Lawsuit: Ke'eaumoku Condo Site--15 Burials and Counting
Sheriffs Bust Waikiki Marijuana Dealer
Sherwoods: Remediation of cancelled ball field project continues
Hawaii’s Housing Shortage Explained
Senate Suddenly Begins Posting Legislative Allowance Expenditure Reports
One Guy’s Honolulu Fireworks Cases Always Get Dismissed
CB: … On the last day of 2017, the Honolulu Police Department cited Allan Badua for setting off illegal fireworks. For unknown reasons, the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney’s Office dropped the charges.
A few years later, police responded to an argument at a Makiki home between Badua and his girlfriend and discovered hundreds of pounds of fireworks, Hawaii News Now reported. The fireworks were seized and the two were released pending further investigation – but no charges were ever filed, according to court records.
A year later, a woman in Moanalua noticed a man she identified as Badua setting off “bomb”-type fireworks in Moanulua. She told him to take it to his own neighborhood and called 911. An HPD officer photographed the fireworks in a box next to Badua’s car, took the spent fireworks and cited him.
Again, the charges were dropped.
And in October, a woman called to report Badua had set off fireworks at an intersection in Aiea. She watched him on a moped setting up the device on the street and riding away as it exploded — twice. Police found him sitting in a car and cited him. A month later, the charges were dismissed.
Kaaawa resident wrote in February, “but ONE FAMILY from ONE PROPERTY in Kaaawa is exploding their ‘ordnance,’ obviously, blatantly, belligerently and unapologetically, up to 6 nights a week.”
Police said they would talk to the offenders, she wrote. “Then we see them drive by the house and never even get out of the car. It’s like they’re on the side of the criminals, like in a 3rd world country.”…
Bonus Read: Sept 2022: Alan Badua Arrested for Assaulting Officer at Honolulu Airport Mokulele Airlines Counter
read … Honolulu Fireworks Cases Almost Always Get Dismissed
Soft on Crime: Meth-head Rapes Mother, Gets Time Served
KITV: … Court documents revealed on the night of May 9 of last year, Nielsen demanded sex from his girlfriend, who also lived in the apartment. She refused and left the house.
At the time, Nielsen's mother was sitting in her wheelchair on the balcony. Nielsen, 28, reportedly pushed her into her bedroom, undressed from the waist down, and insisted she give him oral sex.
The victim then screamed for Nielsen to stop, to which he shoved a cloth in her mouth and left the unit. When Nielsen returned, the two argued and Nielsen reportedly slapped her across the face.
After Honolulu police arrested and booked Nielsen, officers found two small bags of crystal meth on him. …
read … Soft on Crime
Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm seeks pay raises
SA: … The pay increase requested by the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for its elected leader would make Alm’s salary the same as a state Circuit Court judge’s, according to a Feb. 27 letter the department sent to the Honolulu Salary Commission.
Alm earns $176,688 a year, and First Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Thomas J. Brady makes $168,000 a year, according to the city Department of Human Resources. If the Honolulu Salary Commission approves the requests, both Alm and Brady’s salaries would increase by 17%, with Alm earning $207,084 a year and Brady’s annual salary increasing to $196,729.
The department is also requesting pay increases for its division chiefs….
read … Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm seeks pay raises
No Property Taxes for Movie Studio?
HNN: … Hackman Capital Partners of California, which owns 18 studios worldwide, wants to build a $250 million film studio known as the Aloha Studio on 17 acres of land next to the University of Hawaii West Oahu.
The plan will include six to 12 sound stages next to the UH West Oahu’s Academy of Creative Media. The academy’s founder says it’s all about diversifying Hawaii’s economy.
“We’re not sitting here talking about more condos, more malls, more restaurants. We’re talking about things that generate actual jobs that keep people here,” said Chris Lee, the academy’s founder.
“These are jobs all comfortably come under the heading of living-wage jobs, often six figures.”
(Translation: Movie jobs are sinecures for mafia thugs. They do heroin all night and sleep in the trucks all day. You are going to subsidize this with a tax cut for their employer.)
To make it happen, the investors are asking for an exemption from paying property taxes.
A new bill now before the City Council provides a 30-year exemption for property taxes for businesses that invest at least $75 million in a new facility and employ more than 100 people.
Some are raising concerns about the loss of tax revenue.
“That would be exempting or forgiving $930,000 per year. And for 30 years, we’re talking about $27.9 million,” said Honolulu City Council Chair Tommy Waters….
read … Mayor throws his weight behind big tax break for company proposing film studio on Oahu
With property taxes set to rise, Honolulu seeks to Copy Maui County
HNN: … To help guide policy, the Honolulu City Council on Tuesday got advice from Maui County, where over the last several years owner-occupants and homes with long-term tenants have received relief.
