March 22, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Sunday, March 22, 2026

March 22, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 5:45 PM :: 311 Views

Legislative Halftime Report

Is the Jones Act finally sinking?

HB1875: Sex-Change for Children Passes Another Committee

Judicial Nominees for Kauai, Maui

$35,000 Prize: ‘Legislator X’ Wins Lava Tube Award

Hawaiʻi's Latest Corruption Investigation is More Incompetence

CB: … In my last column I argued that in Hawaiʻi incompetence is a bigger problem than corruption.

Ironically, Hawaiʻi’s current corruption investigation itself proves my point. It has been incompetent from the get-go since, well, we don’t know when because the date it started, or resumed, or stopped, or whatever, still is a mystery.

Hawaiʻi’s attorney general Anne Lopez recently announced that the investigation into the unidentified legislator who in 2022 was recorded accepting $35,000 in a paper bag, according to the FBI, is moving forward. So maybe, just maybe, the train is back on track.

But it’s a mighty slow train with too many starts and stops and more delays than today’s TSA check-in lines.

This incompetence is a blot on the justice system and an example of how federalism should not work.

But worst of all it’s making people crazy by encouraging them to weave angry theories based on the sparsest of facts because what officials have told us isn’t fake news. It’s no news — nothing substantial, nothing at all.

And that includes what the public now knows about Sylvia Luke which, given what we know right now, corruption-wise is still more soap opera than substance. And even that information did not come from authorities.

It’s possible to make up some of this deficit, but this bribery investigation will — and should — always carry a bright, shiny patina of incompetence….

read … Neal Milner: Hawaiʻi's Latest Corruption Investigation Is More Incompetence - Honolulu Civil Beat

Kawakami vs Luke: Unions vs Other Unions

Shapiro: … The Carpenters are expected to take another shot at Luke, who earned their ire for her tough questioning of Honolulu rail as House finance chair, but it could work to her advantage if they go overboard again as in 2024.

Other unions such as the United Public Workers, Hawaii State Teachers Association, ILWU and University of Hawaii Professional Assembly have shown early signs of standing by Luke ….

read … Column: Sylvia Luke fights to survive troubles of her own making | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

‘Backroom deal’ meddling as Solar Industry Flacks Desperately Fight to Keep Energy Dirty and Expensive

SA: … The state’s chief energy officer appointed by Gov. Josh Green is being accused of meddling in a quasi-judicial proceeding on an Oahu renewable- energy project in favor of an alternative power project proposal announced Tuesday by the governor….

Mark Glick, head of the Hawaii State Energy Office, asked the state Public Utilities Commission in a March 9 letter to hold off making a decision on the renewable- energy project by Hawaiian Electric and consider new information on alternatives that Glick suggested would include a proposal by a Japanese company to generate more electricity at a “materially lower cost” for ratepayers.

(CLUE: The solar industry wants alternatives to be as expensive and dirty as possible.)

Glick raised concerns about the cost of Hawaiian Electric’s project to replace much of its 88-year-old Waiau Power Plant in Pearl City that is fueled by oil with a 253-megawatt system of more efficient fuel- flexible turbines initially powered by biofuel.

(CLUE: ‘Biofuel initially’ means ‘diesel permanently.’ Diesel is dirty and expensive. Ideal foil for the solar industry.)

(TRANSLATION: The solar industry wants HECO to rebuild Waiau as a diesel plant. Now they are crying because there is a possibility that the plant might become a combined cycle plant capable of using LNG and other fuels.)

read … ‘Backroom deal’ meddling alleged in power plant case | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

HB1873:Keep UH Regents Financial Disclosures Secret

CB: … House Bill 1873 is a misguided effort on the part of six House members to exempt the regents from having to make disclosures public. They’d still file reports to the Ethics Commission, but the commission would not be allowed to share those with the public….

read … That Dark Cloud Over The Legislature? This Bill Would Make It Even Darker - Honolulu Civil Beat

HB1519: Pay To Play Bill Watered Down to Almost Nothing

CB: … House Bill 1519, which seems to be the blueprint for pay-to-play reform this year, really only covers campaign donations to executive branch candidates (that would be just the governor and lieutenant governor) and not people running for the 76 legislative seats or numerous county council positions. That was basically the last iteration of the pay-to-play bill from last session that died a highly publicized but unexplained death in the Legislature’s final days when legislative leaders opposed even that watered down version.

This year the bill also removed county candidates from any restrictions on donations from county contractors or grantees….

The Senate version, Senate Bill 2530, was heavily favored by the Campaign Spending Commission and other good-government advocates. But now that Tarnas has replaced it with his own House version; the watered-down version is the only one left standing. Both bills are headed to their respective money committees….

read … The Sunshine Blog: Pay To Play Bill Isn't Dead Yet But It Is Mortally Wounded - Honolulu Civil Beat

Lava buyout program winds down, helping many impacted by 2018 eruption in Puna move on

HTH: … The final batch of Puna residents who opted to sell their properties affected by the 2018 Kilauea eruption to Hawaii County should be getting paid out by this summer.

Launched in 2021 by the Planning Department’s Disaster Recovery Division, the Voluntary Housing Buyout Program sought to buy displaced Puna residents’ lands at pre-eruption values. To be eligible, properties must have been damaged, destroyed or isolated by the lava flow eight years ago, and maximum purchase prices varied depending on whether lots were primary residences, secondary residences and long-term rentals, or undeveloped land….

read … Lava buyout program winds down, helping many impacted by 2018 eruption in Puna move on - Hawaii Tribune-Herald

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