,” he added. “That allows us to understand exactly how much it will cost to get to Ala Moana, and that will help us with those projections.”
He noted such a plan allows a potential contractor to offer some “innovation” to push the line farther east. However, Meddings stressed that the current scope of the work is to get the line as far as the Civic Center.
To that, Hanabusa said the “intent” is to have the line go to Ala Moana until a new federal transit agreement is amended, “because we still have to comply with the existing FFGA,” she added.
Meddings replied that the plan’s “guaranteed scope is to Civic Center with an option somehow of getting to Ala Moana.”
Later, board member Robert Yu wished to see another option for the line: what he called an “offramp” for rail to go from Ala Moana Center to UH.
“So is that something you would put in?” Yu asked.
Meddings said a spur could be included in the plan. “It’s very minimal cost to put in a spur,” he said (without even a smirk)….
read … Some HART leaders see Ala Moana Center and UH as end points
Honolulu’s Rail Line Readies To Open 1st Section In ‘June-ish’ — Or Maybe July
CB: … HART says it plans to finally hand over an 11-mile segment from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium for the city to operate "within the next few months." ….
The city is tentatively planning a “soft opening” of perhaps four days, followed by a grand opening with some 300 invited guests including dignitaries from Washington, D.C., and the Federal Transit Administration. A contractor is being hired to help with tents and seating and such, Morton said.
That would be followed by a “free weekend” in which Oahu residents would be invited to take a free ride to sample the system, he said. “We want to make this a fun opening, and we are planning a series of promotional events,” he said.
He also said he wants to host some news reporters on the rail line to garner some positive press as well as free advertising to attract riders.
The city’s 2022 rail recovery plan projects that operating and maintaining the rail system will cost $103 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1. By comparison, operating the TheBus system is expected to cost $264 million that year, not including the cost of the The Handi-Van system.
Projected fare revenue for rail alone that year was not available, but fare revenue from TheBus and rail combined is expected to total $77 million that same year, according to the recovery plan….
2022: Plague, Frogs, Fire and Cracks: Eleven Years of HART Excuses
read … Honolulu’s Rail Line Readies To Open 1st Section In ‘June-ish’ — Or Maybe July
Religious observances by Hawaii’s school employees are OK’d
SA: … The state school board Thursday unanimously passed a policy amendment that says state Department of Education employees may engage in short, quiet “religious observances” during private moments, in keeping with a landmark ruling in June by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Changes approved for the board’s preexisting Policy 900-3, titled “Religion and Public Schools,” include the addition of a passage that reads, “Department of Education employees may engage in brief, quiet, and personal religious observances when not engaged in the responsibilities of their job duties as long as their observances are not disruptive or coercive.”
But the fine points of how that amendment would be carried out by teachers and athletic coaches — including outlining when a DOE employee ends his or her job duties and becomes free to engage in a religious observance — will be the purview of an implementation plan the DOE is now tasked to produce within 90 days.
The full text, policy changes and justifications can be viewed at: LINK.
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision June 27, held that former Bremerton High School assistant football coach Joseph A. Kennedy’s kneeling on the 50-yard line in post-game prayer was private speech protected by the First Amendment….
The policy remains unchanged where it says Hawaii’s public schools “shall neither inculcate nor inhibit religion” and that “no religious instruction shall be given in any public school by any employee of the Department of Education during the regular school day. Teaching about religion shall be permitted where it is a natural part of the curriculum.”
The policy had also said, “Prayer and other religious observances shall not be organized or sponsored by schools and the administrative and support units of the public school system, especially where students are in attendance or can observe the activities.”
The board, in its approved changes, removed the phrase “especially where students are in attendance or can observe the activities.”…
read … Brief religious observances by Hawaii’s school employees are OK’d
Doomed in House, Office of Hawaiian Affairs Kakaako Makai bill advances in Senate
SA: … The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs succeeded in advancing a bill to permit residential development on 31 acres it owns in Kakaako Makai past a pair of Senate committees Thursday after a contentious public hearing last week.
The Committee on Hawaiian Affairs voted 4-1 and the Committee on Water and Land voted 5-0 to pass Senate Bill 736, which also would increase height and density limits on three of OHA’s nine parcels in the area and give OHA $65 million to fix a wharf area fronting Kewalo Harbor ….