Instead, taxes and firm enforcement have been focused on vacant homes and vacation rentals.
Maui County Finance Director Scott Teruya and Tax Administrator Marcy Martin told the council that getting property owners to follow the new laws was the biggest challenge. “If you don’t have fines or anybody going out there to enforce there is really nothing that the department can do,” Teruya said.
Martin said homeowners angling for lower rates looked for every loophole, including with a newer long-term rental rate that applies the owner-occupant rate to properties encumbered by at least a one-year lease.
“Right off the bat, we had people already trying to find loopholes,” Martin said.
“We’ve already had to engage in compliance.”
Honolulu Council Chair Tommy Waters was impressed and is looking for ways Oahu can learn from Maui’s program. “We want to provide tax relief to local residents and perhaps charge more to outside investors who are leaving their homes vacant and or renting them out to tourists,” Waters said….
read … With property taxes set to rise, Honolulu seeks advice on how to protect low-income families
No Surprise: Maui County’s 5,000-home goal could take much longer
MN: … Maui County’s goal of building 5,000 affordable homes in five years could end up taking 15 years if more is not done to help move forward affordable housing, the organization behind the county’s Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan said Tuesday.
“If we continue on this path as we have for the past two years, you’re looking at about 15 years to reach that 5,000-unit goal,” said Jeff Gilbreath, executive director of Hawaiian Community Assets, a nonprofit community development organization which put the plan together and presented it in 2021. “We are behind the eight ball, as you folks probably know.”…
read … Maui County’s 5,000-home goal could take much longer
Lawmakers debate funding demands for ‘safety net hospitals’ as one facility issues stark warning
HNN: … Lawmakers are responding to an HNN investigation into failing infrastructure that’s threatening the future of Kona Community Hospital.
They must now decide whether to hand over nearly $19 million for emergency repairs….
“We have equipment that could fail at any time. And if that were to happen we would potentially have to evacuate patients,” said Diane Hale, West Hawaii regional chief nurse executive.
It’s a stark warning from Kona Community Hospital leadership ― a desperate plea for help.
If the hospital’s cooling and ventilation equipment fails, officials say critical emergencies services will stop including the suspension of all surgeries.
“You can see it’s starting to corrode,” said Acting Facility Director Robert Hollandsworth, as he touched a piece of equipment that started to crumble in his hands. “It’s just falling apart on us,”
The situation didn’t get like this overnight.
Officials say chronic underfunding and years of deferred maintenance now have key infrastructure at the only hospital in West Hawaii at its breaking point….
But the $19 million ask is just one of many major funding requests currently before the Legislature from the state’s so called “safety net” hospitals, which total about a dozen facilities.
The requests also include a $50 million expansion project under consideration at Hilo Medical Center, Hawaii Island’s largest hospital.
The facility in desperate need of more beds.
read … Lawmakers debate funding demands for ‘safety net hospitals’ as one facility issues stark warning
Lawmakers ask for DOE performance audit following Kihei High School delays
KHON: … “The issue was, do we build an overpass, an underpass, a traffic light,” said Kurt Otaguro, Hawaii Department of Education Deputy Superintendent. “So we settled on an approach that the Land Use Commission probably disagreed with.”
Area lawmakers said, the DOE’S steps in the project led to a waste of taxpayer money.
“We have $200 million spent on building this school that’s been sitting here and the first class freshman, the 30 kids that are supposed to be going there, are instead being taught in portables at Lokelani Intermediate,” said Senator Angus McKelvey, (D) West Maui, Ma’alea, Waikapu, South Maui.
The DOE met with the State Land Use Commission in Feb. to reassure them that the pedestrian crossing will be built. According to the DOE, the estimated cost for the project is $13 million to $16 million and it hopes to get preliminary designs by late summer.
State lawmakers have drafted a resolution for a performance audit on why the DOE decided to build a roundabout instead of a graded pedestrian crossing.
“This can be avoided in the future. The needless change orders aren’t put in, that you don’t have conditions which are clearly defined in the beginning aren’t addressed by the department in a cost effective manner,” said McKelvey.
Meanwhile, with a growing population in West Oahu, the DOE is in the final stage of looking for land for a new East Kapolei High School. One of the locations the DOE is eyeing is near UH West Oahu…
MN: Sen. McKelvey calls for audit of DOE for roundabout construction and delayed opening of Kūlanihākoʻi High School
read … Lawmakers ask for DOE performance audit following Kulanihako’i High School delays
Hide the Failure: DoE, Kapela Working to Eliminate Standardized Testing
HTH: … Standardized tests measure a student’s ability to recognize and recall information, but when it comes to analyzing and applying what is learned in the classroom, a new type of testing called authentic assessments is gaining traction.
