Lawsuit Settlement will Impose ‘Big Expense’ on Your ‘fuel, groceries, and airfare’
Red Hill: BWS Sues Navy for $1.2B
Hawai‘i’s state road usage charge begins for electric vehicles on July 1
After Much Gnashing of Teeth, OHA Trustees Approve Amended Budget
The Only Real Strategy for Tourism is to Make it Cost More
SFG: … Hawaii is already an expensive visitor destination. Rising hotel rates, up 29% in 2024 compared to 2019, coupled with the highest lodging tax in the world, are one of the reasons why the number of Hawaii visitors has declined.
But next year, the price of visiting Hawaii is about to increase some more.
In May, Hawaii became the first state to set aside tax revenue that it plans to put directly toward protecting the environment from climate change threats, following the historic passage of Senate Bill 1396.
The tax revenue is expected to come from the transient accommodations tax, which is applied to all forms of lodging where Hawaii visitors or residents temporarily stay, including condos, short-term rentals, hotel rooms, camper vans and beach houses. The bill also included cruise ships for the first time.
Starting in January 2026, the state is raising the TAT from 10.25% to 11%. Hawaii plans to collect and direct the 0.75% increase into the state’s general fund for environmental purposes, which should be available to Hawaii Gov. Josh Green beginning July 1, 2026….
(REALLY OBVIOUS QUESTION: Do you think that increasing the price of tourism might also increase the cost of living for residents?)
Read … Why Hawaii just got more expensive for visitors
After threatening $2.19M fine, DOH admits East Hawaii Urgent Care clinics have resolved paperwork issue
HTH: … The laboratories at the Hilo Urgent Care and Keaau Urgent Care clinics are now in full state and federal compliance and are legally able to conduct the same type of lab testing they’ve done for 22 years, according to the state Department of Health.
The owner of the two East Hawaii urgent care clinics, Dr. Edward Gutteling, was served last month with a cease-and-desist order for lab testing. The DOH also said in a press release at the time it was levying $2.19 million in fines against the clinics’ ownership ….
Background: DoH Coverup? Health Dep't Fines Hilo Medical Practice $2.19M for Minor Paperwork Violation
Read … DOH: East Hawaii Urgent Care clinics are ‘now in compliance’ - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Green Line-Item Vetoes $90M in Bogus DoE ‘Maintenance’
SA: … Green signed the budget bill Monday and announced that he used his line-item veto power to strike $110 million in appropriations representing less than 0.5% of the roughly $40 billion in the bill for spending through June 30, 2027.
According to a separate veto message from Green to the Legislature, $90 million of what he struck from the budget was for a single purpose divided evenly over two years in a category dubbed “school support” for the state Department of Education.
The sum, according to budget documents, was a portion of $150 million in general fund cash that lawmakers added to the budget for DOE to spend over two years on “preventative maintenance.” So DOE is left with $60 million in extra funding for such use over the next two fiscal years.
The governor’s office in a statement said that capital improvement funding financed by general obligation bonds could be used to boost spending on school maintenance and noted that DOE in past years has struggled to fully spend such appropriations on construction projects due to difficulties arranging for such work….
CB: DOE Faces Big Funding Shortfall For School Repairs And Construction - Honolulu Civil Beat
Read … Governor’s state budget veto trims public school maintenance | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
How Oahu Lawsuit Settlement Neuters Law Against Vacation Rentals
CB: … The head of Honolulu’s permitting department told the City Council last week why the city doesn’t enforce a 2019 law that bars companies such as Airbnb and Vrbo from allowing people to book illegal short-term rentals.
Department of Planning and Permitting Director Dawn Takeuchi Apuna said the city agreed not to enforce a provision in the law in order to settle a lawsuit filed by a group representing owners of vacation rentals.
She told Civil Beat in an interview after the hearing that the city probably won’t act anytime soon to enforce the portion of the law that requires hosting platforms to submit monthly reports on bookings.
“It’s very risky, because they’re going to probably sue us,” she said, referring to the Kokua Coalition, the group that went to court to block parts of the 2019 law.
Read … Here’s Why Honolulu Doesn’t Enforce Law Against Short-Term Rental Companies - Honolulu Civil Beat
86 drown on the North Shore of Oʻahu in Decade
CB: … Ke Iki is in the middle of one of the deadliest stretches of oceanfront in Hawaiʻi, a state that already has the second highest per-capita rate of resident drownings in the nation. In the last 10 years, 86 people have drowned on the North Shore — 64 of whom called the islands home. …
Read … This Deadly Oʻahu Beach Reveals The Challenges Facing Hawaiʻi Lifeguards
Maui Council advances Honuaʻula project amendments with a slim 5-4 vote in marathon session
MN: … Voting to approve the amendments to Bills 171 and 172 were Council Members Alice Lee, Yuki Lei Sugimura, Tasha Kama, Tom Cook and Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins. Opposing the measures were Council Members Tamara Paltin, Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, Gabe Johnson and Shane Sinenci. The familiar majority-minority Council split vote highlights ongoing deep divisions, both in the community and Council itself…[
The Council’s vote advances the former Wailea 670 project, a development first approved 17 years ago for 1,400 homes (later reduced to 1,150), which has since languished on 660 acres that remain undeveloped wildland south of Maui Meadows and mauka of the Wailea Resort….
