DoTax Cooking Books to Influence Legislature? HART Calls for Audit

Kerry: Give Up Missile Defense for more North Korean Promises

MSNBC host: Children belong to ‘whole communities’, not their parents

Let Conformity Simplify Tax Filings

SB858: Gender Equity on Boards and Commissions

On the Menu: Extra Big Servings for HGEA

Borreca: This year, the first meeting of the budget conference committee served up the real deal and voted to start an orderly process of putting more than $100 million a year in the unfunded liability pot.

This was not, however, an "eat your vegetables" session, as nearly all of the tax increases or new fees requested by Gov. Neil Abercrombie, such as the tax on soda, were also killed.

The big question then is, who is still hungry? The answer is the state's public workers who, after five years on the low-carbo regime of staff cuts, unfilled vacancies and then pay cuts, are now looking for some prime rib.

The teachers appear headed for ratification of a contract that restores past pay cuts and dishes out both pay raises and steps up the pay-scale ladder. The question will be exactly how big is the appetite of the state's largest union, the Hawaii Government Employees Association.

Extra big servings for the HGEA could mean everything else goes on the back burner next year.

read ... Legislature’s hottest topics get left on the back burner

81% of New Homeless Arrive Direct from Mainland 

SA: One or two out of every 10 calls that Honolulu Police Department Lt. Dien Shearer answers on any given night in Waikiki is related to homelessness....

Related: Accused of Attacking Japanese Tourist, Could Have Been Extradited Back to Mainland

read ... Stakeholders set sights on solution

Grabauskas: Supplemental EIS for Honolulu rail project completed

PBN: Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation officials told PBN this week that they have finished a draft supplemental environmental impact statement for the city’s $5.16 billion rail transit project.

The document, which covers Mother Waldron Park in Kakaako, has been submitted to the Federal Transit Administration and can’t be made public until they have reviewed it, said Dan Grabauskas, HART CEO and executive director.

“We think we are done,” Grabauskas said about the environmental work. “We don’t think there are many impacts on Mother Waldron Park.”

Grabauskas said he expects the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit against rail to dismiss HART’s findings....

Grabauskas also told PBN that the construction delay costs for rail because of a Hawaii Supreme Court ruling last August could be about $35 million, rather than $50 million as the transit agency anticipated. The ruling caused Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. to halt construction while HART completed the archaeological survey for project’s entire 20-mile route from Kapolei to Ala Moana Center.

“We have told Kiewit, you can’t carry certain costs. It’s tough, some of that may mean they have to lay off people,” Grabauskas said.

HART has submitted its 4,000-page archaeological survey report for the city center section of the project, which includes downtown and Kakaako, to the State Historic Preservation Division for its review, along with the 850-page survey report for the Honolulu International Airport section. The reports for the other two sections of the project have already been approved.

Interesting Correction: "This story has been corrected to remove references to a tunnel under Beretania Street."

Ignore This: After Deadly Train Wreck, DC Metro Dumps Honolulu Rail Contractor Ansaldo

SA: Rail system seems to be on solid track

read ... Beretania Tunnel?

Hawaii Co Councilor: Raise GE Tax to 4.5%

WHT: Hilo Councilman Dennis Onishi broached the idea of Hawaii County seeking a half-percent GET increase. The Legislature authorized the City and County of Honolulu to implement such an increase to offset the cost of building a rail system.

“As I understand it right now, it’s off the table,” Onishi said, adding the council could make a request for that option through the Hawaii Association of Counties. “That would would be a revenue source for you folks, where the entire island would be paying for mass transit.”

Kai said her agency hadn’t discussed that proposal before, and said it might be something for the administration to consider.

read ... Tax Hike

Maui Co Energy Commissioner: "Cut Solar Tax Credits" 

MN: "Why reduce the credit? Mainly because the cost is rising dramatically as more and more people add solar," said county Energy Commissioner Doug McLeod.

"If the state is trying to fund 35 percent (for every household), it will cost (the state) more every year. Lowering the percentage is the only way to flatten the cost impact," he said.

