Legislature on a housing-reform streak
Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted May 2, 2025
Hawaii Family Forum Legislative Week in Review
How Solid Is Hawaiʻi GOP Support For Trump Policies?
CB: … While Hawaiʻi ‘s voters still overwhelmingly supported Democratic candidates last November, they sent more Republicans to the Legislature than they have in recent years, and Trump earned 37.5% of the state’s vote — the highest share any Republican presidential candidate has won here in the last two decades….
Let’s start with the economy. The House and Senate Republican caucuses began the 2025 legislative session with the clear message that Hawaiʻi is too expensive. In their caucus package, House Republicans proposed eliminating the general excise tax on food and medical services and removing the income tax entirely. They also mostly opposed measures to increase the capital gains tax and the transient accommodations tax….
However, when it came time to determine the state budget, Hawaiʻi Republicans were less in line with their national counterparts. Most supported the state budget, which included funding to blunt the impact of federal budget cuts. Only Reps. Diamond Garcia, Christopher Muraoka and Elijah Pierick voted against it in the House. Sen. Brenton Awa was the sole Republican to oppose it in the Senate….
Six of seven House Republicans voted against the Due Process in Immigration Proceedings Program, which would have provided legal representation to individuals in immigration proceedings. Only Rep. Kanani Souza voted in favor. Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Fevella signed on to the bill, but his Republican Senate colleagues, Awa and Samantha DeCorte, voted against it. GOP members also opposed measures that would have limited collaboration with federal immigration authorities and blocked immigration detention facilities on public lands.….
All House Republicans, with the exception of Souza, signed the caucus’ “stand your ground” legislation and opposed a ban on ghost guns, which became law. In the Senate, Awa and Kurt Fevella also voted against the bill….
And, in a rare example of unified Republican opposition, every House Republican voted against a bill to remove religious exemptions for school immunizations. …
But there are areas where Hawaiʻi Republicans break from the national party. The most notable is Native Hawaiian policy. While the national GOP platform is largely silent on Indigenous issues, the Hawaiʻi GOP platform calls for accelerating homestead awards and building on Hawaiian homelands.
House Republicans introduced bills to transfer more public land trust revenue to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and to make Department of Hawaiian Home Lands leases eligible for federal lending. These bills didn’t pass, but their inclusion in the caucus package underscores a divergence from the mainland GOP….
read … Beth Fukumoto: How Solid Is Hawaiʻi GOP Support For Trump Policies? - Honolulu Civil Beat
Hawaiʻi Residents Could Face Electric Rate Hike In 2026
CB: … Utility regulators have given Hawaiian Electric Co. the green light to pursue its first major rate increase in more than five years. The result could mean higher electric bills for residents and businesses by the end of 2026….
HECO residential customers on Oʻahu pay approximately 43 cents per kilowatt hour, more than twice the national average of 16 cents reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The second most expensive state is California, where residents pay 32 cents.
The envisioned rate increase would be in addition to a new fee on residents, approved by the Legislature on Wednesday, to help HECO finance a $500 million loan for infrastructure and capital improvements to lower wildfire risks. HECO has estimated the fee will amount to about $4 per month for an average Oʻahu residence.
Renewable energy advocates, including the Ulupono Initiative, Blue Planet Foundation and Earthjustice, say the PUC’s order opening a new rate-setting case marks a reversal from a policy set in place in 2020 and codified in Hawaiʻi statutes. That policy calls for setting rates based on HECO’s performance in achieving milestones, such as adopting renewables and cutting costs, with the goal of lowering costs to consumers.
(Five years later, they finally realize it was all a lie.)
read … Hawaiʻi Residents Could Face Electric Rate Hike In 2026 - Honolulu Civil Beat
Hawaii’s LNG redux: State now has opportunity for action
SA: … Gov. Josh Green has announced a change in state policy at the Hawaii Energy Conference on Maui last May. He said LNG must be considered in the transition to 100% renewable energy.
