Grassroot Institute Legislative Week in Review
Is ACLU Worth $1B? Report Shows how ACLU Artificially Inflates Hawaii Jail Construction Costs
SA: … Our department commissioned the University of Hawaii Community Design Center (UHCDC) to take an in-depth assessment of the current state of corrections on Oahu and possible solutions. The UHCDC team of facilitators brought stakeholders together to look at corrections from multiple perspectives and explore different solutions. Its comprehensive, 135-page report, “Breaking Cycles: Alternative Models for Rehabilitation and Restorative Justice on O‘ahu,” released last month, offers a refreshing insight that reflects the community’s concerns. …
The UHCDC report offers alternative visions of facility design that take into account our imperfect systems. DCR supports this one-stop design approach so that individuals can readily gain access to a range of services to begin their decarceration journey as soon as they arrive at OCCC and get back into the community, especially since about 75% of OCCC inmates are low-level offenders.
Offering a full spectrum of rehabilitation services at one site comes with a big price tag, but is necessary to address the current lack of existing community resources to support decarceration.
(TRANSLATION: The jail costs $1B because the ACLU's Legislators 'Christmas tree' this CIP with all their pet projects.)
Partial funding has been included in the governor’s budget request and we are now heading in the right direction ….
ACLU: Column: $1 billion superjail is no solution (See how this works?)
read … Column: Time to look at OCCC as a comprehensive decarceration hub | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Hoteliers push back on proposed tax hikes
SA: … Hospitality industry members from HHA and AHLA, however, painted a less robust picture of statewide tourism performance, especially at hotels, and expressed concern about legislation that is still moving that would potentially increase the TAT, which they said is already too high.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee on Thursday amended and passed Senate Bill 1396, which addresses climate change and mitigates further impacts by authorizing the funding of resiliency projects. It establishes the Climate Mitigation and Resiliency Special Fund and the Economic Development and Revitalization Special Fund. It also increases the TAT and allocates a portion of it to support the fund.
WAM also amended and passed Senate Bill 1395, which establishes a Climate Mitigation and Resiliency Special Fund and allocates the interest earned on balances within the Emergency and Budget Reserve Fund to the special fund as well as allocating a portion of the revenue from the TAT to the special fund.
The House Finance Committee on Wednesday amended and passed House Bill 504, introduced by Rep. Linda Ichiyama (D, Fort Shafter Flats-Salt Lake-Pearl Harbor). The bill seeks to require a $20 TAT to be levied per night for each furnishing of transient accommodations in exchange for points, miles or other amounts provided through a membership, loyalty or rewards program. It also appropriates funds to the Department of Land and Natural Resources for protection, management and restoration of the state’s natural resources….
read … Hoteliers push back on proposed tax hikes | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Trump Effect on Legislature: “I don’t think you’ll see any gigantic programs spooling up this year”
CB: … Lawmakers are watching Trump’s executive orders and the court challenges to those orders, while also monitoring the federal budgeting process. The long-term implications of the new federal budget may not be known until late summer or the fall, Todd said.
“Obviously there’s a lot of concern, but there’s so many mixed signals it’s kind of hard to know whether this is a very significant impact particularly to our state budget, and to necessary services that literally help keep people alive here in Hawaiʻi,” he said.
The state may be able to fill some shortfalls and absorb some of the impact of federal budget cuts, Todd said, but “depending on the scope of these cuts, the state does not have the capacity to absorb that completely.”
Freshman state Rep. Matthias Kusch of Hilo said the Legislature is “being pretty conservative from a fiscal standpoint because we just don’t know where our federal funds — which is a significant chunk of the state budget — where that’s going to be.”
“I don’t think you’ll see any gigantic programs spooling up this year,” said Kusch, who sits on the House Finance Committee….
read … Trump's Actions Are Creating A Budget Problem For Hawaiʻi Lawmakers - Honolulu Civil Beat
Military Lease Renewals: OHA, CNHA in DC to Lobby the Pentagon for Money
BIVN: … Kahele also plans to meet with federal officials and members of Hawaiʻi’s current congressional delegation.
“I’ll be discussing the impact of the new administration’s policies and executive orders on the Native Hawaiian community and programs,” Kahele stated in an OHA news release. “This is a critical time to meet with leaders in Washington and advocate for our people.”
OHA says Kahele also has meetings scheduled with Department of Defense officials at the Pentagon, “to discuss the military leases in Hawaiʻi, including those covering the Pōhakuloa Training Area on Hawaiʻi Island and Mākua Valley on Oʻahu.”
Also traveling to Washington with Kahele will be Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) CEO Kūhiō Lewis and CNHA Chief of Staff Nick Carroll, OHA notes. …
(IDEA: Renew the military leases at $1 to support national defense. OHA and CNHA are just slush funds.)
HNN: Native Hawaiian leaders in DC concerned about potential federal cuts
HNN: OHA chair to discuss Trump administration impacts on Native Hawaiian community, military operations in D.C.
read … OHA Chair Kahele To Return To Washington For Trump Address
Hawai‘i education then and now: A 50-year view on soaring costs and declining enrollment
ASD: … One thing this deep dive reveals is how old Hawai‘i’s population has become. In the 1972-73 school year, we had 214,360 kids enrolled in schools, public and private, out of a total population of about 770,000, including armed forces stationed in Hawai‘i.
As of the April 2022 census, 1.4 million civilians and military lived in Hawai‘i — double the population — but the number of kids enrolled in public and private schools declined to 205,777.
In the 1972-73 school year, Hawai‘i had 222 state-run public schools, with 181,587 students taught by 8,310 teachers. That’s about 22 students per teacher.
