SB401: Gut-n-Replace Brings Gun Ban Bill Back from Dead
Hawaii #1 Tax Burden in USA
UHERO: Hawaiʻi migration trends show more balance than expected
HB1308: Sports Betting Bill Passed by Senate Ways & Means
Hope Bancorp Completes Merger With Territorial Bancorp
Hawaiʻi HS class of ‘24 ties record 86% grad rate, college enrollment up
Senate advances program to return homeless to mainland
How I Became An Unthinking Soldier In The War On COVID
CB: … I was part of the herd of people — analysts, scientists, academics, journalists — who should have known better but succumbed to a conventional wisdom based on fear and a cripplingly narrow view that the only thing important was saving lives.
When I do analysis, my goals are openness and tolerance, but most of all a healthy skepticism that covers everyone, including myself. I want to report on what’s missing from the common explanations.
I should have done this better because I have the training. At my stage of life, I’ve got plenty of time to reflect.
But that training is like any other preparation. It’s one thing to have it, but it’s another thing to put it into practice when the chips are down….
read … Neal Milner: How I Became An Unthinking Soldier In The War On Covid - Honolulu Civil Beat
HB1231: Registration tax could increase 50% for Hawaiʻi vehicles over 4,000 pounds
HPR: … For vehicles over 4,000 pounds — like a 2025 Toyota Tacoma — it would cost 3 cents a pound instead of 2 cents…. It would fund something or other …
HB1231: Measure Status Details for HB 1231
read … Registration tax could increase for Hawaiʻi vehicles over 4,000 pounds | Hawai'i Public Radio
Big Island Becomes a Sanctuary for Illegal Aliens?
CB: … In a sign of how sensitive the issue is, the council’s vote was narrow — 5-4 in favor. And the council added an amendment to the resolution that said nothing in any of the MOUs would “authorize Hawaiʻi Police Department officers or other personnel to take any enforcement action against administrative violations of federal immigration law.”
Hawaiʻi Police Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz said his department worked with council members to craft the amendment. The new language pleased advocates for the immigrant community who had argued the agreements did not clearly enough restrict police officers from joining or assisting federal agents in immigration enforcement actions….
“It helps clarify for folks involved, because the language of the MOU was pretty vague,” said Liza Ryan Gill, co-coordinator of the Hawaiʻi Coalition for Immigrant Rights, who nonetheless still opposed the resolution. “I think that just helps to give a finer point to it.”
Council members James Hustace, Jenn Kagiwada, Heather Kimball and Rebecca Villegas voted against the resolution. They argued, among other things, that the federal government under Trump is violating constitutional rights and cannot be trusted to honor its agreements, and that even the appearance of local law enforcement cooperation with immigration authorities would further unnerve immigrants already on edge….
CB: Hawaiʻi Cops Said They Don't Have Agreements With ICE. They Do (Civil Beat trying to hype up 'progressives'.)
read … Divided Big Island Council Signs Off On Police MOUs with Feds - Honolulu Civil Beat
Highlands Int. School kept Child Molester Working for a year after he was caught
CB: … In the 1970s, Highlands Intermediate School in Pearl City allowed a security officer to take boys on camping trips, meet with students in a private office and run after-school clubs. All the while, he was grooming and sexually abusing male students.
Joseph Moisa worked at the school for three years, even though administrators knew about the abuse for at least a year before he was fired, according to a lawsuit filed by three former students.
Nearly 50 years later, the state plans to pay $330,000 to settle with two men who accused the school of failing to protect them from Moisa. The third plaintiff in the lawsuit voluntarily dismissed his claims before the settlement.
The state already settled lawsuits in 2023 and 2024 with two other students who said Moisa abused them for a total of $900,000 ….
read … It's Your Money: School Sex Abuse Case From The '70s Could Cost State $330K - Honolulu Civil Beat
City’s ‘monster homes’ enforcement improves, audit states
SA: … In a follow-up audit released Wednesday, the Office of the City Auditor concluded that DPP now handles so-called monster homes more effectively than it had previously, when a 2019 city audit uncovered DPP’s failure to stop large, nonconforming building projects without city-issued permits from going into construction around the island….
PDF: Follow-Up-on-Recommendations-from-Report-No.-19-03-Final-Report.pdf
read … City’s ‘monster homes’ enforcement improves, audit states | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
No Surprise: New bills force Honolulu to keep using Waimanalo Gulch
KHON: … with the passage of House Bill 969 and Senate Bill 438, a landfill at the city’s chosen site in an area northwest of Wahiawa, appears at this point, off the table.
State Representative Sean Quinlan, who introduced the bill said protecting Oahu’s drinking water and food supply was a priority.
“To me, it’s really simple that we cannot afford to endanger our freshwater drinking supply. I think one thing we learned from Red Hill, is that we can’t allow it to happen again,” said Rep. Quinlan, who represents the district where the proposed landfill site is located.
The City is in a difficult situation – with the only legally available and feasible options for a new landfill are above aquifers. Mayor Blangiardi also stated the next landfill will not be on the Leeward Coast.
Department of Environmental Services Director Rodger Babcock said the City had multiple strategies in mind, and if one of the two bills becomes law, they would have to move to plan B, which was to make amendments to Act 73, that prohibits building landfills over aquifers.
“Then if that is also eliminated, then we have to move to Plan C, which is to try to get an extension and or expand the existing landfill if there is no other place to go on the island,” said Babcock.
However, Rep. Quinlan says it’s very unlikely they will amend Act 73 during this legislative session. He hopes there will be further discussions with federal partners to identify other sites….
read … New bills may force Honolulu to rethink landfill site
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