MN: 670-acre project in Wailea passes on first reading | News, Sports, Jobs - Maui News
Read … Maui Council advances Honuaʻula project amendments with a slim 5-4 vote in marathon session : Maui Now
Lahaina Is Rising Slowly
HB: … On Aug. 7, 2023, Lahaina’s main shoreline strip around Front Street was packed with restaurants, bars, art galleries and museums, local jewelry stores and mainland clothing chains. Boats ferried visitors on snorkeling and fishing excursions, and oceanfront vacation rentals delivered the drama of a Maui sunset.
The next day, all of that was gone, along with about $70 million a month in revenue and 8,500 jobs, according to a UH Economic Research Organization report. The state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism put the number of shuttered businesses at 834.
And it’s still gone as rebuilding on Front Street has stalled, and the question of what can be built at the waterline is being hotly contested. But there are stirrings of revival, thanks in part to two recent rule changes enacted to kick-start both residential and commercial rebuilding.
The first, most significant measure altered the permitting process to make it much easier for property owners mauka of Front Street, or outside the erosion zone, to rebuild. Before the change in February, owners had to go through a lengthy, complicated process to get what’s known as a Special Management Area building permit.
Maui County officials estimated that relaxing the SMA rule would help 103 commercial and 533 residential structures get permits a full year faster than before.
The second change was an update to Ordinance 5780 of the county code. As of March 24, owners of “nonconforming structures” – those legally constructed before the wildfires but not compliant with current zoning standards, such as setback rules — can get permits to build similar structures.
By late May, the county saw a sudden jump in the number of nonresidential permits submitted for processing: 152 of them – for both commercial properties and housing with four units or more – were being processed, according to the county’s rebuilding dashboard. Before that, only 16 nonresidential permits had been issued and nothing had been built.
Residential permitting was even higher: 180 permits were being processed, 396 permits had been issued, 265 houses were under construction, and 23 homes were completed. About two dozen of the residential permits are for projects in the historic core of town, says John Smith, administrator of the county’s Office of Recovery.
Maui County’s Department of Finance found that, based on mailing addresses, only seven sales of wildfire-destroyed properties were made to out-of-state buyers, according to an email from the county’s Office of the Mayor….
Read … Lahaina Is Rising Slowly - Hawaii Business Magazine
Girl Scouts of Hawaii's new plan to put a troop at every public elementary school in the state
SN: … “Girl Scout membership has declined nationwide over the past two decades, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Nāone. “But we believe Girl Scouts of Hawaii has the answer. Think of it like Blockbuster versus Netflix — it’s time to evolve and meet families where they are understanding that in Hawaii, the majority of families need two incomes and don’t have a lot of free time to volunteer.”
GSH is currently looking to hire 12 full-time staff: two on Maui, three on Hawaii Island, one on Kauai and six on Oahu. The nonprofit said it will continue to increase staffing as needed in order to allow any of the 189 public elementary schools statewide who want to host a troop on campus to do so. …
Read … Girl Scouts of Hawaii new plan to double participation
Maui Police arrest new MPD employee for sex assault allegations
MN: … A probationary employee of the Maui Police Department was arrested for first degree sexual assault and first degree electronic enticement of a child on Saturday, June 28, 2025.
The 44-year-old Kīhei man was immediately taken into custody following allegations of sexual abuse of a minor and has been placed on administrative leave. He had been employed for only 27 days as an early hire, performed no law enforcement duties, and had no interaction with the public, according to a department news release.
The man’s name was not included in the Maui Police Department’s initial press release, but a spokesperson with the department has since confirmed the man arrested was Wayne Velasquez. This arrest was not part of the Operation Keiki Shield enforcement effort in which six Maui men were arrested, but happened to coincide with the dates of the operation.….
MN: Seven men arrested on Maui for allegedly trying to solicit minors for sex | News, Sports, Jobs - Maui News
Read … New Maui Police Department hire, arrested for sex assault and electronic enticement of a child : Maui Now
Hawaii Governor Signs Medical Marijuana Expansion Bill, After Calling One Of Its Provisions 'A Grave Violation Of Privacy'
MM: … On the heels of signaling a possible veto of a bill meant to expand access to medical marijuana in Hawaii, Gov. Josh Green (D) instead signed the measure into law over the weekend, regardless of a provision he recently described as “a grave violation of privacy.”
HB 302 will make two main reforms around patient access. First, it allows a patient’s primary treating medical provider to recommend marijuana for any malady they see fit, regardless of whether it’s a specified qualifying condition in Hawaii. It also allows patients to receive medical cannabis recommendations through telehealth visits rather than having to establish an in-person relationship with a provider.
Before lawmakers sent the bill to Green, a conference committee revised the plan, inserting a provision to allow the state Department of Health to access medical marijuana patient records held by doctors for any reason whatsoever.
The revised bill authorizes the Department of Health to “inspect a qualifying patient’s medical records held by the physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or hospice provider who issued a written certification for the qualifying patient.” Providers who don’t comply with a department request for a patient’s records could see their ability to issue medical cannabis revoked….
Read … Hawaii Governor Signs Medical Marijuana Expansion Bill, After Calling One Of Its Provisions 'A Grave Violation Of Privacy,' - Marijuana Moment
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