Also, McLeod noted that switching to solar is a lot more cost-effective now than it was nearly 40 years ago, so there is less need for such a large tax credit. The price of the solar panels has dropped dramatically. For example, a 250-watt panel that would have cost $800 two years ago now costs only $125, McLeod said.

Regardless of what the state does with its tax credit statute, the federal tax credit of 30 percent will continue through at least 2016.

The county and the University of Hawaii Maui College are sponsoring a "Solar Summit" to provide residents with information about photovoltaic power on Maui. The event is "tentatively scheduled" for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 22 at the college.

read ... Cut the Tax Credit

Pols place fear-mongering, fundraising high on agenda

Shapiro: Senate Judiciary Chairman Clayton Hee said he gutted a law protecting reporters' confidential sources to rein in the "reckless abandon of so-called journalists." Especially the ones who report the reckless antics of elected so-called leaders.

Seven House members used a recess day to hold a fundraiser at Ferguson's Irish Pub. It was political sustainability at its best: Donors could get drunk while helping to re-elect lawmakers who will give them plenty more reasonsto get drunk in the future.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell is also on the fundraising trail, charging $2,000 a head for an evening of his company. The theme is, "Get Your Building Permits Here."

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said $1.1 million he raised for his campaign in the past quarter was "an incredible show of support for our efforts to build a more prosperous Hawaii." Well, more prosperous Hawaii politicians, anyway.

Analysts say the 2014 campaign won't start in earnest until U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa decides whether she'll run against Schatz or Abercrombie. It's hard for her to make the decisions that Dan Inouye used to make for her

Cartoon: Legislators as Transsexual Prostitutes

read ... Fear and Fund

HB1147: Super PACs must list top donors 

SA: House Bill 1147 would require super PACs to disclose the names of the top three donors behind television, radio, print or Internet ads as part of the content of the ads.

The requirement would provide real-time disclosure of the donors financing the ads, giving voters information that otherwise would become publicly available only when super PACs file periodic campaign-finance reports.

The bill would also require super PACs to file campaign-finance reports in the final days before elections that disclose spending and identify the causes or candidates targeted. Under existing law, super PACs, like traditional PACs, have to report only the receipt of late contributions just before the election, not spending.

The new requirements would take effect after the 2014 elections.

The state Attorney General's Office has advised lawmakers to include a detailed preamble to the bill that justifies the reasons behind greater disclosure because of the likelihood of legal challenges.

read ... Super PACs must list top donors under bill

Obama's Sister Pushes Pre-K Voucher System

Lets just skip the unbearably smug Soetoro-Ng and go straight to the comments:  "When you strip away all the flowery images, the soaring rhetoric, the $5 and $10 words, the meaningless adverbs and adjectives, what do you have? Another overpriced, overfunded government program."

"The movement for taxpayer subsidized daycare reflects the left's core belief that the government, or the collective, always knows better than the individual, whether it's how to spend our money or how to raise our kids.

"This dangerous and perverse philosophy was recently articulated by crazed MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry, who ran a "public service" propaganda ad lecturing apparently ignorant parents, “We have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents, or kids belong to their families, and recognize that kids belong to whole communities...”.

"As Hillary Clinton famously remarked, 'It takes a village to raise a child'. The truth is more like 'It takes a village to raise an idiot'."

Hmmm: DoTax Cooking Books to Influence Legislature? HART Calls for Audit

read ... Early education will help build better future

City needs reasonable schedule for road repairs

SA: In spite of the Council's rejection of a 5 cent-a-gallon increase in the fuel tax to fund it, the mayor is still focused on re-paving 300 lane miles a year at a total cost of $750 million over the next five years.

Do we really want to live beyond our means? Most of the $15 million generated by the mayor's proposed fuel tax increase would have gone to cover the debt incurred by borrowing $150 million a year for five years. Without any real evidence that the city can spend all of that money on road repairs each year, why incur more debt and subject Oahu drivers to the highest gas tax in the country to pay for it?

There is a better way to approach the problem of road repair and maintenance. The Council budgeted $100 million for road repair last year. Increasing that amount to $120 million this year and 10 percent more each year for the next four years would provide almost the same amount as the mayor has proposed to spend without the need to raise taxes.

