Ding Dong, the Green Fee is Dead
‘One step forward, one step back’ was Legislature’s MO
Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted May 13, 2023
Hawaii State Ethics Commission Legislative Wrap-up
Neighborhood Board Elections: Voting Ends Friday May 19
Green’s $200M? “I never got anything like that”
Borreca: … The committee report attached to the budget bill says that “the governor is authorized to transfer up to $200,000,000 in general funds appropriated in department administration and budget division … to other state agencies for government operations.”
That means Green controls $200 million in state money with no strings attached.
Asked if he ever had that power, former Gov. John Waihee said he never had free control without some legislative guidance over so much money, although his staff was able to plan in advance how to spend appropriations.
For Gov. Neil Abercrombie, the answer was more specific: He doesn’t like the idea.
“It says it is completely up to him, which is a bad idea,” Abercrombie said.
“I never got anything like that,” he added. “Everybody is going to have a request and they are all going to be good ideas and what about existing state departments — are they all going to be dreaming up new ideas?”
A veteran legislative leader, who asked to speak unidentified so she could speak freely, said the $200 million to Green was “an abdication of the Legislature’s control over the power of the purse.”
“It begs the question of what is happening with the state’s money,” the lawmaker said. “There are still underfunded programs; so what about our schools?” …
Green has no limit on how he can spend the state money, although he is required to file a report on how it was expended, a provision which Abercrombie characterized as “eyewash.”
House Speaker Scott Saiki said there are other unspecified safeguards in the budget.
According to Perruso, the exact details of how the discretionary spending became reality was “a mystery,” according to the Star-Advertiser report….
read … Gov. Green getting $200M discretionary fund raises eyebrows
Critics of state budget show courage, insight
Shapiro: … Now Belatti is out of leadership in the realignment after Luke’s elevation to lieutenant governor, and shows welcome signs she may be returning to her rebel roots.
In a speech on this year’s final day as fierce as the one on her first day, she helped lead a minirevolt against a $38 billion state budget concocted in secret by a handful of lawmakers, saying it “makes me physically sick to my stomach.”
She slammed fellow Democrats for cutting budgets of public schools and the University of Hawaii, “arguably the two most important government services that we have,” in a year of a record surplus, declaring, “This is absurd.”
Belatti also ripped a $200 million “slush fund” given Gov. Josh Green, presumably to cover items lawmakers neglected such as the Hawaii Tourism Authority, as “far worse than gut and replace.”
Five other Democrats voted against the budget, with several giving scathing speeches seldom heard from majority lawmakers fearing reprisal….
Perruso also took a sideways shot at Senate Ways and Means Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz, a fellow Democrat in Central Oahu, for cutting homeless funding while “sneaking in” money for a controversial $200 million law enforcement training facility in Mililani.
“This is not a people’s budget; it’s a corporate budget, a developer’s budget, a builder’s budget,” she said, drawing a colleague’s demand for retraction. Heaven forbid anyone should offend the money lords whose campaign donations prop them all up….
read … Critics of state budget show courage, insight
Discord among Hawaii GOP lawmakers lingers
SA: … The drama started before opening day with an apparent power struggle between Sen. Kurt Fevella (R, Ewa Beach-Ocean Pointe-Iroquois Point) and first-term Sen. Brenton Awa (R, Kaneohe- Laie-Mokuleia). In a two- sentence letter to the Senate clerk dated Jan. 17, the day before the 2023 session opened, Awa wrote “that I have rescinded my vote for Senator Kurt Fevella as Minority Leader.”
Prior to that, Fevella was officially listed as Senate minority leader and Awa as minority floor leader. Now neither one is listed on the Hawaii State Legislature’s website as holding either of those positions.
Fevella and Awa, the only two Republicans in the 25-member Senate, did not respond to requests for comment last week.
On the House side, where only six of 51 members are Republican, a public spat erupted between Rep. Kanani Souza (R, Kapolei- Makakilo) and other GOP members near the end of the final House floor session May 4. Prior to the session, Souza had called the House Republican caucus “a cult” and was accused herself of “continual bullying.”….
Rep. Lauren Matsumoto (R, Mililani-Waipio Acres- Mililani Mauka) in her closing speech downplayed any divisiveness, saying, “This is the most cohesive and unified Republican caucus I’ve ever seen during my tenure, believe it or not.”
Souza then immediately called a “point of order,” eliciting a few laughs in the House Chamber. She went on to say, “I will disagree, thank you.”
“OK, we’ll strike that from the journal,” said Democratic House Speaker Scott Saiki.
