Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act Keeps Employer Insurance Costs High
Zoning, planning reforms would help produce more Hawaii County housing
Bill 2891: Retroactive property tax credit for Kauai?
Hawaii Senate Committees Pass Two Bills to Legalize Marijuana Despite Federal Prohibition
Legislature: Devils, Idiots, and Snarky Kims
SA: … At the Anderson hearing, not all of the fire came from the senators’ side of the table. Former Gov. Neal Abercrombie, there to support the nominee, was heard in the heat of the discussion saying to state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, a committee member, “You’re an idiot.”Abercrombie later apologized, Keohokalole accepted, so there was at least a peace accord on that front.
But it was only the latest scene to tarnish the current legislative session. Late last month, state Sen. Kurt Fevella also found himself apologizing to state Housing Chief Nani Medeiros at a Hawaiian Homes Commission meeting for a pointless ad hominem attack.
“Nani has nothing or no knowledge about Hawaiian people,” he said at the time. “I don’t care if she says she’s Hawaiian. Just remember, the devil also was an angel. Remember that.”
Oh, we’ll remember, all right, but maybe not in the way Fevella meant.
The worst of it — so far — was still the upbraiding of University of Hawaii President David Lassner. His critics, state Sens. Donovan Dela Cruz, Donna Mercado Kim and Michelle Kidani, all have drawn fire for public statements of their lack of confidence in Lassner and their desire for him to step down.
State legislators do have the duty of helping to delineate the role that UH, and all state agencies, play in advancing Hawaii’s interests. But the public loses confidence in its representatives when the conversation is dominated by snarky comments and legislators use their budgetary control as a cudgel — such as suggesting who or should not have his or her job at the university. Unfortunately, loss of public confidence has been the lasting effect….
read … Leave insults out of Capitol debates
Should Hawaii’s Legislature Meet Year-Round?
CB: … Chang proposed an amendment to the Hawaii Constitution through Senate Bill 149 that would eliminate the current 60-day limit on legislative sessions and require lawmakers to meet at least once monthly instead.
Chang has introduced similar measures before that either never got hearings or died, but SB 149 is actually moving through the Senate this year. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed it on Feb. 2, adding provisions that would make the Legislature subject to the state open meetings law and ban outside employment by state lawmakers.
Lawmakers exempted themselves from the state’s Sunshine Law decades ago and have been able to hold outside employment even as they implemented restrictions on outside jobs for governors, lieutenant governors and mayors.
The ban on employment could help eliminate conflicts of interest, and additional time to consider bills could result in better laws. But the idea of meeting year-round with no allowance for outside employment has already been met with skepticism from current and former lawmakers.
“It flies in the face of the original proposition of the framers of our constitution who intended to see people from our communities (employed by our campaign contributors) become legislators,” state Ethics Commissioner Rey Graulty, a former state representative, said during a recent commission meeting ….
read … Should Hawaii’s Legislature Meet Year-Round?
Hirono Plans Another Run For US Senate
CB: … U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono will officially announce Tuesday she’s running for reelection in 2024, according to a campaign spokesperson.
Hirono, 75, will be seeking her third consecutive six-year term in the Senate….
According to Federal Election Commission records, Hirono had more than $913,000 in the bank for her reelection campaign as of Dec. 31.
The last time she was on the ballot, in 2018, Hirono did not have a primary opponent and won the general election in a landslide against a Republican opponent who had expressed sympathy for made-up conspiracy theories that equated Democrats to Satan-worshiping pedophiles….
2017: Hirono discloses kidney cancer; says prognosis is favorable
read … Hirono Plans Another Run For US Senate
The Military's Public Information Black Hole
CB: … “Your request has been placed in our complex processing queue and is being worked based on the order in which the request was received,” a DOD official responded to my Freedom of Information Act request. “Our current administrative workload is approximately 3,594 open requests.”
And with that, another one of my public information requests fell into the military’s black hole.
Since I started reporting in Hawaii in 2019, I’ve filed numerous FOIA requests with the military, primarily the Navy. Time and again, I have filed one with the hopes of shining a light on an issue of public importance only to have it fizzle into nothingness. The Freedom of Information Act, which is supposed to provide the transparency needed for a healthy democracy, is too often a pathway to a dead end that leaves us in the dark on critical issues.
This problem comes into sharp focus on the issue of Red Hill. I filed a number of requests regarding the World War II-era facility both before and after thousands of Pearl Harbor-area residents drank fuel-tainted water in 2021. But none of the Red Hill-related requests I’ve submitted to the military have been fulfilled.
In theory, many documents produced by the U.S. military are public records. But in practice, they’re hard to get your hands on. (U.S. Navy Photo)
On several occasions, the military just stopped responding to me, ghosting me like a bad date.
