Amended SB1150 Still Legalizes Kidnap of Children for Sex-Change
House Report: 60 Chinese espionage cases in three years
Hawaii GOP hopes era of cooperation leads to new laws
SA: … A handful of House Republican bills have passed out of their initial committee hearings for the first time in a decade, giving Republicans hope that all of the talk this year of cooperation between majority Democrats and minority Republicans in both the House and Senate may be real — and that their ideas could become reality as new state laws….
Republicans this year — with some exceptions — have introduced bills that seem more in agreement with the Democratic majority, which also has taken a new attitude toward issues like streamlining Hawaii’s building permitting process, which adds to the already high cost of construction and therefore sales prices, said Colin Moore, who teaches public policy at the University of Hawaii and serves as associate professor at the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization.
Moore called the permitting process “broken” and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands waitlist “a disgrace.”
Republicans have advocated for years to reform both issues, while Democratic thinking, more recently, “has shifted,” Moore said.
Fixing the permitting process “would have been a relatively foreign idea to the Democratic caucus a decade ago,” he said. “Now they talk about it openly as one of the possible solutions” to speeding up construction of affordable housing and lowering costs.
Hawaii Republicans also have long advocated for reducing taxes and more recently removing the state general excise tax on food, medicine and dental expenses, along with other ways to reduce Hawaii’s cost of living.
With notable exceptions, the House minority caucus under Matsumoto this year has introduced “a pragmatic series of bills — and Democrats have gotten the message,” Moore said.
“Others, like the ‘Stand Your Ground bill (HB 291),’ probably have little chance of passing and are a little closer to the MAGA agenda,” Moore said. “I don’t think there’s ever been a huge amount of support on some of the Republican culture war issues….
Moore agrees with Awa that Republicans should remain guarded that better communication will result in Republican victories this year.
“I don’t think the Democrats are looking to do Republicans any favors,” Moore said....
SA: Off the news: Warm winds of legislative bipartisanship | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … Hawaii GOP hopes era of cooperation leads to new laws | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
This Luxury Kauaʻi Hotel Is Housing Foreign Workers In Container Homes
CB: … At the 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay, where the cheapest rooms go for about $1,200 a night, wealthy tourists, including Kourtney Kardashian and Addison Rae, enjoy access to $865 anti-aging facials and personalized nutrition plans while many of the housekeepers and chefs who cater to them can’t find a place to live.
Some of the hospitality staff live in guest rooms at the hotel, which recently underwent a $300 million renovation. Others live in a seven-bedroom, four-bathroom duplex purchased for $2.3 million by an entity under the hotel’s parent company, Miami-based developer Starwood Capital Group, which has at least $115 billion in assets….
The 34-year-old house, she said, accommodates the 1 Hotel’s upper management….
A half-dozen prefabricated container homes at a base yard a couple miles from the resort represent the Princeville hotel’s newest initiative to address an islandwide workforce housing shortage that has undermined its ability to hire and hold on to workers — a problem not lost on the luxury hotel’s own guests.
As a recent three-star Yelp review of 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay put it: “Beautiful property, severely understaffed.”…
The 960-square-foot container homes built by the 1 Hotel off Hanalei Plantation Road provide housing to the temporary foreign workers that the resort has come to rely on despite its efforts to drum up local employment prospects with jobs fairs and a $5,000 sign-on bonus. The foreign employees come from Indonesia, Thailand and other countries on short-term work visas. A shuttle transfers them between the hotel and the prefab containers….
read … This Luxury Kauaʻi Hotel Is Housing Foreign Workers In Container Homes - Honolulu Civil Beat
High Cost of Living Means Being A Mom In Hawaiʻi Isn't Easy.
CB: … moms in Hawaiʻi have it particularly tough. And it’s not just because of the state’s persistent housing crisis or the fact that nearly half of residents say they are just getting by or struggling to make ends meet.
Hawaiʻi has the highest child care costs in the nation. And in what could be viewed as a related problem, women in the Aloha State are the most sleep-deprived in the nation, according to an analysis by the United Health Foundation for its annual Health of Women and Children report....
read … Data Dive: Being A Mom In Hawaiʻi Isn't Easy. This Report Shows Why - Honolulu Civil Beat
What happens to Miske’s Portlock luxury home and other assets?
ILind: … what happens to Miske’s Portlock mansion valued for tax purposes at $7.5 million, along with a Kailua home, $4.3 million in cash and cashier’s checks, collectible cars (including a 2017 Ferrari F12 Berlinetta), art work, and other assets?
Contrary to conspiracy theories floating around, all this property will not automatically be returned to his family when the indictments, and his convictions, are voided.
The case moves to civil court
Following Miske’s death, government attorneys filed a civil forfeiture complaint in Honoulu’s Federal District Court. The lawsuit names the properties themselves as defendants in the case. The government will take the assets if it can be proved they were used to commit crimes, or were obtained using proceeds “traceable to a violation of any offense constituting…unlawful activity” specified by law….
read … What happens to Miske’s Portlock luxury home and other assets? | i L i n d
DLNR Demands Money for Lahaina harbor rebuild
SA: … A year and a half after Lahaina Small Boat Harbor sustained $30 million worth of damage in the Aug. 8, 2023, Maui wildfires, full reopening is not expected until at least 2026 or 2027, and even then it is dependent on the state addressing at least a $10 million estimated shortfall and on achieving timely permitting and construction.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources Department of Boating and Ocean Recreation has said that firming up funding is necessary to set the timeline for reopening Lahaina harbor.
“It would be an additional $10 million in estimated shortfall at this time, if we get legislative funding for the $13 million (that has been put into Gov. Josh Green’s 2025 budget),” DOBOR staff said. “We may be able to use insurance money if that is allocated to the Department by Budget and Finance.”
DOBOR and DLNR officials said there were approximately 95 vessels, both recreational and commercial, in Lahaina harbor prior to the fire, and approximately 48 recreational vessels and 28 commercial vessels were destroyed. Some owners have begun to make replacement progress through insurance or by making other plans. But the uncertain timing for the full reopening of Lahaina harbor continues to hit Maui’s commercial boating, its activities and attractions markets, and its ancillary businesses….
read … Lahaina harbor moves toward reopening
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