Don't tax me, bro!
Dedicated Funding?!
ACLU, Judiciary Plot to Release Hundreds of Criminals onto the Streets
Feds Collect $1.7M in Hawaii Forfeitures
Hawaiʻi Water Safety Plan to address drowning crisis
Hawaii Congressional Delegation--How they Voted February 7, 2025
The Hawaii Contradiction: Is Sustainability Just A Price Hike?
BH: … Visitors to Hawaii are being promised an eco-conscious destination. The reality is that many are met with overflowing trash bins, plastic and other debris, burned-out cars, water for resorts but not for residents, and expansion that seems at odds with sustainability goals. Meanwhile, new regulations—from threatened vacation rental elimination to increased visitor fees and other tourism restrictions—are framed as necessary for environmental and community preservation.
One Beat of Hawaii reader put it bluntly: “Hawaii talks about being green, but have you seen the trash everywhere? And where’s all that current and newly proposed tourist tax money really going?”
That’s where the contradiction starts to take hold. If sustainability is indeed the goal, why do the most significant changes seem to involve paying more rather than doing more?
The state has plans to implement multiple fees and more regulations under the umbrella of sustainability. But visitors are already wondering what exactly is improving either for the environment or for them….
read … The Hawaii Travel Contradiction: Is Sustainability Just A Price Hike? - Beat of Hawaii
Bananas prove slippery for former city officials
Shapiro: …With the plea agreements, scheduled to be formalized March 4 before Senior U.S. District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi, Leong, Sword and Amemiya avoid trial on felony fraud charges that could have resulted in prison time.
The federal investigation of the Kealohas, which brought prison sentences of seven years for Louis and 13 for Katherine on felony fraud and conspiracy convictions involving financial misdeeds and attempts to frame an innocent man, were well underway when the three connived to give Kealoha the retirement buyout instead of firing him for cause.
They reportedly feared lawsuits by the Kealohas, the same reason attributed to Leong for allegedly muzzling former city ethics chief Chuck Totto’s attempts to investigate the Kealohas early in the process.
The retirement deal became legally problematic when Leong, Sword and Amemiya sought to avoid required City Council approval of the $250,000 payout — and likely contentious public hearings — by misleading the Council on where the money was coming from in the police budget.
Interim Police Chief Cary Okimoto wouldn’t go along, saying funds from the police budget were needed for other purposes and that he was uncomfortable deceiving the Council.
The three defendants insisted it was a financial maneuver used before and was OK’d by the finance director. The payment was made over police objections, and the dispute likely cost Okimoto any chance to become permanent chief.
But he recorded the discussions, and his tapes became key to the federal prosecutors’ case.
In one noted transcript, Sword explained to police thusly why it had to be fuzzy where the money was coming from: “The reason it’s very simple. So you don’t have to go to the seven bananas, I mean nine bananas, up at the Council.”
Notwithstanding the separate discussion on the accuracy of his description, bananas or not, they had a legal right and duty to review the payment — and the public had the right to a voice in the process….
MEANWHILE: OHA Trustees Never Approved $705K Hush Money Payment
read … David Shapiro: Bananas prove slippery for former city officials | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Hawaiʻi Foster Care Numbers Are Down. But Not Down Enough
CB: … The real reason for the decline in the number of children consigned to the chaos of foster care probably does reflect “a shift in mindset among staff.” It’s a recognition of the enormous emotional trauma inherent in tearing children from everyone they know and love, it’s a recognition of the research showing that typical cases are nothing like the horror stories – and in those typical cases children left in their own homes fare better even than comparably maltreated children placed in foster care. And, though CWS will never admit it, it is a recognition that independent studies repeatedly find rates of abuse in foster care vastly higher than states report in their official figures.
If anything, this culture change hasn’t gone nearly far enough. National data aren’t available yet, but it’s likely that the number of children taken from their parents in Hawaiʻi in 2023 still will be above the national average, even when rates of child poverty are factored in….
The Malama ‘Ohana Working Group did a superb job of explaining the enormous needless trauma CWS inflicts on children and their families, but then offered recommendations that are largely bland boilerplate.
So, for example, the report documents how many parents are afraid to seek help because they fear the helpers, who often are mandatory reporters of alleged “child abuse.” Those helpers might feel compelled to turn the parents in to CWS and CWS might take the children. Multiple studies show that, in part for this very reason, mandatory reporting backfires and makes all children less safe.