In January 2020, I asked for copies of emails about Red Hill from the accounts of two high-ranking Navy officials, then-Capt. Marc Delao and Rear Adm. Robert Chadwick. Both Delao and Chadwick were leading the charge to keep Red Hill open for years to come. (“It’s decades old, but it’s in good shape,” Delao told me a year before some 20,000 gallons of fuel spewed from a Red Hill pipe.)
A FOIA officer told me that the military had started pulling emails and redacting them. And then all communication stopped. I followed up several times, but I never heard from that person again.
FOIAonline, a government-run FOIA processing and tracking website, shows those requests are still waiting to be assigned to someone. It’s been more than three years. Delao is now retired from the military, and Chadwick has moved on to lead a different tentacle of the Navy.
The same thing happened with a request for a report on the Navy’s fuel needs….
read … The Military's Public Information Black Hole
Recent string of injuries involving HPD officers on duty are ‘troubling,’ authorities say
HNN: … Just this month alone, three HPD officers have been involved incidents where they we’re injured in the line of duty.
The most recent incident occurred overnight Sunday on the H-3 Freeway where an officer was critically injured after being struck by a vehicle.
It happened on the Kaneohe side of the Harano Tunnel where the officer was directing traffic at a crash scene when a 25-year-old male swerved to miss a stalled vehicle and pinned the 46-year-old officer between those two vehicles
Our police sources tell us he suffered serious injuries to both legs and was last in critical condition. The officer since has had emergency surgery Monday.
On Tuesday, Chief Joe Logan said the officer had made it out of that procedure and was recovering in the hospital but still had a long road of healing ahead of him.
”The officer who was injured has 15 years of service and is assigned to District 4. His name is not being released at this time. We are supporting him and his family and ask that the media respect their privacy at this time.”
Last Thursday, an officer was attacked by a man with a hammer during a traffic stop in Laie and was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Logan said that officer has been released from the hospital and is currently recovering at home.
Another officer was struck by a vehicle on Moanalua freeway back on Feb. 9. This time he was in his police vehicle and was rear-ended and was not seriously hurt. The 57-year-old female driver in that crash was arrested on suspicion of DUI….
read … Recent string of injuries involving HPD officers on duty are ‘troubling,’ authorities say
Soft on Crime: Traffic Scofflaws Kill Three
HNN: … Years ago, to reduce the backlog at traffic court, the state decriminalized most traffic offenses, but driving without a license remains a crime that usually forces unlicensed drivers to come to court.
But former Honolulu Police Department Deputy Chief John McCarthy said that doesn’t mean the offense is treated seriously enough.
“It’s about the way it’s handled, you know,” McCarthy said. “The police out there trying to do their job. And, you know, it gets frustrating for the police.”
And many say the result is recklessness — like the head-on crash that killed Ron and Michelle Hartman in Kahuku last August. Brennan Canumay is charged with manslaughter after years of violations.
And last week’s hit-and-run that killed 16-year-old Sara Yara. The suspect, Mitchel Miyashiro, had committed scores of traffic violations, including repeatedly driving without a license. The incident, in a crosswalk on Kapiolani Boulevard, behind McKinley High School, was in the District of state House Speaker Scott Saiki.
“This death could have been avoided if this guy had been given some jail time earlier on,” Saiki said.
State Senate Transportation Chair Chris Lee said he supports a bill ramping up mandatory penalties, including jail, for repeat unlicensed drivers….
read … In wake of fatal crashes, Hawaii lawmakers want crackdown on unlicensed drivers
Several restaurants announce closures amid staffing issues
KHON: … This month alone, several restaurants announced the tough decision to close down for good. Restaurant operators said market conditions and staffing issues are making it tough to stay open. Despite current struggles, some are not losing hope and said in better conditions they might be back.
The owner of Little Village Noodle House in Chinatown, David Chang, said they no longer have enough workers to stay in business, even though are a local favorite and have awards to show for it.
Chang said he went from a staff of 40 to a staff of 10 and many of them were family members he had to bring on for help. …
read … Several restaurants announce closures amid staffing issues
City fined after investigation revealed it didn’t provide gun range staff with proper PPE
HNN: … The city of Honolulu has been fined thousands of dollars after a worker safety investigation revealed staff at Oahu’s only public gun range weren’t supplied with or required to wear proper personal protective equipment while cleaning the facility.
Koko Head Shooting Complex abruptly closed last September after tests revealed almost every employee had lead levels above the normal range.
As work to improve safety at Koko Head Shooting Complex continues, results of a state-led investigation are shedding light on city practices that may have put the range staff’s health at risk.
Hawaii’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the city a citation after discovering there was no policy requiring workers to wear personal protective equipment while cleaning the range — tasks like sweeping, wiping down the gallery and picking up shell casings….
read … City fined after investigation revealed it didn’t provide gun range staff with proper PPE
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