(Translation: The teacher will just pass the kids she likes plus the ones whose parents intimidate her the most..
Hawaii schools could implement that kind of testing via House Bill 80, which would remove requirements for statewide standardized assessments for grades K-12 and replace them with authentic assessment options, which focus on “real-world problem solving,” including project- and problem-based learning.
“Life is not a standardized test,” said Big Island Rep. Jeanne Kapela, a Democrat who introduced the bill. “Authentic assessments shift the purpose of our learning system from test preparation to the development of critical thinkers who are equipped to handle the complex issues facing our islands.” …
Heidi Armstrong, DOE deputy superintendent, said during the committee hearing that the DOE already is prioritizing authentic assessments.
“Our Office of Strategy Assessment and Performance currently has an initiative underway to develop our teachers skills and abilities to ensure that these assessments they are creating are appropriate and measure what they’re intending to measure,” she said. “The department does agree that authentic assessments are very meaningful and valuable for our students and teachers.”…
HB80: Text, Status
2022: Fake it to Make it: The whole DoE gets shut down and test scores don’t drop
read … ‘Life is not a standardized test’: Effort underway to change student assessments in Hawaii
State-run retirement program off to slow start
HTH: … While the law went into effect as soon as it was signed, the program still isn’t up and running.
Bill Kunstman, deputy director of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, said the process has been slowed in part by the transition to a new state government administration.
“The (Hawaii Retirement Savings) Board hasn’t been established yet, and Gov. Josh Green hasn’t made his nominations yet,” Kunstman said. “I think we’re expecting to get that done sometime in the spring.”
But even once the board is established, it will still be a while before the program will roll out to beneficiaries.
The law requires that before the program is implemented, the board must complete an implementation and evaluation study and use that to make a series of recommendations to the state Legislature, which Kunstman could happen by the 2024 legislative session.
Complicating matters further is the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, a federal bill passed at the end of last year that makes changes to how certain retirement funds work.
Since federal laws supersede state laws, Kunstman said Hawaii policymakers are taking a wait-and-see approach to determine how those federal-level changes will work before committing to a finalized state program….
read … State-run retirement program off to slow start
Hu Honua News: Legislature Proposes Micromanaging the Public Utilities Commission
IM: …The State Legislature is considering bills to streamline the operations of the Public Utilities Commission through mechanisms such as automatic approval, setting firm time limits for complex merger proceedings, and eliminating "unnecessary" reporting requirements.
… The Legislature proposed HB370 / SB477 that would impose a short timeline to consider acquisitions and mergers….
… HB 368 / SB475 would provide “that reports required by the public utilities commission through an order and not required by statute expire one year after the issuance of the order. Allows continuation of the reporting requirement if a new order is issued and justification for the continuance is provided.”…
read … Legislature Proposes Micromanaging the Public Utilities Commission
Election Day May Soon Be Out As A State Holiday--Will be Replaced by NotColumbus Day
CB: … A bill to create a new state holiday called Indigenous Peoples Day was unanimously approved by a key Senate committee Tuesday, but state and county executives warned the holiday would be expensive in terms of lost public worker productivity.
Senate Bill 732, which was introduced by Senate Democratic Majority Leader Dru Kanuha, would also abolish the existing general election day holiday that falls in early November every other year.
Supporters of the change say it’s no longer necessary to give the day off to encourage voter participation now that Hawaii has shifted to all-mail voter registration and elections. The net effect would be to create one additional state holiday every two years.….
read … Election Day May Soon Be Out As A State Holiday
HB1294: Require Candidates to Use Real Name
CB: … The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday kind of blew through an important public accountability measure — House Bill 1294 — that would require every candidate for public office to use their legal name for election purposes. Now, someone can get on the ballot in Hawaii using a fake name. That makes it very difficult for voters to find out much about that candidate, as happened in the 2022 elections in a state House race we wrote a bit about….
read … Free The Public's Public Records Requests
Accused Russian ‘Spy’ Says he Just Wants to Pay His Bills
DB: … A Coast Guard veteran and suspected Russian spy who served for 22 years under an assumed identity stolen from a dead baby wants his creditors to know that while he may be in jail awaiting trial, he’s not a deadbeat….
read … Accused Russian ‘Spy’ Just Wants to Pay His Bills
Legislative Agenda:
QUICK HITS: