April 9, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Thursday, April 9, 2026

April 9, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 6:13 PM :: 189 Views

FEMA Outlines Procedures to Evict Lahaina Fire Survivors

Trump Approves Kona Low Disaster Declaration

How to Find Stream Gauge Levels Across Hawaii

WAM Approves Senate Version of Budget

Cut State Jobs, Keep (some) Tax Cuts? Hawaiʻi Senate Makes Budget Pitch for a Smaller Tax Hike

CB: … The Hawai‘i Senate will once again try to eliminate funding for vacant state government positions this year as part of its effort to balance the budget and preserve (some of) the state income tax cuts that were promised to working families two years ago.

(CLUE: The new SD1 version of the HB1800 is not available yet. They are spinning this to pretend it does not include a massive tax hike.)

Earlier this year Gov. Josh Green proposed a “pause” in the income tax cuts scheduled to roll out over the next five years, but both the House and Senate are trying to continue those tax cuts for lower- and middle-income families.

(TRANSLATION: Tax hikes on small businesses and anybody else deemed ‘rich.’)

Senate Ways and Means Chair Donovan Dela Cruz said Wednesday that recent events including the war in the Middle East and damage from the Kona low storms last month reinforced the importance of the Senate’s plan to preserve (some of) those tax cuts. The ongoing war is increasing gas and electricity prices, and thousands of residents are still cleaning up from intense flooding.

Dela Cruz announced highlights of the proposed Senate supplemental budget for next year on Wednesday, outlining plans to abolish positions that have remained unfilled for five years and to lapse the unspent money back into the general fund to help balance the state budget….

read … Cut State Jobs, Keep Tax Cuts? Hawaiʻi Senate Makes Budget Pitch - Honolulu Civil Beat

HPH-HMSA deal seeks regulatory approval

SA: … Queen’s launched its own campaign against the move, warning that it could deepen already unacceptable gaps in care in Hawaii. Experience from other states, Queen’s said, shows that “costs rise, access narrows, and the community ultimately loses” when insurers and care providers merge….

Wednesday’s briefing followed an initial one in January shortly after the partnership was first announced. Since then, HMSA and HPH have filed documents with the U.S. Department of Justice, which are under review. Other regulatory approvals are underway by the state insurance commissioner, the state Department of the Attorney General and State Health Planning and Development Agency.

HMSA and HPH have pulled out all the stops to win public support for its partnership under One Health Hawaii. In addition to television commercials, the two nonprofits have launched a website, spoken to community groups and held a virtual town hall, all touting One Health Hawaii as a path toward a more coordinated and sustainable health system….

The partnership is projected to save more than $2 billion over 10 years, he said, which could be reinvested into the community.

At the same time, it would be an open network, allowing HMSA members to continue choosing their own doctors at any hospital, and giving HPH patients the option of keeping their insurance plans.

Other health providers would be able to join as long as they agree to the network’s “value-based” model of care, which ties provider payments to patient health outcomes.

Rather than a fee-for-service model, the value-based plan is a per-member-per-month, fixed amount for a set time.

HPH in 2022 adopted the value-based model and successfully lowered the rate of premium increases, according to Vara. Value-based plans, however, have not been popular with Hawaii’s primary care providers or private practice physicians….

Background: HMSA-HPH 'Merger': AI Robot to be ‘Single Source of Oppressive and Unconscionable Truth’

read … Hawaii legislators continue to question HPH-HMSA deal | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Hawaiʻi Law Enforcement Director Wants To Return To HPD after being screwed by Sen Elefante

CB: … Mike Lambert, who was appointed to serve as director of the Department of Law Enforcement last January, said the way the state’s retirement system is set up he would forfeit about $20,000 per year in benefits if he stayed with the state. He needs to serve five more years with HPD to earn full benefits in retirement.

It was an issue he said he was aware of when he took the state job last year but had hoped the Legislature would fix.

That hope, though, was dashed late last month with the death of House Bill 2358. The bill would have amended the retirement system to allow him to keep the full benefits he earned as an officer in addition to what he would have earned staying on as state law enforcement director.

“My intent was to retire with the DLE had the bill passed,” he said. “But because that’s not an immediate opportunity for me, I need to go back.”

Lambert’s move, though, will leave the Department of Law Enforcement without a leader for the second time in the three years since its creation in 2023….

Lambert’s departure also raises questions about the future of initiatives Lambert set in motion, such as heavier crackdowns on illegal fireworks and the implementation of new police surveillance technology. …

The new vacancy comes at a time of high turnover in law enforcement agencies statewide. Honolulu has been without a police chief for nearly a year, and departments on Hawaiʻi island and Kauaʻi hired new chiefs within the last four months.

Lambert said he expects to step down in late June or early July….

Gov. Josh Green said in a statement he was disappointed the bill did not get a hearing. It effectively died when it wasn’t scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Labor and Technology Committee. Sen. Brandon Elefante, who chairs that committee, did not respond to a request for comment. …

PDF: DLEMemo | DocumentCloud

Before Lambert

read … Hawaiʻi Law Enforcement Director Wants To Return To HPD - Honolulu Civil Beat

Honolulu firefighters ratify $11.7M COVID hazard pay

SA: … Honolulu firefighters are set to receive $11.7 million in temporary hazard pay for working during the COVID-19 pandemic, city officials say.

Following a ballot count completed last Thursday, members of the Hawaii Fire Fighters Association, Local 1463, overwhelmingly approved the temporary hazard pay, or THP, agreement offered by the city.

The agreement provides up to $7,500 in compensation for each city firefighter who worked during the national public health emergency that began in March 2020 and ended in March 2022.

The firefighters’ union expects to receive its hazard payments before June 30, the last day of the current fiscal year….

read … Honolulu firefighters ratify $11.7M COVID hazard pay | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

HB1769: Legislators want other criminals brought back to Hawaii in scheme to force mass releases of thousands of criminals onto the streets

ASD: … A proposal to return Hawai‘i felons to Hawai‘i prisons passed its last committee in the state Legislature Wednesday.

House Bill 1769 is a proposal that would set up an incremental process to gradually move felons incarcerated in private Mainland prisons to in-state correctional facilities beginning in 2027.

(CLUE: The idea is to force other criminals to be released back onto the streets to avoid overcrowding. The result will be more homeless.)

Under the terms of the proposal, between July 2027 and July 2028, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation would be required to transfer 5% of Hawai‘i inmates incarcerated in out-of-state private facilities back to the state. The following year, the department would need to transfer another 10%, and 15% in 2029.

(REALLY TOUGH IQ TEST: Prisons run for and by the UPW are also for-profit, private prisons. Y/N?)

By 2031, and each year thereafter, the department would be obligated to transfer 5% of those out-of-state prisoners back to Hawai‘i.

(CLUE: These criminals will soon be the only local people left in Hawaii.)

Hawai‘i entered into a contract with private prison operator CoreCivic in the 1990s to send inmates to CoreCivic facilities to alleviate overcrowding in state prisons. In a 2021 extension of the state’s contract with CoreCivic, the state paid the company more than $50 million to house 1,700 inmates, or $81.66 per head.

(TRANSLATION: CoreCivic is a lot cheaper than Hawaii’s local prisons and jails.)

The measure notes “Hawai‘i's longstanding reliance on … the use of private, for-profit correctional facilities located outside the state has caused significant harm to incarcerated persons, their families and communities.”

(TRANSLATION: CoreCivic is a lot less corrupt than Hawaii’s local prisons and jails. But brining them back to Hawaii will force a mass release of other criminals onto the streets to prevent overcrowding.)

The bill also cites a 2018 report by a state task force, which found that the state’s incarceration rate has increased by 403% from 1978 to 2016 . … (Yes. Because of meth, not because of CoreCivic.)

(WHY THE INCREASE? Simple: Cheap highly addictive meth begins in Hawaii in mid-1980s. Before this, drugs other than weed were expensive and rare. Read: Mehau in Majuro – How the US Meth Epidemic Began)

read … Proposal to return Hawai‘i inmates to Hawai‘i prisons popular

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