Corruption or incompetence, transparency still the antidote
House Judiciary Committee Set to Dispose of 16 Ethics Reform Bills
Civil Beat Publisher Bankrolls Shadowy Anti-Musk Group
HSTA: Our LGBTQ Students are 'Lovable'--Raise Money for Sex-Change Clinic
The 1886 U.S. Passenger Vessel Services Act has been a bonanza for foreign cruise lines and foreign ports, to Hawaii's detriment
Green’s AG says Senators Have no Authority Over Nominees
SA: … Gov. Josh Green’s appointee for state attorney general has informed state Senate President Ron Kouchi that she agrees with a previous attorney general’s opinion that seven deputy directors of state agencies — including her own — do not have to undergo Senate confirmation.
Different Senate committees will hold separate confirmation hearings for Green’s 20 Cabinet nominees and most of their deputies. It’s uncertain how attorney general appointee Anne Lopez’s Feb. 14 opinion will be received by senators.
She wrote that she is in agreement with a 2015 opinion issued by the Department of the Attorney General that her deputy is exempt from confirmation — along with six others.
Lopez faces confirmation before the Senate Judiciary Committee….
How her opinion is interpreted could further raise the temperature of the Senate confirmation process following Ikaika Anderson’s failed nomination last week to lead the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
The opinion, however, could serve as a simple reminder that the status quo remains in effect, said Colin Moore, director of the University of Hawaii’s Public Policy Center.
“It could have been worse,” Moore said. “It’s probably a preemptive action to prevent fears of greater conflict, to cool things down a bit….
“This can be useful in a time of tense confirmation hearings — to take some unknown off the table to reduce the possible range of conflict here,” he said. “My guess is that there was a question raised; it’s legitimate that a new AG could have a new interpretation of the law.”
Lopez wrote to Kouchi that state law provides that deputies who do not fall under Senate confirmation include her own; the deputy director of the new Department of Law Enforcement; deputy to the chair of the Commission of Water Resource Management, who is appointed by the chair of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources; deputy director of the Department of Public Safety; and Department of Transportation deputies for its Airports, Harbors and Highways divisions.
Senate confirmation hearings represent senators’ biggest opportunity to question Green’s Cabinet nominees for jobs that could last over the next four years, which adds to the emotions and politics at the state Capitol over hearings that are “fraught with anxiety,” said political analyst Neal Milner.
“It’s an important time,” Milner said. “It’s a job that’s far more important than the public realizes. It’s a very important job that’s really hard. It’s a whole different ballgame once they’re confirmed.”…
read … Ruling on confirmations could draw political heat
Anderson Remains Interim DHHL Chair, AG’s Office Says
CB: … Ikaika Anderson can stay on as interim director until the end of the legislative session in May or until Green appoints a replacement, Deputy Attorney General Ryan Kanaka‘ole told the Hawaiian Homes Commission Tuesday morning.
Anderson asked Green to withdraw his nomination on Feb. 15, a day after the Senate Hawaiian Affairs Committee voted to reject it. Green said Anderson would serve on an interim basis until a new director is chosen.
Hawaiian beneficiaries have questioned Anderson’s eligibility to continue serving as chairman of DHHL and the Hawaiian Homes Commission on an interim basis.
Opponents have cited a paragraph in the Hawaii Constitution in particular: “No person who has been nominated for appointment to any office and whose appointment has not received the consent of the senate shall be eligible to an interim appointment thereafter to such office.”…
“Withdrawal of a nomination means there will be no confirmation, however chair designate Anderson can still serve until the end of session, unless of course a new appointment is made,” Kanaka‘ole said….
The legislative session ends May 4….
(Meanwhile the Three Years are ticking away.)
read … Anderson Can Remain Interim DHHL Chair, AG’s Office Says
OHA: Hawaiians are Leaving Hawaii so Lets Jack up their Electric Bills Some More
ILind: … This is an excerpt from testimony offered by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs on a bill related to geothermal energy.
(OHA would be granted a 20% royalty from geothermal -- via SB458 RELATING TO GEOTHERMAL ROYALTIES.)
… The majority of Native Hawaiian families, in Hawaii, are unable to makes ends meet,7 with 63% of Native Hawaiians reporting that they are finding it difficult to get by.8
Native Hawaiians have the lowest household income. Native Hawaiians have the highest poverty rates for individuals and families.10 Native Hawaiians make less money,11 with lower average earnings for both men and women.12 Native Hawaiians have the highest rate of using public assistance and homeless services.13 Native Hawaiians are overrepresented among the homeless in Hawaii.14
OHA is deeply concerned with Native Hawaiians being driven out of Hawai‘i by economic instability stemming from socio-political-economic upheaval, which has largely disconnected Native Hawaiians from their ‘aina for more than a century. Today, more Native Hawaiians live outside of the Hawaiian Islands, far beyond the boundaries of their own homeland….
