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Friday, May 1, 2026

May 1, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 11:13 AM :: 231 Views

After Raising Taxes, Conference Committee Approves $20B State Budget

Auditor: Out-of-Control Homeless Program Puts Public Funds at 'Immediate Risk'

20-5: Senate Confirms Andy Winer's Law Partner as Chief Justice

Onomea: The Mystery of the Unknown Church

VIDEO: The Jones Act and the 2026 Energy Crisis

Team Bissen Stealing Money Immediately After Lahaina Fires

ASD: … Leo Caires filed a whistleblower suit last week. In that suit, the former chief of staff to Maui Mayor Richard Bissen alleges that in March 2024 he found a $45,532.32 invoice in the County’s Office of Economic Development.

The invoice was dated August 16, 2023 — about one week after the Maui fires….

Caires was a former commercial banker. He suspected fraud. He asked Maui’s Corporation Counsel for advice, and they recommended a formal investigation.

During the investigation, Caires says he found that one of Bissen’s executive assistants was part of the deal. The assistant was Mayson “Pono” Asano. Asano said he picked up the equipment in the parking lot of the Kahului Target. He said he would deliver it to the grantee on Moloka‘i. But when Caires asked for receipts and bank records, Asano had none.

Caires also spoke with Cynthia Lallo. She supervised the mayor’s executive assistants at the time. Lallo said Asano had acted as an agent on other grants. That work had nothing to do with his job.

Caires believed Asano was breaking the terms of the grants. He believed it was fraud. A mayor’s office employee was defrauding the County of Maui.

When Caires gave the mayor an update, Bissen told him to back off. Bissen also told him to turn the investigation into an audit.

When Caires kept going, he was cut out of meetings, then demoted and finally fired. Lallo replaced him as chief of staff.

This is not the first time Bissen’s team has been in the news for alleged misuse of funds.

Lallo’s daughter Rachael was awarded a $150,000 marketing contract with the County. Both Lallos had worked on Bissen’s campaign, with Rachael building Bissen’s website and designing logos, lawn signs and digital ads. In her bid, Rachael listed Bissen’s campaign chair, Charlene Schulenburg, as a reference. That contract was later scrutinized by the county council.

Luana Mahi was the director of Maui’s Office of Economic Development. She was placed on paid leave after nonprofits tied to her family received more than $1 million in county grants. Mahi’s former business associate also received more than $200,000 in grants.

In February 2026, the County of Maui released a fraud risk assessment. The County Auditor had ordered it. Spire Hawai‘i LLP wrote it. The assessment found that the County’s controls against fraud are “not adequate to mitigate likely fraud risks.” …

BACKGROUND: Lawsuit : Bissen insiders Stole $45K from County days after Lahaina Fire

BACKGROUND: Auditor: Maui Fraud Risk Out of Control During Emergencies

VIDEO: Maui's Mayor Accused of FRAUD Cover Up - NEW Lawsuit Filed !!!

Read … "Fraud can't happen here"

$120M Green Fee Slush Fund Saved as Legislators Stab Taxpayers in Back

CB: … House and Senate leaders finalized a list of more than $120 million in “green fee” environmental protection and other projects late Thursday evening as they hurried to meet a critical Friday deadline to move the state budget forward.

The Legislature is racing this week to complete its work on hundreds of bills and position them for final votes next week, including a new $20 billion budget they presented Thursday evening to finance state government next year. Lawmakers are scheduled to wrap up their work for the year on May 8.

Still hanging in the balance are proposals to dramatically increase the state conveyance tax on high-end properties to help fund the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and another bill to ask voters if the state constitution should be amended to allow judges to remain on the bench until age 75. Currently Hawaiʻi judges must retire at age 70….

when the final list of green fee projects was released late Wednesday, it included some surprises such as $250,000 in funding for a cattle slaughterhouse and $1.2 million for a forage drying facility, which is used for dehydrating crops for livestock.

