March 4, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Wednesday, March 4, 2026

March 4, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 3:11 PM :: 121 Views

Keli'i Akina & Clint Churchill discuss how to meet Hawaii's energy needs

Democrats Pick Three Candidates for HD28

Office of Elections: Rumors Vs. Facts

First Traffic Scofflaw Convicted Under New Law

Lawmakers debate Green’s $1.8B Middle Class Tax Hike

SA: … More than 170 individuals and organizations delivered testimony in writing or in person for the first hearing on House Bill 2306, which received support from several social welfare organizations, Green administration representatives and about 30 individuals, in contrast to opposition from about 140 individuals and a couple of organizations.

Green wants to ~~repeal the last five years of a historic package of annual tax cuts, which began in 2024, to preserve about~~ (increase middle-class income taxes by) $1.8 billion ~~in state revenue~~ from 2027 to 2031 (and beyond)….

Rep. Kyle Yamashita (D, Pukalani-Makawao-Ulupalakua) said state Tax Department data showed in 2024 that many lower-income households don’t claim tax credits, and he suggested it would be more beneficial to keep tax cuts for lower-income households.

(TRANSLATION: Green is proposing a de-facto tax hike on low income households.)

Yamashita also wanted to know if the Green administration had looked at a net decrease in state spending.

“It was brought up that it’d be prudent for the Legislature to maybe look into tightening our own belt first before we ask people to have a delay in what we promised,” Yamashita told Kane.

Kane said the administration considered spending cutbacks but didn’t propose a smaller state budget….

Lauren Zirbel, executive director of the Hawaii Food Industry Association, urged the committee to reject HB 2306, and said Hawaii already has the fifth-highest income tax burden and the highest overall tax burden among all states….

When Green enacted the 2024 income tax cut package, he said it would take Hawaii from having the second-highest tax burden among states in 2023 to fourth-lowest in 2031…

Ted Kefalas, director of strategic campaigns for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, told the committee that approving the governor’s bill won’t just prevent rich people from obtaining more state income tax relief.

He said a family of four making $50,000 would see their tax bill shrink 85%, or by $1,700, if the full eight years of relief is realized, and that the $12,000 savings for a household making $500,000 would represent a 28% tax reduction.

“So yes the dollar amount is bigger in the second example, but the proportional relief is greater in the first,” he said. “That’s exactly how progressive income tax rates work. Higher earners see larger dollar savings because they pay more.”

Raphaela Che, a single mother and registered nurse, said in written testimony that she lives paycheck to paycheck and asked that lawmakers try to provide more tax relief instead of less.

“I hope you lawmakers can do the math and tell me how one can get out of poverty in Hawaii,” Che wrote.

The 16-member committee did not vote Tuesday on whether to advance HB 2306 for consideration by all 51 House members. A vote is scheduled for today.

On Thursday, the Senate Ways and Means Committee is slated to hold an initial public hearing on the same proposal from Green put forth in Senate Bill 3125. This hearing is scheduled for 10:15 a.m….

read … Hawaii lawmakers debate Gov. Green’s freeze on income tax cut | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Unlike Governor, Honolulu mayor presents lean budget, no property tax hike

KHON: … Amid the uncertain economic times, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi today rolled out a budget smaller than last year’s while promising not to raise property taxes….

… The proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, which was hand-delivered to the city council yesterday, totals $5.08 billion. It comes in about $133 million under last year’s plan, with the Operating Budget going up less than 1% and the city’s Capital Improvement Program being trimmed by about 13%.

The Mayor’s promise not to raise property taxes means belt-tightening across the city and county.

What that means is the city plans not to fully fund many long-vacant positions and reallocates about $50 million from those unused salary dollars to core priorities….

In the CIP budget, the city says major projects will still be funded, including $85 million upgrades at the Honouliuli and Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plants, $40 million for Salt Lake Boulevard widening, and continued improvement projects for parks, homeless facilities and a solution for a new landfill.

“We’re focusing on projects that we’re going to start and finish during the remainder of the second term of this administration,” said Kawano….

read … Honolulu mayor presents lean budget, no property tax hike

More money won’t fix what’s broken in Hawai‘i’s schools

ASD: … Hawai‘i’s Department of Education doesn’t have a funding problem. It has an accountability problem. And no amount of money fixes a system built to ignore parents.