There were 119 private schools in the 1972-73 school year, with 32,773 students — 15% of all students in Hawai‘i — taught by 1,797 teachers, or 18 students per teacher.
In the public schools’ 2023-24 school year, enrollment stood at 169,308. Total head count for teachers the year prior was 11,001, or 15 students per teacher.
As of the 2021-22 school year, there were 136 private schools, with 36,469 students — nearly 18% of all Hawai‘i students — taught by 3,225 teachers, or 11 students per teacher ….
In 1972, the state spent $183,830,422 on operations and $35,269,593 on capital expenses, for a total of $219 million. The per pupil cost was $1,007. The average annual teacher salary was $10,459. The school year was 178.5 days long.
Let’s adjust all that for inflation. In 2024 dollars, the state spent the equivalent of $1.38 billion on operations and $263.2 million on capital expenses, for a total of $1.65 billion. The per pupil cost was $7,572. The average annual teacher salary was equal to $75,200.
In the 2020-2021 school year, Hawai‘i spent $3.1 billion, including capital expenses, for an average of $17,588 per pupil. The Data Book does not specify teacher pay or school year length. For that, we looked elsewhere. According to the NEA, the average Hawai‘i teacher salary is nearly $71,000, 14th highest in the nation.
The 2024-2025 school year has 182 days….
read … Hawai‘i education then and now: A 50-year view on soaring costs and… | Aloha State Daily
In Shipbuilding, the U.S. Is Tiny and Rusty
WSJ: … The U.S. shipyards aren’t competitive with foreign rivals in terms of the size of ships they produce, how long they take to build or how much they cost.
Take a look at a pair of recent boxship orders placed with the same company: Hanwha, a South Korean conglomerate that acquired the Philly Shipyard last year and operates shipyards in South Korea.
In September, the Philly Shipyard secured an order from Matson Navigation, a U.S. operator, for three small boxships (capable of holding the equivalent of 3,600 20-foot shipping containers). The cost per ship: $355 million. A similar ship at a Chinese yard would cost around $55 million, according to shipowners.
Around the same time, Maersk ordered six much larger boxships (capable of holding the equivalent of 16,000 20-foot containers) from Hanwha’s South Korean operations. The average price for these ships was about $200 million. …
read … In Shipbuilding, the U.S. Is Tiny and Rusty - WSJ
Larry Ellison’s Half-Billion-Dollar Quest to Change Farming Has Been a Bust
WSJ: … In a row of six greenhouses on a remote stretch of the Hawaiian island of Lanai, Larry Ellison is trying to use his golden touch in tech to remake the way people around the world eat.
The company behind his effort, Sensei Ag, is eight years in the making and has cost the world’s fourth-richest person more than half a billion dollars—far more than he spent buying the island itself. Early on, Ellison touted cutting-edge technology that would modernize agriculture, make a big impact for society and eventually help grow food in places such as Africa. The billionaire has told executives he sees the project as part of his legacy. …
read … Larry Ellison’s Half-Billion-Dollar Quest to Change Farming Has Been a Bust - WSJ
Honolulu’s Airport Flawed Layout Nearly Caused Airline Disaster
BH: … Taxiway K has long been identified as a high-risk area at Honolulu Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had flagged it as a “hot spot” where pilots frequently fail to stop at the same designated hold-short line. The NTSB report confirmed that Honolulu’s taxiway layout does not meet modern safety standards and contributes to the risk of incursions.
One of the key findings was that United’s moving map display did not indicate that widebody aircraft like the Boeing 777 should avoid taxiway K. This critical omission contributed to the crew’s misjudgment. While the pre-flight planning charts included the restriction, the in-cockpit navigation system did not, leading to a breakdown in situational awareness….
read … Honolulu’s Airport Flawed Layout Nearly Caused Airline Disaster
Decades-old city-state spat afflicts community in Oahu’s ‘Second City’
SA: … conditions stem from a state action in the late 1980s that resulted in the city refusing to take ownership and responsibility for Villages of Kapolei roads from a state affordable-housing development agency, which was the community’s master developer, initially because road construction bypassed city regulations and subsequently didn’t meet city standards.
Typically, developers turn roads over to the city for ownership and upkeep after subdivisions are completed. But that never happened at Villages of Kapolei despite decades of effort….
Garcia said he began hearing about the issue in 2022 while campaigning door to door in the community as part of his bid to become a first-time state lawmaker.
In January, Garcia introduced House Bill 157, which aims to address the issue two ways. Part of the bill would require the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp., the state agency that owns the roads, to transfer them to the city by Jan. 1. The bill also would authorize county police officers to enforce the statewide traffic code on all Hawaii roads regardless of ownership and maintenance responsibilities….
City Council member Andria Tupola, whose district includes Villages of Kapolei, also expressed support for the bill.
Rep. Luke Evslin, chair of the House Committee on Housing, noted during the Jan. 30 hearing that he had asked the state Department of the Attorney General for an opinion on whether the Legislature could force the city to accept the roads. The opinion received later was in the affirmative, according to Evslin (D, Wailua-Lihue).
HB 157 was passed unanimously by the two House committees, but the bill stalled after two other House committees did not schedule a hearing for the bill by a recent deadline. However, a companion bill in the Senate remains pending.
Senate Bill 662, introduced by four senators led by Mike Gabbard (D, Kapolei-Makakilo-Kalaeloa), was advanced in February after two separate committee hearings. It awaits a full Senate vote and could be sent to the House for consideration after that….
read … Decades-old city-state spat afflicts community in Oahu’s ‘Second City’ | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
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