Hawaii Anti-Gun Bills Pre-Filed as Legislative Session Convenes
Ninth Circuit won’t rehear arguments on its decision to uphold gun-free zones in Hawaii and California
US DOT Sues Southwest Airlines for Chronically Delayed Flights
NCAA athletes seeking women's sports for women only
New Details Emerge After DNA Solves a 2014 Jane Doe
2025 Preview: Bribery allows major bills and issues to be blindsided at the eleventh hour, due to an opaque system that allows in-the-know lobbyists to sway Legislators
SA: … The 2025 Hawaii Legislature began its 60-day session on Wednesday, and the public must see good-government reforms that should have been enacted years ago.
For too long, the state’s lawmaking processes have been too secretive and insider-driven. Even avid followers of major bills and issues can be blindsided at the eleventh hour, due to an opaque system that allows in-the-know lobbyists to sway bills, and legislation that must funnel through the most powerful legislative committees — and their committee chairs — for wheeling and dealing.
Many entrenched, self-interested legislators might talk a good game when it comes to transparency and good government, but reform has been slow in coming….
… the arrests — then convictions — of two legislators for corruption: then-Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English and Rep. Ty Cullen were disgraced in a wastewater-legislation bribery scandal….
(NOTE: The other 74 have not been arrested. See how this works?)
While lawmakers did pass a law prohibiting legislators from holding organized fundraisers during legislative sessions, campaign contributions are still allowed during this period. That’s shameful…
Lobbyist: Hawaii State Legislature commences 2025 session -- Michelle Ane , Associate Project Manager at PRP
read … Editorial: Transparent isle lawmaking a must | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Hawaiʻi Legislature Begins 2025 With High Hopes for Insurance Reform, Affordable Housing
CB: … The state House and Senate are largely on the same page when it comes to priorities for the 2025 session that officially opened Wednesday.
Leading the list are stabilization of the condominium insurance market, strengthening enforcement of illegal fireworks, streamlining approval processes so developers can build more affordable housing and improving biosecurity to control and expel invasive species.
But House and Senate leaders are not in agreement on issues such as recreational marijuana. And some House members clashed over rules governing their own chamber….
For example, the Senate approved bills for recreational marijuana over the past two sessions but the measures died in the House — something that Senate President Ron Kouchi reminded reporters of at a press conference following the floor session….
And, while both chambers are generally in sync with the priorities of Gov. Josh Green, a fellow Democrat, they are still not sold on the governor’s proposal for a fee levied on visitors through the hotel tax to pay for climate change mitigation….
Rep. Kyle Yamashita said he was cautious about embracing another idea from the governor: to use interest from the state’s Rainy Day Fund to help pay for part of climate mitigation. The state currently enjoys a healthy fund balance, but economic cycles can change, he warned….
A better option, said Yamashita, might be to raise visitor fees at popular tourist destinations such as trails, something that Kouchi said he is open to considering.
Hanging over the Legislature’s to-list is a shared unease with what might transpire in Washington, D.C., when Donald Trump returns to the White House with a Republican-controlled Congress to support him. House Speaker Nadine Nakamura expressed concerns that Hawaiʻi’s share of federal funding might be reduced….
Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, who is working on home insurance legislation, said the increase in severity of natural disasters has made crafting legislative solutions more complicated. Hawaiʻi, he noted, is at risk not only for tsunamis, hurricanes and volcanoes but also wildfires….
Republican Minority Leader Lauren Matsumoto … urged public disclosure of how much each bill before the Legislature will cost, a mechanism that in some states is known as “fiscal notes.”
That means “we have to know how much something costs before we vote on it. Currently 44 other state legislatures already do this, and it’s time Hawai’i does as well,” she said.
Yamashita, the House Finance Committee chair, said in a news conference after the floor session that the House is undertaking a comprehensive review of both state and county taxes.
Nakamura noted the Legislature passed an unprecedented state income tax cut last year that will reduce state tax collections by billions of dollars in the years ahead. “I think it would be a stretch” to now entirely eliminate the state income tax, she said.
As for fiscal notes, Yamashita said that has been brought up before, but “it takes resources and effort.”
He added that “it’s something we, at this time, we don’t have the resources to be able to put something out there.”…
read … Hawaiʻi Legislature Begins 2025 With High Hopes For Solving Our Toughest Issues - Honolulu Civil Beat
Hawaii lawmakers vow to stabilize property insurance market as climate change fuels higher premiums
AP: … Hawaii lawmakers began a new legislative session Wednesday with a vow to try to stabilize the state’s property insurance market as hurricanes, wildfires and other climate change-influenced disasters at home and elsewhere prompt insurance carriers to raise rates…
Insurance companies had increasingly been viewing Hawaii as a disaster risk state even before the August 2023 wildfires on Maui, but that event only intensified the trend, Senate President Ron Kouchi told reporters at a news conference….
