Survey: 40% consider moving out of state
Mariana Islands a Center for Chinese Birth Tourism
Honolulu’s proposed “Empty Homes” tax: ‘Some people will lose their homes’
ILind: … The exceptions, obviously necessitated by the need to make the bill acceptable, dramatically reduce it’s breadth and scope, along with any hope that it will make any dent in the housing crisis.
Several things need to be underscored.
1–The proposed “tax” is not really meant to produce income. It isn’t like a surcharge on existing property tax rates. It is, simply, an incredibly high penalty that will have to be paid not only by outside investors, but by local people who find themselves unable to meet the complex bureaucratic requirements to obtain exemptions they are otherwise entitled to. With median home prices hovering around $1 million, property owners will be paying $30,000 and up for homes declared “empty” because they miss a deadline, can’t meet the demands for documentation that haven’t been defined yet, and have to pay approximately 10 times their normal real property tax payment. It’s hard to call that a simple “tax” with a straight face. It’s a punishment, a penalty.
2–The burden of proof is flipped against the individual homeowner. As a property owner, you won’t be “innocent until proven guilty.” The city will assume your home is empty and subject to the penalty unless you prove to their satisfaction that it is not empty, using as-yet-undetermined paperwork to support your claim within the short time periods called for by the bill.
3–I doubt this point is understood. This isn’t a one-time application for an exemption. It is an application process that will have to be repeated every single year for every property. Remember what a pain it was to renew your drivers license after Honolulu moved to a “Read ID” requirement, where you had to prove your residence, dig out utility bills, tax returns, or other items to prove you live where you say you live. That was bad, but you only have to do it once. The empty home application dance will have to be repeated each and every year. And, if you’re late or make a mistake, the hammer of that huge penalty will come crashing down.
That’s an annual burden for any homeowner, and an annual nightmare for those employees tasked with sorting through all the claims.
4–We know that most city offices and departments are understaffed and barely able to keep up with their current workloads, and often fall behind, like the now notorious Department of Planning and Permitting. How is the tiny real property tax office and its small group of staff and appraisers going to cope with an annual inundation of paperwork? Not well, is my prediction. And, in the process, there’s going to be a lot of collateral damage. Some people will lose their homes in the process, or their situations will cause new rounds of scandal….
SA: Letter: Ineffective empty homes tax opens can of worms | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
SA: Editorial: Home tax keeps Hawaii in local hands | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … Honolulu’s proposed “Empty Homes” tax will accomplish little and create a lot of collateral damage
Blangiardi doubts plastic bottle ban bill
SA: ... Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s administration has thrown cold water on a bill to ban single-use plastic bottles at city facilities starting Dec. 31, 2026, then a year later at city-connected concessions, events or programs. City Managing Director Mike Formby said the administration has “reservations” about Bill 59, which gets a second reading with the City Council today….
Dec 7: Blangiardi administration skeptical of bill to ban single-use plastic bottles
read … Off the news: Blangiardi doubts plastic bottle ban bill
Rules of the House, up close and personal
TGI: … To meet the deadline set by existing rules, the Speaker must soon convene the required “Advisory Committee on Rules and Procedure”, and the public must be allowed to attend (even virtually).
Yes, I’ve read the rules: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/docs/HouseRules.pdf ....
read … HOOSER: Rules of the House, up close and personal - The Garden Island
Designed to Fail: City pretends to pick area northwest of Wahiawa to pretend to be Oahu’s next landfill
SA: … The landfill siting decision was required before Dec. 31, before the closure of the 35-year-old Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill in accordance with a 2019 decision and order by the state Land Use Commission. That West Oahu dump is set to close in 2028.
The proposed landfill location — identified as “Area 3, Site 2” in the city’s 2022 Landfill Advisory Committee’s recommendation report — is on agricultural land to the west of Kamehameha Highway, north of Paalaa Uka Pupukea Road.
The proposed landfill site selected by the city — along with five other potential sites included in the committee’s recommendation report — is located over an aquifer.
(TRANSLATION: Doomed by design.)
However, the Honolulu Board of Water Supply must evaluate the proposed landfill site and, based on its proximity to potable water sources, may approve or reject the proposal.
City Council member Matt Weyer, whose District 2 encompasses Wahiawa and the North Shore, said he objected to the landfill site’s location in his district.
(REALITY: C&C picked this location with the expectation that it will be rejected. The rejection then becomes the excuse to do what C&C has planned all along—continue using Waimanalo Gulch.)
read … City picks area northwest of Wahiawa for Oahu’s next landfill | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Maui County files for dismissal of election suit
SA: … A motion filed by the Maui County Clerk seeks to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the results of the Nov. 5 general election, arguing that former Maui County Council member Kelly King, who lost to incumbent Tom Cook, failed to provide evidence of any errors or wrongdoing.