Accordingly, the calculation of this fair portion should be representative of the comparative percentage of the Native Hawaiian population to the total resident population (approximately 38%); the Native Hawaiian population should be calculated in its totality, as the “only indigenous, aboriginal, maoli people of Hawai‘i, who should not be counted out for being driven out of these Islands.”
OHA’s Solution: Grab 38% of Royalties for itself by counting the people driven out of Hawaii by OHA policies.
Better Solution: Abolish all Geothermal royalties and reduce electric bills.
2009: OHA driving Hawaiians out of Hawaii
read …A disturbing snapshot of the Hawaiian community
Hawaii Car Insurance Would Cost More Under Legislation Pushed By Trial Lawyers
CB: … State lawmakers are seriously considering bills this year to require Hawaii motorists to buy more car insurance, a step the insurance industry warns will be “regressive” because it would impose additional costs on low-income residents.
The debate reopens a contentious issue that has been dormant since the late 1990s, when lawmakers overhauled Hawaii’s no-fault insurance law and reduced the minimum amounts of coverage motorists are legally required to carry.
The lobbying effort this year is being led by the Hawaii Association for Justice — formerly known as Consumer Lawyers of Hawaii — which points out it has been 25 years since the state increased the minimum required motorist coverage….
Alison Ueoka, president of the Hawaii Insurers Council, also cautioned lawmakers about the impact on less affluent motorists. “This will cause a direct increase in costs of these coverages to everyone who purchases a minimum-limits policy and therefore, it is regressive,” Ueoka said in written testimony….
the Insurance Information Institute estimates that only 9.3% of Hawaii motorists were driving without the minimum required coverage in 2019. Some believe that more affordable auto insurance rates led to greater compliance with the law that requires basic levels of coverage for everyone….
The original draft of Senate Bill 341 would increase the minimum allowable auto insurance liability coverage from the current $20,000 per person to $25,000, and from $40,000 to $50,000 per accident. It would also increase the minimum required property damage coverage from $10,000 to $25,000.
The Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee is scheduled to make a decision on a version of that bill on Thursday. If it is approved, it would advance to the full Senate for a vote.
Two committees in the state House already have approved a similar measure, which is House Bill 75.
The original draft of the House bill includes more dramatic increases in the minimum required coverages. That measure would increase the minimum allowable auto insurance bodily injury liability coverage from $20,000 per person to $50,000, and from $40,000 to $100,000 per accident….
read … Hawaii Car Insurance Would Cost More Under Legislation Pushed By Trial Lawyers
OIP Delays Are Worse Than Ever
CB: … “When lawsuits are faster, OIP is no longer serving the role that the Legislature intended for OIP to be an ‘expeditious’ place to resolve disputes about public records and open meetings,” the law center says on its website.
Some telling stats from the latest report:
In 2022, it took OIP on average 795 days to reach a decision on cases brought to it by members of the public who had hoped to get their public records, well, much sooner. That was up from 418 days in 2021.
And yet, OIP issued an average of 51 decisions in 2022, virtually the same number it issued in 2021 (52) and 2020 (55).
Is anyone else wondering why even bother asking OIP for help in getting records released? …
You can find the last five years of the law center’s review of OIP here.
read … The Sunshine Blog: OIP Delays Are Worse Than Ever
Honolulu police chief pleads with drivers to slow down after ‘rough week’ on Oahu’s roads
HNN: … The plea comes after an officer was critically injured overnight Sunday as he was assisting with traffic at a previous crash scene. The incident happened in the Harano Tunnel on the H-3 Freeway when a a 25-year-old man swerved to miss a stalled vehicle.
First responders said the 46-year-old officer was pinned between those two vehicles and sustained critical injuries to his legs. Friends have identified the officer as Felix Gasman and have established a GoFundMe account to help with expenses …..
read … Honolulu police chief pleads with drivers to slow down after ‘rough week’ on Oahu’s roads
Rhoads: Give Millions More to Released Convicts
HNN: … Currently, Schweitzer can petition for state money totaling $50,000 for every year that he spent behind bars.
If he gets the money, current law restricts him from also making a civil rights claim for the wrongful prosecution, according to his legal team.
“You’re not just suing for yourself, you’re suing to make a better place for other people,” said Ken Lawson, of the Hawaii Innocence Project.
A proposed amendment to the law moving through the state Legislature would allow exonerees to do both….
The amendment does prevent double dipping. If Schweitzer gets the $50,000 for each year in prison, but then years later, wins a lawsuit against the county prosecutor’s office, he would have to pay the state back.
The bill has passed second reading and is heading to the Ways and Means Committee….
read … Measure would allow exonerees to file suit while also collecting wrongful conviction payout
Lawmakers find talking about legalizing recreational weed and doing it are very different things
HNN: … the owner of Care Waialua, Jason Hanley rents greenhouse plots to medical marijuana patients and caregivers. He has room for up to 10,000 plants. Hanley said he’s concerned that lawmakers are rushing to legalize so quickly that big dispensaries will have the first chance to sell recreational marijuana….