Look at the track record. We spend nearly $24,000 per student annually. Yet Hawai‘i ranks 42nd in the nation in school quality. Only 41% of students are proficient in math. Only 53% are proficient in language arts. Nearly a quarter don’t show up regularly. The Heritage Foundation ranks Hawai‘i dead last in education choice and freedom. These aren’t funding problems.

The bill’s authors know something is broken — the single-district system, crumbling buildings, teacher salaries lagging behind comparable professionals. But here’s what they miss: the structure is the failure ….

read … More money won’t fix what’s broken in Hawai‘i’s schools

Hawaiʻi Lawmakers Should Look To New Orleans For Education Models

CB: … Rather than relying on a top-heavy state department to dictate operations, individual schools are granted full autonomy over their budgets, staffing, and curricula….

From the vantage point of the Senate Education Committee, the Hawaiʻi public school system is fundamentally broken.

Sen. Samantha DeCorte recently noted that, according to the community on the ground, the department is failing. Under the leadership of Sen. Donna Kim, lawmakers have heavily criticized the Department of Education over millions in unspent construction funds, poor student literacy rates, and unaccounted travel expenses.

In response, legislators introduced Senate Bill 3334, a controversial measure designed to eliminate the department’s complex area superintendents and shift more hiring power to school community councils….

read … Hawaiʻi Lawmakers Should Look To New Orleans For Education Models - Honolulu Civil Beat

Hawai‘i lawmakers advance bill that would create framework for pre-built home industry

BIN: … A bill that would establish a statewide program for pre-built homes, which is touted to help with Hawaiʻi’s housing crisis, on Monday passed unanimously out of the House Finance committee.

House Bill 2606 HD2 is headed to the full House for a floor vote. If it passes, it will cross over to the State Senate.

“It’s how we provide housing, safe, quick and within reach of our working families,” said co-author of the bill, Rep. Sue Keohokapu-Lee Loy of the Big Island.

The measure builds on the Simplifying Permitting for Enhanced Economic Development (SPEED) task force, which was chaired by Lee Loy. It was established in the last legislative session by creating a working group to establish a framework for an off-site construction industry ….

read ... Hawai‘i lawmakers advance bill that would create framework for pre-built home industry : Big Island Now

Enviros Find Way to Shut off Golf Course Irrigation--Again

SA: … Earthjustice claimed victory on Tuesday, citing a Monday letter from a new acting chair of the state Commission on Water Resource Management to the golf course owner and two private water system entities negating an August approval of such potable water use by the commission’s chair at the time.

Earthjustice in November objected to the prior authorization given by commission Chair Dawn Chang, who also heads the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, alleging that Chang unlawfully allowed the owner of the Plantation Course and Bay Course at Kapalua Resort to tap potable groundwater for irrigation last year amid severe drought affecting its stream water supply.

The law firm contended that, under CWRM’s designation in 2022 of West Maui as a special water management area, the golf course can’t legally switch to any new water source without a new permit, even if it was an allowed past use as Chang recognized.

Chang went on medical leave in December.

On Monday, Ryan Kanaka‘ole, DLNR’s acting director and acting CWRM chair who was DLNR deputy director under Chang, informed the owner of the Kapalua golf courses, TY Management Corp., that any party seeking formal recognition of an existing use pending commission action tied to a new permit process under the special water management area needs to submit a request that identifies a factual and legal basis for the claimed existing use….

read … Potable water allowance for Kapalua golf course interim irrigation reversed | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Hawaii medical bills may overcharge for taxes

HNN: … Most large providers, such as hospitals, are nonprofit organizations and are not required to pay the general excise tax.

That means the compliance burden falls most heavily on independent doctors….

Dr. Scott Miscovich, owner of Premier Medical Group, an independent provider, said the miscalculation is a systemic problem.

“This is impossible for a doctor’s office to be able to solve that because a lot of it is basically determined by the insurance company,” she said.

Dr. Miscovich said offices often do not know what an insurer will pay until a statement arrives weeks later.

“Well, a doctor’s office has no idea what the insurance company is going to pay them or not pay them until they just get this a month later, some kind of statement in the mail that goes into our billing systems and our billing companies,” Dr. Miscovich said….

read … Hawaii medical bills may overcharge for taxes

Government Funds Hilo Shelter Without Safety Exits Or Fire Inspection

CB: … An emergency shelter for women in Hilo with funding from the state and county hasn’t been inspected by county fire inspectors since it opened five years ago, and the bedrooms lack the required emergency exits. …

read … Government Funds Hilo Shelter Without Safety Exits Or Fire Inspection - Honolulu Civil Beat

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