Lawsuit: Mainland Homosexual Adopts Boys, Molests Them in Hawaii
Senate Crossover: 200 Bills on the Agenda
House moves 69 bills over to Senate
State Sells Holdings in Student Loan Auction Rate Securities
NRA: Burdensome Anti-Gun Bill Must be Stopped
HB411 Forces Hospitals, Doctors to Hand Out Abortion Pill
Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted March 4, 2013
VIDEO: Sen Sam Slom and Donovan DelaCruz ‘A Better Day’
Crossover Thursday: House order of the day, Senate order of the day
Riot Police Stand by as Hawaii’s Congressional Delegation Finally Meets
CB: A few weeks into the Congress, after a sequestration battle and a trip home…(insert excuses here) Monday was the first time all four have been able to sit down together. With two new members and the loss of senior senators, a question has been how (poorly) the delegation would work together. (But somehow they managed to pull it off without anybody’s eyes getting scratched out.)
BTW: Has anybody else noticed Brian Schatz’ resemblance to Alfred E Newman?
read … Mazie hates Colleen, Colleen hates Mazie, They both hate Brian
Bills to Develop School Lands Approved by Senate
CB: House Bill 865 would let the Department of Education, with Board of Education approval, develop up to five sites.
The bill, which was part of Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s legislative package, originally made the Hawaii Community Development Authority the lead agency but was changed in a joint-committee meeting Feb. 15.
Senate Bill 237 gives top oversight to the lieutenant governor’s office. The legislation lets the board choose up to two sites to be part of a two-year pilot program.
The board supports the intent of the Senate bill, but wants to take the lead. Board Chair Don Horner has said he would be happy if the district can just have a chance to do one project to prove the concept works.
The state’s 256 school campuses occupy almost 4,000 acres of land and 19 million square feet of building space, according to a recent report by Steven Bingler, William Kaneko and Alan Oshima for the Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs.
“Many school campuses are situated in valuable areas like the financial district of downtown Honolulu, near Waikiki Beach and downtown Lahaina — collectively worth billions of dollars if developed appropriately,” the article says.
Based on tax assessments, Horner said the DOE is the state's largest property owner with well over $4 billion of land. He said the legislation provides a creative way to address a dire capital need.
CB: Senate: Hike Minimum Wage, Decriminalize Pot, Develop School Lands
read … Ca-Ching!
Senate Kills Religious Exemption Amendment in Emergency Contraception Bill
CB: Hawaii lawmakers shot down an amendment today by Sen. Sam Slom that would have added a religious exemption to an emergency contraception bill…. Slom said Senate Bill 1109 tramples religious rights.
Related: Oxycontin Contributions: Clayton Hee, Josh Green, Karl Rhoads and HB466
read … Unconstitutional?
Legislators can get a raise if they simply do nothing
Borreca: You may be paying more for the salaries of Hawaii's executive class next year because the state salaries are expected to increase.
Precisely how much could come at this morning's meeting of the Commission on Salaries, which is scheduled to discuss its final report on the salaries for legislators, the governor and his Cabinet, and state judges.
The state Constitution created the seven-person state salary commission, which is to meet every six years. The current one has been meeting since late 2012 to examine state executive and judicial pay rates.
Right now legislators receive $46,272 a year. Although their official duties only require a 60-day legislative session, their actual duties encompass an almost daily calendar of public appearances, constituent consolations and an unending round of glad-handing.
Under the existing rules left over from the 2007 salary commission, legislators' salaries go to $55,896 on July 1 and then to $57,852 on Jan. 1, 2014.
So by the beginning of next year, lawmakers will have seen their salary increase 25 percent, without the benefit of this year's salary commission handiwork.
Also during the session, outer island lawmakers get $150 a day for living expenses. All lawmakers also get $5,000 a year for miscellaneous legislative expenses.
Related: Hanabusa: “Legislators work very hard and deserve the raise”
read … Do Nothing?
Budget holds no raises for teachers, union says
SA: The union for public school teachers says contract talks are at a critical point as a deadline for budget legislation looms at the state Capitol.
