'Malicious Prosecution' Kaneshiro Tries to Beat Back Civil Suit
Indictment: Alleged Embezzler Busted at Hawaii Eco Group
Green Executive Order to Speed State Hiring?
UH: TRO Protecting DEI from Trump Executive Orders
Double the Fraud: SB184 100% fee hike for beverage container recycling
SA: … Hawaii consumers and businesses could see a 100% spike in the cost to discard beverage containers via curbside recycling, the trash and other means outside of a state redemption program.
State lawmakers are considering a bill that proposes doubling the deposit fee on beverage containers to 10 cents from 5 cents under a 20-year-old program that has accrued a record $67 million special-fund balance.
Senate Bill 184 was advanced by a committee Jan. 27 after an initial public hearing with fairly evenly divided testimony for and against the measure….
Opponents contend that a 5-cent increase would further penalize people who can’t or prefer not to take containers to redemption centers for refunds, including households and business owners who recycle through county and private services.
SB 184 was introduced by Sen. Henry Aquino (D, Pearl City-Waipahu-West Loch), but not at the request of the state Department of Health, which manages the program.
(CLUE: With Tokuda in Congress, Aquino must be taking over at the Reynolds trough. Obviously, he read >>> THIS.)
At a Jan. 24 hearing held by the Senate Agriculture and Environment Committee, three people along with Reynolds Recycling Inc. and a Kauai County solid-waste management official testified in favor of the bill….
Yamachika also said fraud, which has been documented in program audits, should be mitigated more before increasing the deposit fee. Doubling the fee stands to make fraudulent fee claims more lucrative.
The state Office of the Auditor has repeatedly raised concerns that the Health Department’s reliance on self-reported information from beverage distributors and redemption centers is a fraud risk, and has identified fraudulent activity.
For instance, in 2018 an auditor who redeemed 5.1 pounds of glass bottles for 61 cents found that the transaction was later altered on Reynolds paperwork to reflect being paid $69.92 for about 45 pounds of plastic and aluminum containers, according to an audit published in 2021….
Committee members voted 4-1 to advance the bill for consideration by the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Sen. Brenton Awa (R, Kaneohe-Laie-Mokuleia) cast the opposing vote, and two of the supportive votes were made with reservations by Sens. Tim Richards (D, North Hilo-Waimea-North Kona) and Lynn DeCoite (D, East and Upcountry Maui-Molokai-Lanai). Ways and Means has not yet scheduled a hearing for the bill….
SB184: Text, Status
Big Q: Should the deposit fee on beverage containers be doubled to 10 cents? 68% - ‘NO’
SA: Off the news: Bill would double beverage container fee
REALITY:
read … Bottle bill would boost deposits for beverage container recycling | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Consumers Sacrifice To Pay Hawaiʻi’s Record Electric Bills
CB: … According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration January 2025 report, the cost of electricity in Hawaiʻi for residential customers approached three times the national average. In October, the latest month for which the agency provided data, the cost was just over 41 cents per kilowatt hour in Hawaiʻi versus about 17 cents per kilowatt hour nationwide….
The average monthly energy bill in the state — $230.80 — was the fourth-highest in the U.S.
In 2022, households with incomes below the federal poverty level spent almost a fifth of their income on electricity costs, while the average household spent just over 2% of their income on their electric bill, according to the state’s Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism….
The state’s high cost of living has been highlighted recently by the ALICE in Hawaiʻi report released in January by Aloha United Way, which surveyed Hawaiʻi’s working poor and found that prices were pressuring residents to move away….
(CLUES: Natural Gas, Geothermal.)
read … Data Dive: Consumers Sacrifice To Pay Hawaiʻi’s Record Electric Bills - Honolulu Civil Beat
$42.5M: UH students are on hook for COVID pay to employees
SA: … University of Hawaii regent Neil Abercrombie is pressing for answers and explanations after looking through UH budgets from across the 10-campus system searching for details on how many and how much UH employees would receive in back pay for putting themselves at risk while working through the COVID-19 era.
Abercrombie called what he found in a UH Foundation report stunning: First, that a specific group of UH employees would receive a one-time collective payment of $42.5 million; and second, their one-time “hazard pay” was coming out of a special fund that UH students pay into as part of their tuition.
“I just about fell off of my chair,” Abercrombie told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser ahead of Thursday’s Board of Regents meeting at UH Hilo, where he plans to bring up the issue before new UH President Wendy Hensel, her administrators and his fellow regents….
SA: Off the news: UH regent fights for COVID-19 hazard pay
read … UH students are on hook for COVID pay to employees
Leaks And Mold: Hensel Phelps’ 4-Year-Old State Hospital Needs New Roof
CB: … Gov. Josh Green’s administration is asking lawmakers to put up millions of dollars in emergency funding to fix leaks, clean up mold and make other repairs to a $160 million building that opened at Hawaiʻi State Hospital just three years ago.