Dispensary executives have said they don’t oppose “legacy” growers, but want the regulations in place on all retailers at once so that illicit operators in the black market don’t have a chance to fill a regulatory vacuum.
State Chris Lee, has introduced one of several bills in the Senate promoting recreation sale. “I think there is a middle ground between your average mom and pop ― someone growing in the garage or the backyard ― and full-fledged industrial model for how to do it,” Lee said….
He said the main goal is to come up with a “price point” that keeps prices low enough that there is no longer profit to be made in street sales…
read … Lawmakers find talking about legalizing recreational weed and doing it are very different things
Military Families In Hawaii Could Soon Have An Easier Time Finding Schools
CB: … House Bill 262 would give families more flexibility in finding schools closer to home.
When children move to Hawaii with military parents, who are under direct orders, the state Department of Education requires those children to attend schools in the district in which they initially reside, even if they are staying at temporary housing or a lodging address.
When a military family finds permanent housing, though, the kids do not automatically join the school closest to them in their district. Such accommodation for military families, which is the focus of House Bill 262, aims to match the lead of 35 other states that do allow for such flexibility for families when moving to military installations in other places.
This bill will allow an “uninterrupted educational progress and smooth transition into their new communities and relieve unneeded stress during their transition between locations,” Kelli May Douglas, the Pacific and Southwest regional liaison of the Department of Defense State Liaison Office, said in written testimony….
read … House Bill 262 would give families more flexibility in finding schools closer to home.
The Decades-Old Debate Over Breaking Up Hawaii’s Statewide School System
CB: … State task forces and panels convened in the 1960s and 1990s concluded that the centralized education system wasn’t serving the state’s communities effectively. In the wake of those reports there have been numerous efforts to create local school boards, break up the state into smaller districts, and create new outlets to involve parents and community members in school decisions….
Voters have approved changes to the structure of the Board of Education multiple times, switching from an appointed board to an elected board and back to an appointed board again — both times in an effort to bring more accountability to the state system.
The state has made strides in giving schools more autonomy and flexibility than they had in past decades, and some national experts say that Hawaii’s governance model is actually far better than the disorganized local school board system that exists in other states.
Yet parents attending community meetings held by the state BOE this year have voiced the same complaints that parents leveled at a statewide committee investigating the education system in the early 1990s: they don’t have enough of a say in the education system, and both the BOE and education department are too remote and unresponsive.
“Our structure is rigid. It’s overly centralized. It’s overly top down. It’s overly standardized,” said Randy Roth, a retired law professor who served as Gov. Linda Lingle’s education advisor and helped found a public-education think tank in Hawaii in 2014. “It has shamefully little transparency. And the way it’s structured it’s impossible to hold anyone accountable for what the kids are or are not learning.”…
read … The Decades-Old Debate Over Breaking Up Hawaii’s Statewide School System
Vacation Rentals Are In The Hawaii Legislature’s Crosshairs
CB: … Rep. Daniel Holt and a handful of House members are spearheading efforts this year to rid Oahu of short-term rentals all together in an effort to try to slow the rising price of homes (boost hotel unions). Holt’s plan focuses on a large new Transient Accommodation Tax, raising the current rate of 9.25% to a combined rate of 35.25% for short-term rentals, according to House Bill 820, which passed the House Tourism Committee Feb. 7. …
If passed, HB 84 will give counties explicit authority to “enact ordinances to amortize or phase out permitted, nonconforming, or otherwise allowed short-term rentals in any zoning classification. Includes swapping, bartering, or exchange of a residential dwelling, or portion thereof, in definition of ‘short-term rental’ for this purpose.” …
HB 820 is awaiting a hearing in the House Finance Committee while HB 84 still needs to clear a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee if it is to stay alive this year.
Another bill targeting vacation rentals, House Bill 211, would prohibit hosting platforms, such as Airbnb, VRBO and others, from allowing bookings for rentals that are, “not lawfully certified, registered, or permitted as a transient vacation rental under applicable county ordinance.”
However, that bill has since died because it did not get a hearing in the House Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee by Friday….
read … Vacation Rentals Are In The Hawaii Legislature’s Crosshairs
DOH Computer Crashes During ‘Upgrade’, COVID Numbers Not Available
SA: … The Hawaii Department of Health posted a notice saying today it is not providing weekly COVID-19 case counts, positivity rates, or other metrics due to an ongoing (failed) upgrade of its system.
(CLUE: ‘Upgrade’ is supposed to provide better service, not worse.)
The data will be provided next Wednesday, the department said.
“Due to an ongoing upgrade of our disease surveillance system infrastructure we are not able to provide an update to the COVID-19 data and dashboards this week (February 22, 2023),” said DOH in a message posted to its dashboard. “Updates will resume on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. While there will be no update this week, this will not cause a gap in the data, and the counts from this week will be included in next week’s update.”
read … Latest Hawaii COVID metrics unavailable due to system upgrade
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