Do Marine Protected Areas Really Help Fisheries?
Gay Marriage Amendment won by only 1.3%
CB: … As we all now know, Hawaii voters approved that constitutional amendment to remove discriminatory language regarding same-sex marriage. But the vote was much closer than expected. In the final tally, the ConAm was approved by 51.3% of voters but 40.4% voted against it.
Combine the no vote with the 7.8% ballots left blank and the 0.4% other votes — where voters wrongly selected more than one candidate or ballot option — and that comes to 48.6%. That’s far from landslide support for marriage equality in a state that prides itself on aloha. Had the no, blank and over votes exceeded the yes votes, the ConAm would have died….
(CLUE: Too bad no body campaigned against it.)
Among the folks who donated to the Vote Yes For Marriage Equality candidate committee to raise awareness of the issue were Rep. Ed Case, lobbyists Jennifer Sabas, Bruce Coppa and Blake Oshiro; attorneys Bill Kaneko, David Louie and Ivan Lui-Kwan; Hula’s Bar and Lei Stand owner Jack Law, Alaska Airlines executive Daniel Chun, state Sen. Carol Fukunaga and media hound Ann Botticelli.
The committee spent more than $50,000 on the ConAm, according to its most recent filing with the state, but the result was a near run thing….
read … The Sunshine Blog: Bidding Aloha To James And Rose, Kauai's Avatar Anchors - Honolulu Civil Beat
First Families Move Into Temporary FEMA Housing For Maui Fire Survivors
CB: … Tenants may stay at the Kilohana complex until the FEMA assistance extension ends in February 2026. The houses will then be moved from the property and sold, and most of the infrastructure on the property will be dismantled, officials said.
In August 2023, FEMA assigned the U.S. Army Corps started to provide a conceptual design, site preparation and essential infrastructure. In May, the Corps began to prepare the site by grading the land, installing water and sewer lines, electricity and paving streets. Because the site was on hard rock, Blasting Technology Inc of Kihei was contracted to conduct blasting to install utilities and grade the land.
Families including the Folaumoeloas began moving in Friday with 94 homes completed.
The rent will be covered for the first few months by continued emergency assistance, but tenants must begin paying rent in February….
it cost $130,000 to build each of the 490-square-foot one-bedroom units…
SA: First FEMA modular homes ready for Maui fire survivors | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … First Families Move Into Temporary FEMA Housing For Maui Fire Survivors
Campaign Spending Reforms Back for 2025 Legislative Session
CB: … Give the Campaign Spending Commission credit for much-needed persistence. Its legislative package for the coming session will include two good-government proposals that it also pushed last biennium, without success.
The first would expand a 2006 ban on campaign contributions from government contractors to include the officers and immediate family members of the company owners. It also would apply the same prohibitions to recipients of government grants….
The commission is also proposing that the ban on in-session fundraisers by elected officials be expanded to prohibit them from accepting contributions at all during session.
Rhoads said last session that the proposal would be unfair to incumbents in election years, since their challengers would still be able to raise money during session….
read … The Sunshine Blog: Bidding Aloha To James And Rose, Kauai's Avatar Anchors - Honolulu Civil Beat
DHHL makes largest agricultural lot offering since the late 1980s – 68 lots
SA: … Hawaiian beneficiaries of the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands have been awarded 68 agricultural lots on Hawaii island — the department’s largest agricultural lot offering since the late 1980s.
Some 200 beneficiaries and their ohana gathered Saturday at Keaukaha Elementary School to celebrate DHHL’s awarding of 16 1-acre subsistence agricultural lots in Honomu as well as 32 2-acre subsistence lots and 20 5-acre agricultural lots in Makuu ….
read … DHHL makes largest agricultural lot offering since the late 1980s
Dole's Wahiawa Dam Is A Hazard. Now The State Is A Step Closer To Buying It
CB: … The state is inching closer to acquisition of the Wahiawa Dam and spillway, a withering piece of plantation-era water infrastructure that agriculture advocates say is crucial to the future of farming on Oahu.
The state budgeted $5 million last year for the purchase and $21 million more to repair and upgrade the dam and spillway system that is more than a century old. Its failure would put almost 2,500 lives at risk.
That came after its owners — including Dole Food Co. — spent more than a decade racking up fines and violation notices because of the dam’s problems….
read … Dole's Wahiawa Dam Is A Hazard. Now The State Is A Step Closer To Buying It - Honolulu Civil Beat
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