The bill’s next referral is to another pair of Senate committees, the Judiciary Committee and the Ways and Means Committee.
Three other bills also were introduced this year to lift the residential development prohibition on some or all of OHA’s Kakaako Makai land, though none of those other bills have been scheduled for a hearing.
If SB 736 clears the Senate, it is expected to face a tougher hurdle in the House of Representatives, where House Speaker Scott Saiki has previously opposed lifting the 2006 ban and recently suggested possibly reopening the settlement agreement….
RELATED: Abercrombie: OHA Should Stop Lying About Kakaako Makai Deal
read … Office of Hawaiian Affairs Kakaako Makai bill advances
Medicated Marijuana Dispensaries Behind Opposition to Legalization of Recreational Dope?
SA: … Gov. Josh Green says he supports legalizing cannabis for adults 21 and older, but his newly installed department heads haven’t backed two bills advanced by the Senate on Thursday that would accomplish that goal.
Green’s attorney general submitted official testimony this week opposing both bills, while the state Department of Health, which has been regulating the state’s medical cannabis industry, took no position on the measures but said it was “highly concerned” about health impacts if recreational cannabis were legalized.
Blake Oshiro, a senior adviser to Green, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the governor remained supportive of allowing adults to use cannabis but he wants to make sure that any legislation protects public safety and consumers.
Oshiro, a former lobbyist for the medical cannabis industry, said Green also wants to make sure that legalization of recreational cannabis doesn’t harm the state’s medical cannabis industry. (BINGO!)
read … Cannabis bills move forward despite mixed signals from Green’s team
Phoney Baloney: Hawaii Senator Votes ‘No’ Then ‘Yes’ To Legalize Marijuana
CB: … At a joint hearing Thursday, Republican Sen. Brenton Awa first voted “no” then voted “yes” on a bill that would legalize marijuana in Hawaii.
Awa said he supports legalizing marijuana. In fact, he helped introduce Senate Bill 375. The measure would set up a regulatory scheme to allow licensed dispensaries to sell recreational pakalolo.
But when the measure went before the Senate Human Services and Commerce and Consumer Protection committees, Awa, one of the chamber’s two Republicans, voted both ways.
The Human Services Committee went first. Sens. Joy San Buenaventura and Henry Aquino voted “yes” (technically, Aquino voted “with reservations,” but that counts as an affirmative vote). Awa voted “no.” Sens. Sharon Moriwaki and Maile Shimabukuro, the other members of the committee, were absent. The bill passed that committee 2-to-1.
But things were different moments later when the Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee voted. Sens. Jarrett Keohokalole and Carol Fukunaga voted “yes,” Sen. Angus McKelvey was absent, and Sen. Herbert “Tim” Richards voted “no.”
Awa paused for a few seconds. The vote would be tied if he cast a “no” vote which could put the measure in jeopardy of missing a key legislative deadline on Friday.
He voted “yes.” The bill passed 3-to-1.
“It was literally on the fly, I don’t want this to die,” Awa said in an interview.
(Translation: I fake it when my vote is not decisive.)
HTH: Recreational pot bills clear committee hurdles
read … Hawaii Senator Votes ‘No’ Then ‘Yes’ To Legalize Marijuana
DLNR clears Makua Beach encampment of Sovereignty Thug
HNN: … The state Department of Land and Natural Resources cleared out what it called an illegal camp at Makua Beach Wednesday.
The campsite, which had been at the beach since June, belonged to Samson Souza, who considers himself as a protector of the area.
The DLNR said it posted notices eight days ago, saying the camp would be removed.
Samson said he wasn’t there when the crews from the DLNR, along with the Department of Transportation and a contractor, came to clear the encampment….
He’s had numerous confrontations with visitors as he chases them away.
Souza is awaiting trial on charges of harassment and terroristic threatening. He also was arrested at the state capitol last month after disrupting the opening day ceremonies at the legislature.
DLNR said Souza’s camp was treated the same as other camps in other state parks, and that cleanups are done on a rotating schedule as funding and manpower permit.
Officers also left a list of the items that were seized and put into storage, and that he can claim. They include items like a portable stove, tables and chairs, fishing gear and two weed whackers that Sozua said he used to keep the area clean.
“Well, I’m gonna make them deliver it back over here and make them put it back up…”
read … DLNR clears Makua Beach encampment
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