"In order to fund an agreement for 2013-2015, we must achieve an acceptable tentative agreement for members to ratify by April 26," the Hawaii State Teachers Association wrote in a recent weekly bulletin to members.
Lawmakers will have to file money bills — including House Bill 200, the state budget — for a final reading by midnight that day.
The Department of Education's current budget request for the fiscal year that starts July 1 does not include additional funding for salary or benefit increases.
read … Excuse for Tax Hike?
Pahoa HSTA Member: Teachers days are Numbered, Common Core Easily Manipulated
CB: Teachers are being riffed/laid-off and then being forced to re-apply for their jobs if they want to keep them. They won’t. It’s a way to get rid of expensive teachers.
You have become one of those teachers. Your days are numbered.
It seems as if the system is just out to make it very difficult for classroom teachers to find reasons to remain in the profession. Yet that is saying the system has logic, an impetus for responsibility, for compassion.
It’s like putting all your eggs in one basket, a very standard one. This means it is arbitrary, capricious, and discriminatory. Easily manipulated, like the Common Core Standards.
read … Easily Manipulated
House Approves Early Lawmaker Financial Disclosure, Senate Votes to Exempt Task Force Members from Ethics
CB: House Bill 1132, which requires lawmakers to disclose their financial interests in January rather than having a May 31 deadline, passed the Hawaii House of Representatives unanimously Tuesday
CB: Senate Passes Bill to Exempt Task Force Members from Ethics Law
read … HB1132
HB713: Police Recruiters Should Not be Able to Look at Job Applicants Online Presence
SA: House Bill 713, House Draft 2, forbids employers from requesting or requiring that employees or job applicants hand over the information. It prohibits "shoulder surfing," in which an employee would access a personal account while the employer watches. It would also prevent employers from disciplining or taking punitive action against an employee or prospective employee who does not comply with such requests.
The bill takes care not to tread on the legitimate concerns of employers. It distinguishes "personal accounts" from those used for "any business purpose of the employer," which would not have the same protection. It protects an employer's right to limited access to a personal account for an investigation of an employee's misconduct or violation of the law.
An earlier version of the bill exempted law enforcement from the ban, but the House Judiciary Committee removed that exemption — and rightly so. The HPD argued that "vital information regarding the ethical and moral character of an applicant can be found through the social media." Possibly. But that's not an adequate reason …
read … HB713
Billionaire Kawamoto arrested in Japan for alleged tax fraud
Kyodo: Tokyo prosecutors arrested on Tuesday Japanese real estate tycoon Genshiro Kawamoto on suspicion of dodging over 800 million yen ($8.5 million) in corporate tax.
Kawamoto, 81, was president of Tokyo Shoji, a real estate leasing firm liquidated in April last year, and is known for owning the "Marugen" multi-tenant buildings located in several locations including Tokyo's posh Ginza district.
Once named in the Forbes World's Billionaires list, Kawamoto has repeatedly told Kyodo News in the past that his action does not constitute tax evasion but tax savings. He is likely to give the same explanation to the prosecutors, investigative sources said.
Kawamoto was arrested for hiding about 2.9 billion yen in revenue for three years until December 2011, thus avoiding about 862 million yen in corporate tax.
Kawamoto's real estate firm, which was established in Ginza in 2009 but liquidated in April last year after transferring to Kitakyushu city, was managing revenue for the lease of about 30 buildings, the sources said.
HNN: Japanese billionaire's arrest tied to Kahala property Kawamoto is the president of a real estate company called 'Marugen Building' in Ginza, Tokyo. He is accused of hiding some of the rental income from restaurants in 'Tokyo Shoji' which is part of his group's business. He is also accused of evading millions of dollars in corporate taxes for a three-year period ending in December 2011.
read … Kahala Heartbroken over news
Notices for federal furloughs begin
SA: The federal government has started sending out furlough notices that may affect tens of thousands of workers in Hawaii as a result of sequestration.
Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, the state's largest industrial employer, held a town hall meeting Monday to discuss the issue, the first of about 10 such meetings scheduled for this week with more than 4,000 affected civilian workers, officials said.
Furlough notices are expected to be sent out by mid- to late March, shipyard spokeswoman Jensin Sommer said.
The U.S. Pacific Fleet said the workers would be subject to one day of furlough per week for the last 22 weeks of the fiscal year, starting in late April.
Sommer said the shipyard workforce is "definitely very concerned about the impacts of potential furlough."
"I can't speak for them at large, but I know that individually, people are concerned about the measures that they are going to have to take to make up for the loss of 20 percent of their income," Sommer said.
read … Loss of 20%
Liquor inspectors Secretly stopped from making arrests, using handcuffs
HNN: Honolulu Liquor Commission Administrator Greg Nishioka (secretly) told his investigators to refrain from arresting people and stop using handcuffs and other gear following an incident of alleged excessive force by two investigators about one year ago.
Beginning in August of 2005, the Honolulu Liquor Commission began "defensive training" for its investigators and issued them protective gear, including pepper spray, handcuffs and batons.
But Hawaii News Now has learned on March 6, 2012 Nishioka issued a two-sentence memo immediately suspending liquor investigators from making arrests and prohibiting them from using defensive equipment in the field. …
That memo came following an incident that happened late one night in early 2012 outside the 7-11 store at McCully Shopping Center.
A drunk Kaneohe marine officer tried to get into the car of two liquor investigators, mistakenly thinking it was a taxi, because he wanted a ride home, a source said.
The incident was caught on video by surveillance cameras at the shopping center, which showed the investigators using excess force and putting handcuffs on the man.
"The guy didn't commit any crimes," said one witness who asked to remain anonymous, fearing reprisals from people at the Liquor Commission. "He jumped into the wrong car. He was intoxicated and confused. They (the liquor investigators) harassed him and provoked him into an incident."
An investigation revealed the investigators, who were recently-hired contract employees, used their own personal gear, including handcuffs and a baton in the incident.
When a Liquor Commission supervisor arrived, he had the man released from handcuffs, a source said. Police officers called to the scene did not arrest the marine, who was a captain, sources said.
One of the investigators later resigned from the commission and the other was hired as a permanent, civil service employee there, Hirai said….
Related: Honolulu Liquor administrator won't resign after admitting 47 ethical violations
read … Handcuffed?
88% Reject Gas Tax Hike
It's a modest hike to pay for buses and roads. (12.0%)
Our gas prices are too high as it is. (52.8%)
The city should make cuts elsewhere to fund buses and roads. (35.2%)
KHON … What do you think of the Mayor's plan to raise the gas tax on Oahu to 21.5 cents a gallon?
Occupiers Block New Sidewalk
SA: Work started Monday, when city crews cordoned off the Beretania Street sidewalk and began moving in equipment for the three-week project.
The encampment's organizers gathered up their belongings and moved to the King Street side of the square Sunday, a day ahead of schedule….
While Russell is adamant that each tent's spacing was measured to ensure there was enough room on the sidewalk for a pedestrian to pass, she acknowledged that shrubbery on the makai end "makes things claustrophobic."
As the Star-Advertiser spoke to Russell and another (de)Occupy supporter, a man walking along the sidewalk tripped on one of the tents and fell. When he got up, he flung the tent down angrily and told the (de)Occupy people they did not belong there.
The man, who declined to give his name, said he walks along the sidewalk to and from lunch from his nearby office on Ward Avenue.
"The tent was covering the whole sidewalk," the man complained. "It wasn't even up. It was lying down."
read … Danger to their selves and others
Who will play for little pay? UH's new concert rules
KHON: It's a plan to prevent another costly concert failure at the University of Hawaii. But some say it goes too far and will prevent a big-name act from ever appearing at the Stan Sheriff Center
Todo said that meant re-doing money rules about who can get paid how much in advance of anything -- whether buying stuff or booking a show. For concerts they've set a limit of no more than $25,000 down.