Senate Democrats will propose restarting programs started after Hurricane Iniki hit Kauai in 1992 and upended property insurance for years after. At the time, the state created a fund to provide hurricane insurance to residents.
The Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund created after Iniki provided hurricane coverage to 155,000 policyholders statewide for a decade until private insurers returned to the market. The state paid for the fund through policyholder premiums, assessments on licensed property and casualty insurers, a special mortgage recording fee and a surcharge on premiums on policies issued by licensed property and casualty insurers.
The state authorized the director of finance to issue bonds to help the fund operate, but they were never issued….
RELATED: No-Fault Insurance for Electricity-Caused Wildfires?
read … Hawaii lawmakers vow to stabilize property insurance market as climate change fuels higher premiums
Trannssexual Votes Against Speaker
HTH: … During his Senate floor speech, Awa used a Hawaiian term that appeared to refer to Iwamoto (D, Ala Moana-Kakaako-Downtown), Hawaii’s first openly transgender state legislator.
Iwamoto’s defeat of former House Speaker Scott Saiki in last year’s Democratic Primary cleared the way for new House leadership at the start of this session.
“Scott Saiki used to own the House, but the mahus changed his pronouns to ‘has been,’” Awa said.
In the House, Iwamoto rose to make her first floor speech — in opposition to Nakamura (D, Hanalei-Princeville-Kapaa) becoming the next speaker to replace Saiki.
Iwamoto told her House colleagues and a packed House gallery that she would vote against Nakamura because Nakamura’s committee assignments and selection of committee chairs “violate existing House rules, specifically those related to proportionality and the need to limit the power of the vice speaker.”
In particular, Iwamoto said that a House rule limits the vice speaker — who is now Rep. Linda Ichiyama (D, Fort Shafter Flats-Salt Lake-Pearl Harbor) — from voting on any standing committee.
But, Iwamoto said, “Speaker Nakamura assigned the vice speaker to three standing committees as a voting member.
“Speaker Nakamura’s response was to double down,” Iwamoto said. “She did not believe she violated any rules and she would address my concerns by changing the rules to clarify that she was in compliance.”
Iwamoto then represented the lone vote of opposition to Nakamura becoming speaker of the 51-member House.
(MESSAGE to Kakaako: Mr Kim Coco Iwamoto beat the Speaker, but he doesn’t become the Speaker. This is the last act of that campaign lie.)
HNN: Senator defends ‘mahu’ remarks in one of two controversies on Legislature’s opening day
read … Prickly dissent colors opening day of Hawaii Legislature - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Hawaii governor's (self-serving) ideas to help LA recover from the fires
SN: … Green also mentioned that more than 40% of all the travelers to Hawaii are from California.
The governor outlined three ideas he plans to implement to help California’s recovery.
First, he would like to give first responders “respite” in Hawaii, with reduced hotel rates and free flights from Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines. “They can heal here,” said Green.
Green is also hoping to work with four other states — Utah, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico — to put California residents who lost their homes in the fire into vacant hotel rooms for up to 180 days, where they can work remotely. This would reduce pressure on their housing market, according to Green. He said either the California wildfire survivors’ insurance or the Federal Emergency Management Agency would pay for the rooms.
(CLUE: Instead of immediately requesting FEMA trailers for Lahaina, Green waited one year to do so. Meanwhile FEMA was subsidizing hotels by paying room rate for Lahaina evacuees.)
Lastly, the governor wants to make it easy for California’s film industry to work in Hawaii by waiving fees and giving them “immediate permits if they'd like to continue some of their work before they can go back to California.”
The governor also estimated the financial cost of the Southern California wildfires could be as high as a trillion dollars and that it may “crack the property and casualty insurance system.” …
read … Hawaii governor's (self-serving) ideas to help LA recover from the fires
Will NOAA's Race To Make Papahānaumokuākea A National Sanctuary Survive Trump?
CB: … With less than a week to go before President-elect Donald Trump returns to office, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration took action Wednesday to add a layer of protection for Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
Designating the waters around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a national marine sanctuary would act as an insurance policy should Trump unilaterally undo the monument protections afforded to the area as he threatened to last time in office.
Although NOAA announced the designation ahead of Trump’s Monday inauguration, it must survive a 45-day congressional review period before it takes effect….
read … Will NOAA's Race To Make Papahānaumokuākea A National Sanctuary Survive Trump? - Honolulu Civil Beat
HPD officer arrested for alleged abuse of family member
KITV: … A Honolulu Police Department (HPD) officer was arrested for allegedly abusing a family or household member.
HPD announced via social media that one of its officers was arrested on Tuesday, January 14, 2025.
HPD states that criminal and administrative investigations have been initiated and the officer will be placed on restricted duty.
No other information has been provided at this time….
UPDATE: Honolulu police officer arrested after allegedly strangling roommate
read … HPD officer arrested for alleged abuse of family member
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