“I had a ‘believe it or not’ in there,” Matsumoto, the House minority leader, retorted….
read … Discord among Hawaii GOP lawmakers lingers
HMA applauds legislative healthcare progress
SA: … the Legislature increased Medicaid reimbursements to 100% of Medicare levels by budgeting $30 million in each of the next two years, leveraging $43 million in federal funds each year, to bring increased access to health care to many of the most vulnerable members in our community….Hawaii will be one of the top five states in reimbursement levels for Medicaid, up from 42nd in the country….
Another victory is the passage of the Medical Licensure Act (Senate Bill 674), long supported by many physician advocates including the American Medical Association and the Hawaii Medical Association (HMA). This bill adopts the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, creating an expedited pathway for currently licensed physicians to become licensed in multiple states….
Another significant commitment in the state budget is the addition of $10 million in fiscal year 2024 and $20 million in fiscal 2025 for the Hawaii State Loan Repayment Program for Healthcare Professionals. This loan repayment program seeks to address the tremendous shortage of health-care professionals in our most underserved areas by providing loan repayment to those who commit to work in federally-designated health professional shortage areas….
read … HMA applauds legislative healthcare progress
Journalists To Get More Protection Under Shield Law Passed By Hawaii Legislature
CB: … Hawaii is taking a step to protect journalists by restoring the state’s shield law, via House Bill 1502.
A shield law prevents government officials from legally requiring disclosure of a journalist’s confidential sources and unpublished notes. This state’s version was passed in the final days of the legislative session earlier this month.
Gov. Josh Green must still sign the measure for it to become law, or let it become law without his signature.
read … Journalists To Get More Protection Under Shield Law Passed By Hawaii Legislature
Par Pacific: Investment In Hawaii Renewable Fuels Should Accelerate Growth
SA: … The company has recently announced a $90 million investment to construct the state’s largest manufacturing facility for liquid ‘renewable’ fuels at its Kapolei refinery….
read … Par Pacific: Investment In Hawaii Renewable Fuels Should Accelerate Growth
City Dumping Sewage into Kailua Bay, Again
SA: … When there is heavy rain, sewers overflow through waterways into the ocean, prompting warnings of potential pathogens from the state Department of Health. Also, effluent from one of the city’s oldest wastewater plants empties into the ocean at Kailua Bay.
This becomes a problem when the plant fails to keep effluent from meeting Clean Water Act standards….
On May 5, the Health Department issued a news release warning ocean users to avoid waters near the Kailua Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant’s ocean outfall due to elevated levels of enterococcus bacteria. The advisory included a map of Kailua Bay waters from Mokapu Point at Marine Corps Base Hawaii to the Kailua boat ramp.
This occurred not only in recent weeks but in 2021, prompting the Environmental Protection Agency to once again step in on issues spanning at least a decade….
The EPA noted the Kailua plant also discharged effluent exceeding bacteria limits in June 2020 and April and December 2021.
Roger Babcock, director of the city’s Department of Environmental Services, said equipment from the January 2021 incident was fixed, and that the cause of the high bacteria levels this time is still under investigation….
The Kailua wastewater treatment plant, built in 1965, does not have a disinfection treatment process to kill bacteria such as enterococci, Babcock said, and is in the process of (discussing the possibility of) being upgraded. He hopes it can happen in the next two to three years, but the upgrade would require designs, permitting and then contract bids.
The EPA’s December order was added to a consent decree with the city issued in 2010 requiring upgrades to its entire wastewater collection sewer system to reduce sewage spills and to comply with the Clean Water Act.
This includes major upgrades to the two largest plants – Sand Island and Honouliuli — which must be completed by 2035….
DOH: Water advisory website
read … Kailua Bay continues battle for clean waters
Hawaii bankruptcies go up 29% on heels of rising rates
SA: … Bankruptcy cases in April hit a monthly high for the year, as rising interest rates and high inflation finally appear to be stretching thin the finances of Hawaii consumers.
The 89 filings last month were up 29% from 69 in the year-earlier period and marked the second time this year that cases had risen from the same time frame in 2022, according to new data from U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Hawaii….
Honolulu bankruptcy attorney Blake Goodman said that higher interest rates are causing variable credit cards and mortgage payments to increase, resulting in many consumer debtors to struggle to make ends meet….
In April, Chapter 7 liquidation cases — the most common type of bankruptcy — increased 23.3% to 53 from 43 in the year-earlier period.
Chapter 13 filings, which allow people with regular sources of income to set up installment payments to creditors over three to five years, rose 34.6% to 35 from 26.
There was one Chapter 11 filing in April. There were no filings in the year-earlier period. Chapter 11 filings are primarily for business reorganization….
read … Hawaii bankruptcies go up 29% on heels of rising rates
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