The Clerk’s Office asserts that the signature verification process followed Hawaii’s established legal and procedural standards and that the plaintiffs’ claims of discrepancies in signature verification rates across counties lack proof of any impact on the election outcome.
“The plaintiffs have no evidence of any error, and even if they did, the alleged error could not have changed the outcome of the election or rendered it unascertainable,” the County Clerk stated in the court filing. “The Complaint must be dismissed.” ….
read … Maui County files for dismissal of election suit
23-Time Loser Finally Catches a FEDERAL Case
SA: … A 54-year-old Kauai man is facing federal charges after he allegedly threw a bomb at a man in a car and then shot his eye out with a firearm.
Duane Francis Kalei Dawson was charged by federal criminal complaint Saturday with attempted possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and being a felon in possession of ammunition.
Dawson has 23 state convictions on his record, an array of criminality that includes domestic violence, illegal fishing, assault, violating a protective order and terroristic threatening….
read … Kauai man, 54, charged in throwing bomb, shooting | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Police subsidized vehicle reportedly involved in Aiea hit and run
HNN: … HNN Investigates a hit-and-run crash involving a Honolulu Police Department subsidized vehicle that reportedly slammed into the back of a parked pickup truck in Aiea.
Law enforcement sources say an HPD sergeant, who claimed to be a passenger in that police vehicle, told responding officers the man in the driver’s seat took off.
(Wow. Another seat-switch story.)
It’s a story HNN Investigates was tipped off to by multiple law enforcement sources.
On Saturday, Nov. 23 at 12:01 a.m., records indicate the subsidized vehicle crashed into a Toyota Tacoma that was parked along Nahele Street. The force of the collision left the rear driver’s side of the truck mangled….
The sergeant at the center of all this is a 19-year veteran of the department and is currently on full duty. He’s assigned to the Pearl City police station….
read … Police subsidized vehicle reportedly involved in Aiea hit and run
Price increase expected for Oahu Transit Services
KITV: … DTS Director Roger Morton explained, "Overall, it's about a 12% increase over a three-year period and it compares with about a 15.9% increase for inflation during that same period. So less than inflation, well tracking inflation pretty closely." …
Public testimony is still being accepted and possibly by February, the commission is hoping to advance recommendations to DTS and the city administration for action….
The last fare change came on July 1, 2022. At a rate commission meeting, DTS is hoping to generate more than $4 million in the coming fiscal years….
The annual budget for transit is nearly $430 million, with $260 million of that budget generated from bus fares….
read … Price increase expected for Oahu Transit Services | News | kitv.com
Cell tower bills head to council
HTH: … In one corner was Bill 194, which was introduced by then-Kohala Counci-lwoman Cindy Evans. The measure would require substantially more documentation from telecommunications companies in order to receive a permit.
In the other was a draft measure introduced by the county Planning Department in September. That bill, which does not have a bill number, would loosen regulations for telecom facilities and allow towers to be erected without a permit in certain zoning districts….
read … Cell tower bills head to council
Bill 156: Maui Council to Ban Vapes?
MN: … On Friday’s agenda was Committee Report 24-119 from the Water Authority, Social Services and Parks Committee, that recommended the first reading of Bill 156, a bill for an ordinance to amend the Maui County Code to prohibit retailers from selling or marketing flavored tobacco products and mislabeling products as nicotine-free.
Leslie Garo, representing Hawai’i Public Health Institute as the Maui County coordinator for the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawai’i, spoke out in support of the legislation.
“A survey from December 2023 found that 73% of registered voters in Maui County were in support of a law prohibiting all flavors, including menthol, of tobacco products and e-cigarettes,” she said. “Seventy-six percent of those voters said that school-age children vaping or using e-cigarettes is a major problem.”
She also said that “Maui County has the highest rate of high school students who use e-cigarettes in the state at 15%.”
read … Tobacco bill moves forward through Maui County Council | News, Sports, Jobs - Maui News
Frequent Complaints about bums using drugs, exhibiting signs of mental illness or continuously occupying spaces
SA: … Kokua Line receives frequent complaints about homeless people living in city parks, especially in urban Honolulu, using drugs, exhibiting signs of mental illness or continuously occupying spaces, such as pavilions, restrooms or play courts, that otherwise would be available to neighborhood families with young children wanting to play in the park. While some neighborhood residents use the park regardless, others are intimidated and avoid the location, lamenting the loss of taxpayer-funded resources they say should be available to all and not be dominated by homeless campers ….
read … Kokua Line: Why can homeless people dominate park’s pavilion? | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
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