‘This Is The Legislative Process’

Some of the initiatives lawmakers added to the green fee list appear to fit well with its mission, such as a $2 million earmark for loans to finance closure of cesspools, and $4 million for wastewater improvements at Keauakaha in Hilo.

But other items on the final list seem to have more tenuous connection to the stated mission of the green fee, such as more than $7 million for a “Food and Product Innovation Network.”

That network has long been a pet project of Dela Cruz and the late James Nakatani, who for years was director of the Agribusiness Development Corp. The network concept is based on the New Zealand Food Innovation Network, which Dela Cruz and other lawmakers visited during one of several (fun, taxpayer-funded) trips to the South Pacific nation. …

SA: Proposed Hawaii ‘Green Fee’ projects overhauled again | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Read … Climate Change Projects Key As Lawmakers Rush To Finish State Budget - Honolulu Civil Beat

Solar is Diesel: HECO Lied About Urgent Need for Maui (Diesel) Power Plants

IM: … Maui Electric Company (MECO) filed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission seeking expedited approval of a deal with ʻŪkiu Energy LLC for 40 MW of firm capacity on Maui. The filing came with urgency — citing the looming December 2028 retirement of the Kahului Power Plant (KPP) as the reason the Commission must act fast.

But buried within that urgency are two critical errors that undermine MECO's credibility and raise serious questions about the integrity of the application.

Blunder #1: MECO Forgot That Fossil Fuels Trigger Environmental Review

The ʻŪkiu Energy PPA contains a scenario under which fossil fuel generation would be used until 2045, at which point it would transition to biofuel. That detail was glossed over with no mention of Hawaii's environmental review law — HRS Chapter 343 that requires environmental impact statements for new fossil fuel power plants.

Life of the Land pointed out the EIS error and MECO`s attempt to get an exemption from the looming haze requirement. In November 2025, the Public Utilities Commission suspended the docket due to HRS Chapter 343 non-compliance. MECO filed an amended application in March 2026.

Blunder #2: MECO Hid Its Own Effort to Keep Kahului Open Past 2028

MECO's entire case for urgency rests on a single premise: the Kahului Power Plant must shut down by December 2028. But MECO's own parent company — Hawaiian Electric (HECO) — has been actively lobbying to delay that very shutdown….

Read … HECO Lied About Urgent Need for Maui Power Plant

State Film Commissioner Donne Dawson retires

MN: … Dawson was a journalist and media relations professional for 15 years before joining DBEDT in 1995, initially as deputy communications director and then communications director under former DBEDT Director Seiji Naya. She rejoined the department in 2001 as branch chief of the Hawai‘i Film Office following the retirement of Georgette Deemer, who built the office from its infancy in the late 1970s….

Read … State Film Commissioner Donne Dawson retires after 25 years : Maui Now

FBI executes search warrant in Windward Oahu as part of ongoing investigation

HNN: … In Windward Oahu, Hawaii News Now learned the FBI executed a search warrant in Maunawili on Wednesday as part of an ongoing federal investigation.

Witnesses reported a heavy law enforcement presence and heard flash-bang explosions at about 6 a.m. Wednesday at ~~a home near Auloa and~~ 1005 Luna’ai St.

Sources told HNN that authorities had a search warrant for firearms in connection with the narcotics case.

A woman who lives in the neighborhood told us no arrests were made….

(CLUE: Homeowner runs Bail Bond service.)

Read … FBI executes search warrant in Windward Oahu as part of ongoing investigation

What the Jones Act waiver extension could mean for Hawaiʻi's maritime economy

HPR: … HPR previously spoke with the Grassroot Institute of Hawaiʻi in March when Trump first issued the Jones Act waiver to learn what its immediate impact would be for the states commerce.

Now a month later, HPR speaks with Hawaii Shippers Council President Mike Hansen to learn more about the extension. According to Hansen, the latest public data from the U.S. Maritime Administration shows that as of April 25, 18 vessels so far have taken advantage of the waiver….

Read … What the Jones Act waiver extension could mean for Hawaiʻi's maritime economy | Hawai'i Public Radio

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