These incremental increases to the road repair budget would be contingent on the city's ability to spend the money allocated each year.

read ... Ernie Martin

HNN: There have been threats from the North Korean government before, but this time, Koreans here say the latest threats have been much more specific, especially when it comes to the use of nuclear weapons and the naming of Hawaii as a possible target.

"It's a shock to us that they would say that without really having the capability to do so," said David Suh of the United Korean Association of Hawaii, which organized the event. "But at least, a threat is a threat."

Virtually everyone at the rally remains in close touch with family members in South Korea. And they believe that there's much more talk than action coming from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"I think what he's doing is he's trying to secure his position," said association member Amy Han. "He's young. He has a lot of other people who have been controlling from way back."

read ... Free N Korea

The State Of The City Rhetoric

MW: Kirk Caldwell’s State of the City message delivered last week was his trademark combination of promises and campaign rhetoric, which has served him well over the years.

Former mayors Frank Fasi, Peter Carlisle and Mufi Hannemann also used the same strategy for re-election. Some worked, some did not, but the result was the same boring messages.

If you listen to Caldwell’s whole speech, you probably came away with a question:Who was he speaking to? Everyone will have a different opinion, I’m sure. I got the feeling he was going to use the same message to get more resources and funds out of the City Council in the next couple of weeks.

read ... The State Of The City Rhetoric

UH Needs Audit, Not PR Campaign

MW: In a treatise titled A Commitment To Liberal Education, former UH social sciences dean Richard Dubanoski writes:

“At the University of Hawaii, surveys of graduating students and alumni indicate dissatisfaction with their education. They call for more intellectually challenging classes, improvement of teaching methods, better advising and more practical experience. In a national survey that compared students of UHM with those of our peer institutions, there were a number of areas in which our university performed at a lower level than our comparison groups; e.g., emphasizing studying and academic work, participating in co-curricular activities, contributing to classroom discussions, and providing substantial support for academic success.”

My continuing concern is that money and effort seem to pour into image-building and the graduate programs much better than into the undergraduate experience.

read ... UH Needs Audit, Not PR Campaign

Good Work Of Catholic Charities

MW: Maililand on the Waianae Coast, 44 units of transitional housing for low-income or homeless families. Besides a roof, CCH and its partnering organizations provide Maililand residents with child care, help with budgeting and advice on healthier eating.

With a grant from the Jeanette and Harry Weinberg Foundation, CCH constructed 12 two-bedroom units of affordable transitional housing on its Makiki property, as well. A family can remain in an apartment for 12 to 18 months while looking for more-permanent housing....

CCH lobbies the Legislature for subsidized rental housing assistance, for funding in-home senior services, for a state earned-income tax credit for low-income workers and a poverty tax credit to eliminate income taxes for families in poverty....

read ... No Atheist Charities

Kauai Residents Oppose $50M Artesian Well

KGI: David Craddick, manager of the Kaua‘i Water Department, said the   estimated $50 million well project is an effort to reduce operation costs for electricity and treated water.

A public scoping meeting on the horizontal directional well on Thursday turned contentious. Nearly 100 people turned out at King Kaumuali‘i Elementary School, with so many voicing opposition to the plan that the DOW will make a number of changes to its approach, including extending its scoping comment period through May 10 to allow more time for preconsultation.

The department is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement to study ways to reduce energy costs for pumping water in the Lihu‘e-Kapa‘a area.

One of them is to drill a high-elevation well, which would feed the entire region by gravity, and would allow the deactivation of electricity-expensive wells and a high-cost surface water treatment facility. Drilling would be around two miles, horizontally.

Testimony during Thursday’s scoping meeting was described as “often combative, sometimes loud and occasionally lyrical.”

read ... Water plan meeting turns combative

QUICK HITS:

Former Ewa Beach Man to be tried for Murder of Orange County Strip Club Owner  (more details)

East Hawaii hospitals, clinics going tobacco-free

North Korean leader, young and defiant, strains ties with Chinese

For Evangelicals, a shift in views on immigration

Diamond Head's scenic roads on agenda

Flight medic earns national honor for action under fire in Afghanistan

Palila birds might get a second chance

Aloha, HPU: Hawaii Pacific University takes over the prime but problematic Aloha Tower site