The Major Raid that Wasn’t
Tar Pit of corruption shapes Hawaiʻi politics
CB: … Overcoming the dysfunction that plagues the Legislature and the wider tarpit of corruption that mars Hawaiʻi politics can be accomplished only by going around the current legislative leaders who block genuine reform efforts at every turn.
That became devastatingly clear when they killed House Bill 371 in the same manner they kill so many others: Allowing it to gain unanimous approval in both chambers, then suffocating it with no “release” — and no explanation — from money committee chairs in the final days….
Their audacity is bracing, and they probably hope to have broken the spirit of reformers. …
The first opportunity requires nothing less than mutiny against the Senate president, the House speaker, the money committee chairs and their cabal of disciples.
Do enough legislators have the courage? They should, because the majority of senators and representatives currently endure their public lives as powerless pawns.
Rank-and-file legislators and even most of the committee chairs toil for months to create and then shepherd all manner of significant bills, only to see them die in the dark hours of conference committee with no explanation….
Why do they put up with this? The only reason for these lawmakers not to rebel is the culture of fear within the Legislature. In an internal version of pay-to-play, the rank-and-file worry their own bills will be killed by legislative leaders if they don’t go along….
read … How To Change The Pay-To-Play Culture in Hawaiʻi? Here Are Some Ideas - Honolulu Civil Beat
New Data Shows What Bills Were Lobbied The Most
CB: … In 2023, in the aftershock of federal bribery convictions for two legislators who took a lot of money to sway bills, the Legislature passed a law requiring lobbyists to list all the bills they were going to be lobbying on rather than just naming general areas of interest. It was one of the first meaningful lobbying reforms in decades.
Thanks to major technology improvements put in place over the last few years by the State Ethics Commission, even The Blog was able to go online and look at the data. …
On March 31, lobbying organizations — the entities that lobbyists work for — filed for the first time ever forms that listed every bill they were following. The system still isn’t perfect. The March 31 reports only list bills that were of interest for the first two months of session, Jan. 1-Feb. 28. We have to wait til the June 2 filing to find out what bills were hot and heavy for the last two months of session, March 1-April 30. And even then there are still two days left unaccounted for since session didn’t end until May 2….
The most watched bill? House Bill 982 which would have created a working group to study establishing a wildfire compensation fund to pay people who lose property in future fires. It passed the House then died when it failed to get a hearing in Senate Ways and Means. The data shows 27 lobbying organizations had that bill on their list. Another 20 listed the companion Senate Bill 1201 as a lobbying target, also dead early on thanks to lack of a WAM hearing.
House Bill 755, the paid family leave measure, was the second-most watched with 22 organizations paying attention. Opposed by unions, businesses and state agencies, it died too when it failed to get a hearing in House Finance.
Tied for No. 3 on our list with 21 organizations lobbying were House Bill 300, the main state budget, and two measures that came down to the wire but also passed: House Bill 1369, which repealed a raft of tax credits, and House Bill 420, that clarified how claims against construction contractors are handled.
Others on The Blog’s Top 10 list of most-lobbied bills include House Bill 756, which would ban flavored nicotine products (dead), House Bill 504, another version of a green fee (dead), House Bill 739 to provide money to counties for the Kamaaina Homes program (dead), and Senate Bill 1281 and it’s companion, House Bill 557, extending the sunset date for telehealth reimbursements. The Senate bill passed, the House bill died.
Other bills of interest to a dozen or more lobbying organizations included a proposed ban on tobacco products, the securitization bill that did pass (Senate Bill 897), the green fee, the bill that would have allowed the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to develop Kakaʻako Makai, an increase in cigarette taxes and an increase in free public school lunches….
read … The Sunshine Blog: New Data Shows What Bills Were Lobbied The Most - Honolulu Civil Beat
SB1202: Legislators turn political campaign accounts into personal slush funds
SA: … It’s debatable how well the 2025 Legislature took care of constituents, but lawmakers diligently looked after themselves.….
The free child care, along with care for elderly parents, came via Senate Bill 1202, which allows lawmakers to charge the expenses to their campaign funds. The bill passed both houses with overwhelming support and is already signed into law by Gov. Josh Green.
It’s the latest attempt to turn political campaign accounts into personal slush funds, following previous acts allowing politicians to make their charitable donations from campaign funds and use their own accounts to give to other candidates.
So we have on one hand an increasingly corrupt election financing system that legislators refuse to fix, and on the other hand lawmakers creating new incentives to grub even more special-interest campaign money they can put to personal use….
read … David Shapiro: Self-interest defines session for brazen Hawaii legislators | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
After Looting HTA, CNHA Cries ‘Racism’
SA: … >> Former interim HTA president and CEO Daniel Naho‘opi‘i, who is Native Hawaiian, sent a resignation letter on March 19 to the HTA board alleging that the work environment was “at times, outright hostile.”