But the working group failed to recommend that mandatory reporting be replaced with permissive reporting, in which professionals are free to exercise their professional judgment. Not only would this ease families’ fears about coming forward, it also would reduce the deluge of false reports that take up so much of the time of those overloaded, shorthanded caseworkers.
Similarly, the burden on caseworkers and, more important, on children, would be reduced if Hawaiʻi narrowed its definition of “neglect.” Current law says neglect “occurs when a child is not provided in a timely manner with adequate food, clothing, shelter, psychological care, physical care, medical care, or supervision.” That’s practically a definition of poverty.
All of this means the best way to solve worker overload is not to hire more caseworkers to chase false reports and poverty cases. Instead, hire more workers who can provide concrete help to families to ease the worst effects of poverty, give community-based grassroots organizations the funding they need to help families in the ways they know are best, and create well-funded institutional providers of high-quality family defense – not to get “bad parents” off but to provide alternatives to the cookie-cutter “service plans” so often dished out by CWS. This has been shown to reduce foster care with no compromise of safety….
read … Hawaiʻi Foster Care Numbers Are Down. But Not Down Enough
Rep Gene Ward Missing from Legislature
CB: … One of the most consistently outspoken voices at the Legislature, especially for GOP views, has been absent so far this session.
Rep. Gene Ward, the longtime Hawaiʻi Kai Republican, has missed the first 15 session days of the 60-day session — all of January and the first week of February. It has made House floor sessions and committee hearings less fun, albeit shorter.
House majority and minority leadership declined to comment, and Ward did not respond to messages. Whatever the reason for his absence, The Blog wishes the rep well and hopes for his imminent return, if only to hear him say, “Madam Speaker, I rise to speak in opposition to the measure before us.”…
Feb 10: Gene Ward Update
read … The Sunshine Blog: Viva Honolulu? Casino Bill Quietly Surfaces In Senate - Honolulu Civil Beat
What’s next now that the eviction moratorium has ended?
MN: … The eviction moratorium ended on Feb. 4, and a new law called Act 202 went into effect the next day. As landlords are now able to start the process of eviction, if needed, they are also being called to follow Act 202, which includes a process that requires landlords to notify Maui Mediation Services prior to an eviction.
But for people like Hans, it’s past the point of mediation. Hans said his tenant has moved out but owes him about $4,800 for rent, and that his unit has suffered extensive damages. But with the former renter leaving the island, he feels like there’s nowhere to go but forward….
read … What’s next now that the eviction moratorium has ended? | News, Sports, Jobs - Maui News
HB606: Hawaiian Home Lands seeks public support for a bill to increase, extend deadline on $600M spending plan
MN: … A new piece of legislation proposes to boost funding for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to support more than 20 active housing projects for Native Hawaiians. The proposal also seeks to extend the Act 279 Special Fund for an additional two years.
Known as the “Waitlist Reduction Act,” Act 279, enacted in 2022, appropriated $600 million in general funds to implement a comprehensive strategy to reduce the Hawaiian Home Lands waiting list, which currently is about 29,000 people long, according to the department.
Although an exact funding amount was not specified in the new bill, HB 606, the department says it needs an increase….
SA: Hawaiian Homes agency seeking an additional $600M | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
HB606: Text, Status
read … Hawaiian Home Lands seeks public support for a bill to increase, extend $600M spending plan to reduce waiting list : Maui Now
Fifty Years of Hawaii Lobbying Reform
CB: … Fifty years ago, Hawaiʻi was considered a national leader in what was then a growing movement to crack down on inappropriate political influence by big-money special interests. In 1975, Hawaiʻi was requiring lobbyists to register with the state and by 1978 we had created one of the first ethics commissions in the country to oversee them.
But things soon stalled. While other states were moving forward with more disclosure, more frequent reporting and tougher enforcement, Hawaiʻi remained stuck, for the most part, with the barest of transparency requirements and minimal punishment for those who failed to register or who violated the other basic rules.
Then, in 2022, two state lawmakers and a couple of Maui County officials got busted by the feds for taking millions of dollars in bribes from a Honolulu businessman to sway legislation or steer contracts his company’s way….
read … Hawaiʻi's Crackdown On Lobbyists Has Come A Long Way. Is It Far Enough? - Honolulu Civil Beat
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