Why is inflation higher in Hawaii?
Shoo-in Legislators Vacation on Your Dime During Campaign Season
CB: … We’d love to be able to tell you the latest Senate allowances, but they have not been updated since June. The Blog left a message with the Senate clerk’s office asking what’s up. Stay tuned.
Over in the House, Rep. Kanani Souza was among the biggest spenders, charging more than $3,300 in October and November to attend the 2024 Maine Space Conference. The conference, a Portland newspaper reported, explored opportunities for industry stakeholders “to engage with the Maine space ecosystem” and the ways in which Maine Space Corporation “is facilitating and supporting industry growth across the value chain.” …
(CLUE: Souza had no General Election challenger.)
Rep. Jackson Sayama, meantime, spent nearly $3,000 in allowance to travel with Gov. Josh Green for a Japan Sister State visit and the Tokyo Gift Show in September.
(CLUE: Sayama had only token Republican challenger.)
Other allowance spending of note: Rep. Dee Morikawa (the new majority floor leader) used $160 to pay for a U.S. and Hawaiʻi flag to present to the visiting president of Taiwan, Rep. Sean Quinlan (the new majority leader) picked up a wireless keyboard and wireless intercom for $96 and Rep. Nadine Nakamura (the new speaker) took a legislative trip to Haneda, Japan, at a cost of $2,361. A site visit to the Big Island and a lunch meeting with Hawai‘i Business Roundtable were also part of that expense….
(CLUE: Nakamura had only token Republican challenger.)
read … The Sunshine Blog: Police Commission Problems, New Laws And Legislative Cash - Honolulu Civil Beat
How to Force a Mass-Release of Hardened Criminals: Soft-on-Crime Crowd Previews Rhetoric to be Deployed in 2025 Session
CB: … critics say the new jail could easily end up costing $1 billion or more, and want the state to pause or halt planning for the project….
(TRANSLATION: We want a mass-release of criminals.)
The Hawaiʻi Correctional System Oversight Commission, an independent board created by the Legislature, heard extensive criticism of the planned a new jail during its Dec. 19 meeting, and instructed commission staff to draft a letter once again calling for a pause in the planning effort.
(TRANSLATION: We want a mass-release of criminals.)
Commission members agreed at the meeting the existing facility must be replaced, but said they want the department to put more emphasis on diverting people away from jail and into mental health services and programs for the homeless.
(TRANSLATION: We want a mass-release of criminals.)
Liam Chinn, coordinator of the Reimagining Public Safety in Hawaiʻi Coalition, told the commission the plan for a new 1,300-bed lockup is “wildly out of step” with a growing community consensus that more people should be diverted away from the correctional system and into treatment programs.
(TRANSLATION: We want a mass-release of criminals.)
Most of the people stuck in jail today should not be there, Chinn said. He said 40% of the jail population in Hawaiʻi is homeless, and 60 percent of inmates are there because they cannot afford to post bail to get out.
(TRANSLATION: We want a mass-release of criminals.)
read … Green Proposes Spending Another $30 Million On A New Oʻahu Jail - Honolulu Civil Beat
OIP Slams Police Commission Executive Session Abuse
CB: … The Honolulu Police Commission is in hot water again, this time with the state Office of Information Practices for repeatedly violating the Sunshine Law because it doesn’t let the public know what it’s going to be discussing in executive session. That’s a problem, OIP says, because it doesn’t give people a chance to tell the commission what they think about an issue or an event before the commissioners duck out….
In 2021, Brian Black of the Public First Law Center asked OIP for an opinion on whether this practice met the Sunshine Law smell test.
About two weeks ago, OIP finally got back to him with an unequivocal no, it does not. The detailed 20-page opinion also took the police commission to task for a couple other things it’s been doing wrong that Black hadn’t even asked about, including the minutes it is supposed to be keeping of executive session discussions.
Black asked OIP to review about six months worth of commission hearings in which the members retired to executive session to discuss police matters based on what Black and OIP referred to as the “catch all” agenda notices….
The Blog was also delighted to see OIP chastise the commission for the crappy minutes it keeps of executive sessions. We’ve always thought it was that way because commissioners don’t really want people to ever be able to find out what they’re up to (case in point: the $250,000 payoff to former Chief Louis Kealoha).
“OIP notes that the executive session minutes in particular generally fail to meet the Sunshine Law’s requirements for written minutes because they do not give a true reflection of the matters discussed at the meeting and the views of the participants … In many instances it is not possible to determine whether discussion strayed beyond an authorized purpose because the discussion is simply not recorded.” …
In a footnote, OIP noted that during this review the police commission asked OIP for guidance on how agenda items should be stated. To which a seemingly exasperated OIP pointed out that it’s already laid out all this stuff, not only in its readily available published guidance on all things Sunshine Law but specifically in a 2006 opinion on another case….
PDF: OIP OPINION
read … The Sunshine Blog: Police Commission Problems, New Laws And Legislative Cash - Honolulu Civil Beat
Maui Adds 600 Construction Jobs
AGC: ... Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, Hawaii (13 percent increase, 600 jobs) puts Maui in top 10 for construcion growth in USA ....
read ... Construction Jobs Increase In 234 Metro Areas
Accidental overdose? Mike Miske had no known history as a hard drug user
ILind: … An “accidental” overdose would mean he meant to get high and instead got a lethal dose of the drugs.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported: “The manner of Miske’s death “is still listed as pending,” the office said in a statement. “However, based on currently available information, the manner of death in this case appears to be accidental.”
The Medical Examiner did not disclose whether there what “currently available” evidence led them to this scenario, creating a fertile environment for public speculation.
Some have publicly speculated in online comments that Miske was killed in order to prevent him from revealing damaging information about other crime figures in what they assume would be his continued bargaining with federal prosecutors. However, in Miske’s case, the time for bargaining was past. Several of the crimes he was convicted of carry a mandatory sentence of life in federal prison, removing the possibility of bargaining for a lesser sentence. That is the primary reason that I would discount this scenario.
That leaves the most likely options as the medical examiner’s explanation that it was an accidental overdose, or suicide.
The accidental overdose scenario is not wholly satisfactory, because there is no indication Mike Miske had been a user of hard drugs….
read … Accidental overdose? Mike Miske had no known history as a hard drug user
Maui Fire Recovery:
Legislative Agenda:
QUICK HITS: