April 19, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Sunday, April 19, 2026

April 19, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 8:33 PM :: 339 Views

Where’s Your Second Tax Return? Part 2

When good bills go bad

Trump’s Jones Act waiver sets new legal precedent

“We the chiefs were the terror of the country”

Election 2026: 276 Candidates Pull Papers to Run

Poll: Kawakami Beats Luke 54%-26%

UPDATE: Luke Quits Race After Polls Show Her Losing 2-1

CB: … The first was done March 25-31 by For A Better Tomorrow, the Pacific Resource Partnership/Carpenters Union super PAC that is hoping to oust Luke in the Democratic primary. Sample size was 800 likely Democratic primary voters statewide via landline, cellphone and online surveys with a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

The poll, by Tulchin Research, has Kawakami at 54% to Luke’s 26% with 19% undecided. The narrative accompanying the numbers suggests the research shows that Kawakami is relatively well known statewide (which had been a question given what happened the last time a Kauaʻi mayor ran for statewide office) and that while Luke is better known, Kawakami is better liked.

“In conclusion, the poll shows Derek Kawakami entering the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor in a commanding position, anchored by a decisive lead and a strong well-defined profile,” the poll says.

A second poll conducted April 6-9 for Kawakami’s own campaign puts him at 55% to Luke’s 19% with 27% undecided.

That one included 600 statewide likely Democratic primary voters collected with a similar methodology with a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

This survey, by the national polling firm Panterra, also asked if Luke should be reelected or if voters prefer a different candidate, no matter who. Nearly half, 49%, want someone else, 23% said she should be returned to office and 28% said they’re not sure….

PDF: Tulchin HI LG Poll Memo-04.26 | DocumentCloud

PDF: Panterra Kawakami Baseline 15Apr26 | DocumentCloud

Read … The Sunshine Blog: What About No Gut-And-Replace Is So Hard To Understand? - Honolulu Civil Beat

The Hawaiʻi Legislature's Biggest Travelers

CB: … Sen. Donna Kim had the highest number of trip requests. Her scheduled trips included a visit to Lisbon, Portugal, for a “Legislators’ Dialogue” in 2025. She used her own legislative allowance and other unspecified funds for that.

But Kim was not necessarily the lawmaker who planned to be gone from the state the longest.

Over the course of a nearly five-year span, Sen. Dru Kanuha ranked the highest for requested travel time with 246 days – more than eight months. The longest trip he requested to go on was an 11-day excursion to New York for the annual Conference of State Majority Leaders in 2023….

Japan is a popular destination. Several lawmakers planned to visit the country in 2023 for a “Hawaii Business Mission” ….

Shapiro: David Shapiro: Good character hard to find with so many bad characters | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Read … The Hawaiʻi Legislature's Biggest Travelers - Honolulu Civil Beat

Cost of Housing: Hawaii to Finally Get ‘Tax Increment Financing’?

HPR: … Robinson said it's going to take some creative thinking to pay for what will be a sizable investment.

One solution, he said, could be tax increment financing, or TIF. That works by freezing property tax assessments. So as the value rises, the additional taxes collected are placed into a fund to help pay for the infrastructure over the next several years.

Robinson said Hawaiʻi is one of only two states that doesn't use tax increment financing for public works.

But that could change. The Legislature is considering two bills that would allow the creation of a TIF fund. Both bills are headed for conference committee….

(CLUE: Eliminating the need to burn hard tax money up front on infrastructure costs will dramatically speed construction and reduce the cost of new housing. There is a reason all the other states do this.)

MN: Hawaiʻi will need nearly 60,000 new homes by 2050, AARP report finds : Maui Now

SB3218: Text, Status

SB3219: Text, Status

Read … Tangled utility lines complicate Aloha Stadium project | Hawai'i Public Radio

County Councils Can Vote to Require More Election Day Voter Service Centers

CB: … with a longer-than-usual ballot, voters who show up at either of Oʻahu’s voter service centers will need more time to cast their vote. That means longer lines, which could discourage voters or reinforce the narrative that the system is broken.

So what do we do about it? The most immediate question is whether or not we can increase in-person capacity before August without legislative action.

County councils control their own election budgets, so they don’t need a state appropriation to act. It’s worth asking whether any of them are willing to. Civic organizations can also step in directly. Across the country, groups have begun adopting polling locations and sending their members to train as staff. It doesn’t solve the staffing problem permanently, but it helps for one election….

BACKGROUND: Long Lines Suppress Votes on Election Day: Election Officials Plan to do it Again in 2026

Read … Beth Fukumoto: There Are Creative Ways To Get More Voter Centers This Year - Honolulu Civil Beat

Feds Try Again to Block DHHL Funding due to ‘unspent balance’

SA: … President Donald Trump is proposing for a second straight year to eliminate federal funding for the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

Congress rejected Trump’s request last year, but the Republican president has a new stated reason for his move this year.

In his proposed budget for the federal fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, Trump suggests that Native Hawaiians shouldn’t receive funding under the 1996 Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act, or NAHASDA, because Hawaiians are a racial group and not a tribal nation….

U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii) calls Trump’s position a stepped-up assault after last year’s unsuccessful attempt based on DHHL having a large unspent balance of federal funding for beneficiary assistance that the administration said would be “more appropriately” paid for by the state….

Read … Indigenous status of Native Hawaiians downplayed in bid to cut federal funds | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Awa Picks Wrong Treasurer

CB: … U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda wants you to think the GOP cares about her race against Brenton Awa, the Republican state senator who’s hoping to square off with her in the November general election. She recently sent out a fundraising email warning about the creation of a new federal super PAC in Hawaiʻi.

What’s more, she said, this one has ties to Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman now Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, and George Santos, the former GOP congressman and fraudster whose prison sentence was commuted by the president. …

Tokuda didn’t name the super PAC in her pitch for money, but The Blog will. It’s Hawaiʻi Voter Coalition and the treasurer is Thomas Datwyler, a GOP financial consultant who’s no stranger to controversy. Datwyler has been the treasurer for several of Gabbard’s PACs over the years and was also caught up in the scandal surrounding Santos and his many fabrications. …

So far, the Hawaiʻi Voter Coalition has yet to report raising any money, much less spending it….

PDF: Thomas Datwyler Letter to DOJ | DocumentCloud

Read … The Sunshine Blog: What About No Gut-And-Replace Is So Hard To Understand? - Honolulu Civil Beat

DLE: ‘No Kings’ Bomb Threat Did Not Actually Happen

SA: … No bomb threat was made that day. “The ‘bomb’ alert was due to a suspicious device in a parked vehicle in the Capitol basement parking garage,” said Department of Law Enforcement spokesperson David Patterson in an email Thursday. “Two Department of Law Enforcement canine separately alerted DLE handlers of a suspicious device in the vehicle. DLE was able to contact the owner of the vehicle, who allowed them to enter the vehicle to search. The Capitol plaza was reopened to the public after the complete investigation determined there were no explosives at all.

“It is law enforcement/explosive detectives’ protocol to ‘consider it a bomb until it’s not a bomb,’ resulting in DLE to immediately activate an evacuation order for the Capitol building.” …

Read … Kokua Line: No threat ever made day of rally at State Capitol | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Erosion: Activists Thrilled at Chance to be Rid of Hotel

MN: … After a powerful storm in March caused damage to the shoreline, a West Maui resort put together plans to install a temporary 360-foot “erosion protection skirt.”

But those plans for the Hyatt Regency Maui now are on hold after community members raised concerns that the project would (…uhhh….) (1) alter access to nearby popular Hanaka‘ō‘ō Beach Park ( …yeah…alter access…that’s it….) on the north end of Lahaina town….

community members worry that the project, which includes installing a single layer of geotextile fabric fastened on the sand, will (2) increase sand loss on the beach and (3) impede access to local canoe clubs….

(4) “I don’t trust when they say it’s going to be temporary,” said Tiare Lawrence, who ~~grew up surfing and paddling in the nearby waters~~ (insert local cultural reference here) ….

Read … West Maui resort’s emergency erosion measures, blocked beach access stir public pushback : Maui Now

After 8 long years, lower Puna lava flow residents finally get a road

HTH: … The Smiths have held on so long despite the isolation and arduous commute because, since the earliest days of their impossible situation, they’ve been told by county officials that help is on the way.

“We hauled tons of stuff out here, big grocery loads. I can’t tell you how many wheelbarrow trips I’ve done,” Stan Smith said. “I’ve hauled lumber out here, two or three loads a day over my shoulder, just to get stuff done. Because they kept telling us ‘yeah, we’ll have a road for you in six months or eight months or a year,’ and we kept believing them.”

During the eruption, lava covered most of the Smiths’ original Kapoho property, destroying their home and several acres of land. In 2019, they bought their neighbor’s lot which still had a few standing, livable structures, and figured they’d hang on until road access — as promised by then-Mayor Harry Kim — was established.

“It’s because the county told us there was gonna be a road ready,” Stan Smith said. “I remember it being six months, so we thought, well, we’ll come out here and work hard for a month or two and get this ready, and we’ll have a road and fricken go for it. We thought, oh, we’ll just move out here, we’ll just rough it for a few months until they get the road open.”…

Read … ‘We’re ready to go’: After 8 long years, lower Puna residents are eager to drive home - Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Djou: Now Is The Time To Scuttle The Jones Act

CB: … Last month the federal government temporarily suspended the Jones Act. Hawaiʻi’s congressional delegation should now follow up on the lead taken by Congressman Ed Case to push Congress to make this temporary suspension permanent….

Rep. Ed Case has introduced a suite of bills aimed at providing relief. His proposals range from a full exemption for non-contiguous areas to capping shipping rates and allowing the use of ships from allied nations.

These are common-sense reforms that would inject desperately needed competition into the market and provide immediate relief to Hawaiʻi’s families and businesses…

Read … Now Is The Time To Scuttle The Jones Act - Honolulu Civil Beat

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