The request for funding includes $6.16 million for repairs to the structure known as the Hale Hoʻōla Building, and another $2 million to cover legal costs. Those legal expenses may include the cost of a lawsuit against contractor Hensel Phelps Construction Co….
“The urgency of this request stems from the potential risks to the health and safety of the patients and staff at the HSH,” state Department of Health officials said in written testimony earlier this month. “A significant concern is the presence of water leaks in the building’s exterior envelope and plumbing systems.”
The roof of the building may need to be replaced as part of a “lasting solution” to the leaks, according to the testimony. If so, that work would cost extra beyond the $8.16 million emergency funding requested this year….
SA: 4-year-old state hospital building rife with defects | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
HNN: State hospital building defects outrage lawmakers
CB: The Cost To Fix Hawaiʻi State Hospital Has Climbed To Nearly $37 Million - Honolulu Civil Beat
CLUE: Hensel Phelps behind Red Hill disaster
read … Leaks And Mold At The 4-Year-Old State Hospital Will Cost Millions To Fix
Hawai‘i Condo Owners Could Benefit From State Plan To Prop Up Insurance Market
CB: … Across Hawaiʻi, rising insurance premiums are exacerbating the state’s already severe housing affordability problems, with a convergence of problems poised to make it worse. Even before the wildfire that destroyed much of Lahaina in August 2023, property insurance was getting more expensive for condos.
With approximately 294,000 Hawaiʻi residents living in homes governed by 2,000 condo, townhome and homeowners associations, these insurance coverage woes affect about one in four state residents….
The proposal making its way through the Hawai‘i Legislature is to revive two little-used state entities to create two new insurance lines. The existing Hawaiʻi Hurricane Relief Fund was set up in 1993 to provide hurricane insurance in Hawaiʻi following Hurricane ʻIniki, which hurt the hurricane insurance market. The fund quit writing new policies as of December 1, 2000, when the private market rebounded.
Under the proposed legislation, the fund would be refashioned as an insurer of last resort for hurricane insurance, reducing the need for condo associations to buy from the secondary market.
A second component of the legislation would refashion the Hawaiʻi Property Insurance Association, which was established to provide insurance for homes in lava zones, into an insurer of last resort for other types of insurance if the market failed to provide adequate insurance for those areas….
read … Hawai‘i Condo Owners Could Benefit From State Plan To Prop Up Insurance Market - Honolulu Civil Beat
Sanctuary County? Council members challenge Hawaii County PD cooperation with ICE, DHS, FBI
HTH: … Routine agreements between federal agencies and the Hawaii Police Department were postponed over concerns about overreach in illegal immigration enforcement (Trump)….
At Tuesday’s meeting of the County Council Committee on Governmental Operations and External Affairs, council members discussed a resolution that would continue operational agreements between HPD and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Specifically, those agreements involved DHS’ U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and would allow the federal agency to embed special agents within the HPD and designate certain HPD employees as task force officers.
The resolution also involved a third agreement, between HPD and the FBI’s Honolulu Safe Streets Task Force, although there was minimal discussion Tuesday about that agreement.
HPD Assistant Chief Sherry Bird said those agreements have already been in place between the two departments for several years, and that HPD is simply going through a routine “annual process of renewal.”….
(Skip several paragraphs of the usual suspects spouting the usual rhetoric.)
Ultimately, the committee voted to postpone the matter until a future meeting on March 18….
KN: 29-year-old Romanian national from Washington state linked to counterfeit jewelry scam : Kauai Now
HNN: Concern grows as immigration crackdown begins in Hawaii
REALITY: ICE struggles to boost arrest numbers despite infusion of resources
read … Council members put the brakes on HPD resolution
Auckland Airport cocaine bust: 100kg in bags smuggled on Hawaiian Airlines flight
NZH: … More than 100kg of cocaine has been busted in a smuggler’s bags at Auckland International Airport.
Customs believes the 101kg found over the weekend is the largest amount of cocaine found at a New Zealand airport.
The estimated street value of the Class A drug was $35.4 million, and would have caused $37.8m in social harm to New Zealand’s communities.
Customs officers were doing routine border enforcement when they checked a number of bags arriving off a Hawaiian Airlines flight on Saturday night….
(CLUE: Apparently Hawaii has a large enough drug syndicate to export 100kg quantity.)
DT: Customs seizes over 100 kilograms of cocaine at Auckland Airport - Daily Telegraph NZ
NNZ: Largest bust of its kind — 101kg of cocaine at Auckland Airport
HNN: 220+ pounds of cocaine seized from Hawaiian Airlines flight into New Zealand
read … Auckland Airport cocaine bust: 100kg in bags smuggled on Hawaiian Airlines flight - NZ Herald
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