>> A Nov. 25 incident report to Naho‘opi‘i from Tyler Gomes, administrator for the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement’s Kilohana, alleged that Choy called Gomes and the rest of the CNHA team “dumb Hawaiians,” during an August 2023 meeting, and afterward embarked on a pattern of behavior that was “race-based in its inequity.”
>> HTA board member Stephanie Iona told the Star-Advertiser Friday that members of the HTA CEO Search Committee adjusted their vetting procedure so that the resumes of all applicants applying for the position went to the entire committee after the contractor running the executive search alleged that an HTA staff facilitator had expressed a concern about Polynesians.
Choy and DBEDT director James Kuane Tokioka both declined a Star-Advertiser request for an in-person interview and asked for questions in writing. The newspaper emailed them questions Thursday and Friday asking about the allegations.
Other than his “vehement” denial, Choy declined to respond to specific allegations….
Documents obtained by the Star-Advertiser indicate a shift away from the growing Native Hawaiian focus (looting) that emerged at HTA under John De Fries, the agency’s first Native Hawaiian president and CEO.
(CLUE: After wrecking HTA, DeFries is now in charge of telescope demolition on Mauna Kea. See how this works?)
Naho‘opi‘i, who DeFries hired as his HTA chief administrative officer, became the second Native Hawaiian to serve in HTA’s top role. After DeFries resigned, Naho‘opi‘i was promoted to HTA interim president and CEO but resigned from the role on March 21 after 18 months.
Other recent resignations by Native Hawaiian staff have included Maka Casson-Fisher, HTA brand manager; ‘Iwalani Kaho‘ohanohano, HTA senior brand manger; Ilihia Gionson, HTA public affairs officer; and most recently Kalani Ka‘ana‘ana, HTA chief stewardship officer and interim public affairs officer, whose resignation was effective Friday.
Iona said, “The question we should be asking as a board is, ‘How could five top managers leave in less than seven months? Do those five managers have a common denominator?’ Yes, they are all Native Hawaiians.”
(TRANSLATION: “If the grifters are all Hawaiian, firing them is raaaacist.”)
KHON: Call for 2 state leaders to resign after racism allegations | KHON2
HNN: ‘I am not a racist’: HTA executive says he welcomes investigation after calls for his resignation
SA: Senator seeks tourism ousters amid racism, sexism complaints | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … Hawai‘i Tourism Authority under scrutiny amid allegations of hostile work environment | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
‘Let no Crisis go to Waste’ – Lahaina Fire Became Handy Excuse for Green Fee
Borreca: … “Policy change often requires new ways of framing old problems. The green fee only became viable once it was re-imagined as a tool for disaster resilience,” Moore explained.
Green repeatedly testified in writing to the Legislature about the need to plan ahead.
The tactic was for the governor to forge ahead with an environment team that he hoped would take politics out of the equation. Still, it was amazing that a “tourist tax” glided right out of committee and as of press time was set for final approval.
Green’s successful strategy was to explain his tax increase “as a conservation measure, and recast it as a practical response to climate risk and disaster resilience,” Moore said in an interview.
For Green, the debate at the state Capitol showed he was capable of taking a disaster loaded with political consequences and move it to becoming both a solid, working solution and a successfully managed accomplishment….
SFG: Hawaii passes first-of-its-kind bill to add 11% hotel tax for tourists
SA: Legislative session ends with hotel, cruise ship room tax increase to aid Hawaii’s climate fight | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … On Politics: Gov. Green scores environmental victory and political win with passage of climate tax | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
SB897: Cap Disaster Liability
CB: … There’s no customer cost to creating a wildfire liability cap for Hawaiian Electric and Kauai Island Utility Cooperative. Utilities have to serve everyone and they can’t say it’s too dangerous or too financially risky. This bill will potentially save customers millions of dollars by enabling long-term borrowing at lower rates. For others impacted by wildfire liability risk, such as government entities and large landowners, this bill ensures the application of proportional liability so each party’s liability is capped at their proportional fault….
SB897: Text, Status
read … HECO: 'No One Is Getting Bailed Out' - Honolulu Civil Beat
Math error would have hit HART hard
SA: … Senate Bill 1396, the so-called green fee bill, went into conference committee. It came out amended to include not only a .75% extra transient accommodations tax (TAT) but also a change to the amount of TAT that goes to HART. Current law includes a 1% TAT surcharge for rail out of the total 10.25% rate. The amended bill included revised wording that stated “.98 per cent” would go to the mass transit special fund.
That one decimal point error would have decreased remaining state TAT funding for HART by about 90%. This simple error was fixed, but it should have been caught in committee….
read … Letter: Math error would have hit HART hard | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Board seeks comment on proposed island name change
HTH: … The Hawai‘i Board on Geographic Names is scheduled to vote in its upcoming June meeting on its proposal, first floated in March 2024, to change the official name of the largest island in the Hawaiian Archipelago from the “Island of Hawai‘i” to simply “Hawai‘i.”…
read … Board seeks comment on proposed island name change - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
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