Subsequently, the Hawaii State Energy Office commissioned a study by FACTS Global Energy; that January 2025 report confirmed using LNG for electrical generation would significantly reduce costs and emissions.
However, it’s not an actionable logistics plan. For example, it doesn’t specify where LNG would be sourced, nor detail the elements and costs of an integrated LNG logistics system in Hawaii….
In 2014, HECO proposed importing LNG in containers from Western Canada, but the logistics were infeasible. Although no bulk LNG export terminals then existed in North America, today there are several.
Six marine LNG export terminals are currently being developed in British Columbia. The U.S. coastwise laws (“Jones Act”) do not apply to waterborne trade with Canada; ergo, cost-effective foreign shipping can be employed over the relatively short distance of 2,500 nautical miles (nm) to Hawaii….
read … Hawaiis LNG redux: State-now-has-opportunity-for-action
800 Vacancies at HPD
SA: … The Honolulu Police Department has vacancies for more than 800 people that’s spilt equally between sworn police officers and nonpolicing positions, an HPD official says.
Finding ways to recruit for all areas of the city’s over-2,100-person police force was outlined Thursday by HPD Maj. Parker Bode during an informational briefing to the City Council’s Public Safety Committee.
Doing so via word of mouth, through social media campaigns and by appearing at area job fairs, HPD says it’s also working to retain its higher-ranking police command staff, too, many of whom are leaving the force in greater numbers due to retirements….
“So it’s no secret that recruitment is one of the biggest challenges facing law enforcement today, not just at HPD, but at law enforcement agencies across the nation,” said Bode, who’s assigned to the department’s Human Resources Division.
Since 2020, he noted, HPD’s applications for police recruits have decreased dramatically. That year, the department received 4,381 applications, while in 2023 it received about 1,757 applications — a nearly 60% drop.
“From 2022 to 2023 it decreased by more than 25%,” Bode said, admitting the COVID-19 pandemic was partly to blame for the waning interest to work in city law enforcement.
To bolster its ranks, he said, HPD’s recruitment team has appeared at up to 179 recruitment events in 2024, up from 36 in 2021. “And this year they’re on pace to attend and host up to 200 events,” he added.
Still, Bode said that due to a nearly 21.6% increase in the number of applications — or 2,136 — that began in January 2024, HPD saw a corresponding increase in the number of recruits being sent to Honolulu’s Police Academy….
read … HPD boosts officer recruits as retirements rise
Hawaii traffic deaths up 51% from same time last year
KHON: … From January 1, 2025 to May 2, 2025 there have been 50 deaths on Hawaii roads; compared to 33 the same time in 2024.
On Friday, four people were hospitalized on Maui after police said a truck was overtaking vehicles and collided head-on to a car of visitors from Idaho. Maui Police said one person sustained life-threatening injuries….
read … Hawaii traffic deaths up 51% from same time last year | KHON2
SB1433: Legislators Promise More Free Needles for Addicts
FM: … Hawaii has passed legislation authorizing syringe service programs (SSP) to begin distribution as needed, in place of the current model that places strict limits on the number of sterile syringes participants can receive. SB1433 advanced from its final reading in Hawaii’s legislature and was enrolled to Governor Josh Green (D) on May 2. If approved, it would leave Florida as the only state to still require SSP use a “one-to-one” model, rather than some version of the needs-based model recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
SB1433 would also lift a longstanding ban that prohibits SSP from serving people who use drugs but don’t inject them, noting that “individuals who do not inject drugs but are marginalized often seek [out SSP for] harm reduction information, supplies and referrals to other services.” Currently, state law explicitly requires SSP to screen out non-injection drug users during attempts to enroll.
The bill additionally extends immunity from drug possession penalties to SSP participants found with used syringes containing controlled substance residue. This also applies to “authorized objects” such as cookers, cottons or ties; the state health department would update the list periodically….
MM: Hawaii Bill To Support Psychedelic Therapy—Passed By Both Senate And House—Is Dead For The Session
read … Hawaii-syringe-exchange-one-to-one
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