"It's too bad, it looks like they're out of the concert business," said Hawaii concert promoter and producer Tom Moffatt. "Most acts that would play the Stan Sheriff Center, a building of that capacity, would be at least $50,000 guaranty if not more."
read … Concert
Senate Passes Steven Tyler Act
SA: Senate Bill 465, modeled after a California anti-paparazzi law, would provide an immediate appeal process for photographers who claim they were engaged in work protected by the First Amendment.
Tyler and Mick Fleetwood, the drummer of Fleetwood Mac, who also has a home on Maui, told state senators at a hearing last month that aggressive paparazzi intrude on their privacy.
The Society of Professional Journalists and other First Amendment advocates are concerned that the bill could infringe on legitimate newsgathering.
HR: Hawaii Senate aims at paparazzi, shoots free speech
ILind: Senate bill aims at paparazzi, hits First Amendment instead
CB: Crazy or Amazing? Hawaii Senate Passes Steven Tyler Act
read … Paparazzi
Machines ruled gambling devices
SA: U.S. District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi says the sweepstakes machines that police seized from six Oahu arcades in September appear to be gambling devices prohibited under state law.
Kobayashi made the finding in a 28-page written order she issued Thursday.
The order denied a request from the arcade businesses for the return of the machines and to prohibit police from making further seizures. It also denied the city's request for a ruling in its favor in the businesses' lawsuit accusing the city and Honolulu police of violating their constitutional right against illegal searches and seizures and their right to acquire and possess the machines.
read … A U.S. district judge's order denies arcade businesses the return of the machines
Solomon, Dela Cruz Holds Fundraisers During Session
DN: Senator Solomon represents a district on the Big Island. It is unlikely, given the distance and cost of airfare, that very many of her constituents will be able to attend her fundraiser tomorrow night. Add in the $100 suggested donation and it’s clear that the fundraiser is aimed at business, corporations, their lobbyists, and other special interests located right here on Oahu.
CB: Cash Call: Solomon, Dela Cruz Hold Fundraisers During Session
read … Caught fundraising during the legislative session
Caldwell makes park repair a priority in proposed budget
HNN: A massive pile of debris consisting of old air conditioner and microwave parts sits in plain sight at the Old Stadium Park. Under Mayor Kirk Caldwell's newly proposed budget, the park and dozens of other areas around Oahu would get new life….
As part of his $2 billion budget proposal, Caldwell is asking nearly $18 million be set aside to fix up parks across the island.
read … Park Repair
New Bill Aims to Attract Outer Space to Big Island
MTVN: The House Committee on Finance unanimously passed HB1419 HD1, which will appropriate additional funds to support the development and expansion of Hawaii’s aerospace and related industries.
Supplemental funding will be provided to the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES) to help attract aerospace technology and corporations to Hawaii. The funding will capitalize upon Hawaii Island’s lunar-like terrain to build an aerospace research and development park which will create new high paying technology-related jobs.
read … Lunar Landscape
Hawaii DOE to request waiver for FY 2012 SIG Grant
News Release from Hawaii DoE: The Hawaii State Department of Education (DOE) intends to request a waiver to Section 421(b) of the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. § 1225(b) to extend the period of availability of school fiscal year 2012 School Improvement Grant (SIG) funds for the State Education Agency and all of its complexes to September 30, 2016.
The requested waiver will increase the DOE’s ability to implement the SIG program effectively in eligible schools, improve the quality of instruction and the academic achievement of students in Tier I school(s) with an approved application.
The waiver request is in accordance with the guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Education in 2013 on using SIG funds. If granted, the waiver will allow the DOE to use these funds in accordance with the SIG requirements published in the Federal Register in January 2010.
Written comments regarding the described waiver should be submitted by March 15, 2013, and addressed to the DOE Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Student Support, Attention: Sharon Nakagawa, 475 22nd Avenue, Room 124, Honolulu, Hawaii 96816, emailed to sharon_nakagawa@notes.k12.hi.us or faxed to (808) 735-8375. For additional information, call (808) 203-5520.
QUICK HITS: