Abercrombie Launchers Reelection Campaign, Appoints Crony Committee
Hawaii Congressional Delegation: How They Voted April 29, 2013
SB69: Mandatory Background Checks to be Voted
9th Circuit: Tribal Courts Have Civil Jurisdiction Over Non-Indians
Kona Coffee Farmers 'Disappointed' by Safeway Blending Lawsuit Settlement
DLNR Seeking Streamlined Permitting Process to Restore Fishponds
HECO: Renewables Hit 13.9% for 2012
Abercrombie: UPW Contract 'Positive Result of Partnership'
UHERO: Latest Jobs Report Suggests Most Industries Recovering
SB623: Solar Scammers Fall Hard, Lose Big
PBN (edited to enhance accuracy): (After Abercrombie gave the General Fund to the unions,) a bill that would have changed (increased) the state tax credits for solar photovoltaic systems in Hawaii has failed to progress, leaving in place the administrative rules set by the state Department of Taxation that went into effect in November. (Only one system per TMK. Take that, suckers!)
Senate Bill 623 failed to move through a conference committee by a Friday afternoon deadline, leaving some PV contractors with more uncertainty. (With less ability to scam lots of tax credits for one install.)
“The temporary rules will make it much more difficult for PV companies [because] it’s much more difficult to interpret (score big)” said Aaron Kirk, chief operating officer of Sunetric, one of the state’s largest PV companies. “It’s baffling [that the new bill didn’t pass] .... " (not to readers of Hawai'i Free Press)
The bigger part of the tax department’s rules deals with limiting (Yes. They did just say 'limiting', didn't they.) the number of tax credits that homeowners may claim on multiple systems.
SB 623 included a year-after-year-step down of the tax credit and had an eventual sunset date. (And after months of reporting SB623 as a "reduction' in Solar tax credits, PBN, SA, CB, etal are suddenly reporting that the failure of SB623 will "make it much more difficult" for solar scammers.)
Click here to download the tax department's rules.
Click Here to deal with the old reality: Why Stop at $500K? DoTAX Quietly Multiplies Hawaii Solar Tax Credit
And the Truth about SB623: Solar Scammers Pleased by SB623: Extends Solar Tax Credit Giveaway
read .... Corporate Welfare Queens Crying Because the Unions Took Their Money
Hawaii Public Employee Misconduct: Harassment, Theft, Violence
CB: In the past two years, state workers have been suspended and fired for a range of misconduct, including harassment, theft and workplace violence.
Some workers were suspended for not showing up to work as scheduled. Some employees were fired for their workplace offenses, including a public defender who was found to have stolen personal information from her colleagues.
Two Department of Land and Natural Resources employees were also terminated for what was described as “job abandonment.”
That's the kind of information that's coming to light as state agencies release information on disciplinary action as part of a public records request....
One Human Services employee received a one-day suspension for challenging a client to a fight. Another was sent home for 20 days for sending “an inappropriate text message” and making “disparaging remarks regarding the religious beliefs of a subordinate.”
Other agencies that disciplined employees included the Department of Accounting & General Services and the Budget and Finance Department, which includes the Public Defenders Office.
read ... Hawaii Public Employee Misconduct Appears To Be In Check, Records Show
Billion Dollar Estimated Cost of Union Wage, Benefit Hikes
Borreca: The House dissidents became the House majority and Rep. Sylvia Luke was installed as finance committee chairwoman. She turned out to be a drama-avoiding, fiscal conservative who helped turn in a state budget slightly less costly than the one offered by Gov. Neil Abercrombie....
Judging by the amount of money either ponied up, pledged or discussed, this legislative session was mostly about paying the salaries and benefits of Hawaii's public workers.
After three years of having public workers gnawing at his administration, Abercrombie was able to reach agreement with nearly all the public worker unions. No final price tag has been put on the raises but some estimates are as high as an extra $1 billion over the life of the contracts.
read ... Legislature wrapping up in a conservative mood
Cost of UPW Contract Still Unknown
SA: Nakanelua said the contract, which was ratified by 96.7 percent of the unit members who voted, "brings stability to their future for the next four years."
Abercrombie did not have an estimate as to how much the contract would cost in the state's two-year budget that the Legislature is expected to approve this week as it wraps up work today and Thursday for the 2013 session.
He said the deal was ratified in time to be included in the budget that begins at the start of the fiscal year, July 1.
"The Legislature and the negotiators have exchanged numbers, and when they get to the final numbers, we'll make them available," Abercrombie said. "The (House) Finance Committee, the (Senate) Ways and Means Committee and the negotiators are content that we're able to accommodate the financing of the collective bargaining agreement."
read ... How Abercrombie Sets the Stage for his Reelection Campaign
As Hawaii legislative session winds down, more initiatives bite the dust
AP: Lawmakers killed bills to raise the minimum wage, decrease increase solar tax credits and create a state-funded preschool program in 2015.
Lawmakers also discarded highly criticized proposals to expand geothermal energy development and create a new state agency called the Public-Private Partnership Authority.
A proposal to create a task force to study the potential impact of privatizing state hospitals also didn't make it. Neither did bills to allow public funding of elections or same-day voter registration.
read ... Bite the Dust
Rally Against SB1171 Today
DN: ...from Hawaii Thousand Friends...protestors should assemble at 8:30 a.m. at the 2nd floor of the State Capitol....
read ... Final call to action issued for Tuesday morning on SB1171
Wooley, DelaCruz "Bickering Like a Married Couple"
SA: A contentious but at times comical scrap between Rep. Jessica Wooley and Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz has left in limbo $175 million in revenue bonds to preserve agricultural land.
The state budget contains the revenue bond money for the Agribusiness Development Corp. to potentially acquire farmland owned by Dole Food Co. in Wahiawa. But a separate bill was needed to create a special fund in order to deposit the proceeds from the bond sales, the revenue from leases on farmers that would have backed the bonds, and the money to cover debt service on the bonds.
Wooley, lead House negotiator on the bill, had wanted the state Department of Agriculture, not the Agribusiness Development Corp., in charge. Dela Cruz and Luis Salaveria, the state's deputy budget director, explained that the Agribusiness Development Corp. was the agency identified in the state budget.
Wooley finally agreed, but she suggested other late amendments that would have adjusted the definition of "important agricultural land," a move opposed by the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, so senators walked away from the negotiations Friday afternoon as an internal deadline approached.
Senate Vice President Ronald Kouchi (D, Kauai-Niihau) had joked earlier in the week that the leadership should charge admission to the conference committee clash. He teased Dela Cruz that he and Wooley were bickering like a married couple.
Dela Cruz (D, Wheeler-Wahiawa-Schofield) complained that Wooley (D, Kahaluu-Ahuimanu-Kaneohe) was being deliberately obstinate by raising a series of evolving objections.
read ... Bye bye land deal
'Incorrect Vote' Saves Scott Nago from Performance Review
SA: A bill that would have required an evaluation of the chief election officer after each general election died because of a procedural gaffe in a legislative conference committee last week.
As conferees agreed to go with the Senate's position on Senate Bill 853 — to have the state Elections Commission conduct a review after each election, as opposed to the House version calling for a review every six months — the Senate voted without the required quorum.
Sen. Maile Shimabukuro (D, Kalaeloa-Waianae-Makaha), a co-chairwoman on the Senate side, was elsewhere in the Capitol and not summoned for the vote.
The vote was taken in the final minutes of conference as lawmakers approached a 6 p.m. deadline Friday with various lawmakers coming and going from conference room to conference room to vote on bills.
Lawmakers said the incorrect vote was not intentional and that there was not enough time to vote again.
read ... Uh huh
Caldwell's Secret Staff Costs 40% More Than Carlisle's
CB: Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell is taking a pay cut, but those closest to him are already making more than their predecessors in the Carlisle administration.
That includes Caldwell's spokesman and his executive assistant.
In fact, total salaries for the six employees in the mayor’s office — which includes Caldwell — are slated to increase by more than 27 percent in Fiscal Year 2014 from $437,940 to $557,460.
Considering that one of those positions was left vacant during thePeter Carlisle administration the jump is closer to 40 percent.
Meanwhile, Caldwell's spokesman, Jesse Broder Van Dyke, who is one of those whose salary is jumping, said the city doesn't want to release the names of the six employees "in hopes of protecting the privacy of our staff members."
This includes withholding the name of the executive assistant to the mayor, who is also Caldwell's chief of staff.
Related: Caldwell Secretly Appoints ‘Chief of Staff’--Convicted Criminal Harry Mattson
read ... High Price
HB1214: Legislature to Pick Winner of Street Fight Between Competitors
CB: The owner of a local wheel boot company may lose his business if a bill is approved this week at the Hawaii Legislature.
That's the worry of Sean Starn, co-owner of Hawaii Boot Removal Services. He makes his livelihood locking and unlocking — for a $160 fee — wheel clamps on cars parked on private property.
House Bill 1214 would prohibit applying a wheel boot to motor vehicles located on any public or private roadway or property.
Jan Wakayama, part-owner of Ace Towing and president of the Hawaii State Towing Association, supports the bill and complains that the budding wheel boot industry is unregulated in the islands, unlike the towing business.
He says tow companies are worried about how wheel boots might impact their business. Ace Towing, for example, charges between $125 and $150, depending on the towing miles involved.
The battle over HB 1214 is a street fight between two business competitors who are asking lawmakers to referee.
read ... HB1214
HSTA Operative: Use of Pidgin Means New Teacher Evaluation System Will Damage Education
CB: Some teachers complain that the tests with which students will be measured are flawed. As a writing teacher, I could not agree more. The majority of my students speak Pidgin, and the standardized tests currently used to assess English language skills only evaluate reading. By the time students reach me in 11th grade, the majority are too far behind to ever be able to write in formal, academic English.
But those skills were not being taught before standardized tests were introduced, and if the tests did cover these skills, it would be the first time they were ever part of our school-wide curriculum. Standardized tests have their weaknesses, but if humans can build a nuclear submarine and discover DNA, we can come up with a competent, comprehensive standardized test.
The last major opposing sentiment that I hear is that teachers need to be more than instructors. They need to be counselors, mentors, and role models. In this claim lies an insinuation that a strong focus on achievement necessarily devalues the interpersonal aspects of teacher-student relationships, or that caring for students’ non-academic needs excuses the lack of learning within certain classrooms, both of which are untrue. These beliefs reflect a popular paradigm that has proved unsuccessful for the last several decades.
But even with all that, the current joint Department of Education-Hawaii State Teachers Association teacher evaluation system is going to damage education in Hawaii rather than improve it. It is a process-focused attempt to look busy while appeasing adult stakeholders and doing nothing to fix the real problems in our classrooms for our students — unless the problem is teachers.
Yes, there are more ineffective teachers in Hawaii’s schools than we should allow, but under a similar evaluation system in New York, 98 percent of teachers passed. (And HSTA is going to go for 100% or Bust!)
read ... HSTA Begins Wearing Down Resistance
OHA Geothermal Deal Means Sandwich Profits for Trask
CB: It will be different because this time, through IDG, the community has a voice and a stake in making sure that geothermal development is done right. That is the essence of the community-based model developed with the legal expertise of ("damned sellout") Mililani Trask, principal of Indigenous Consultants LLC who serves as an advisor to IDG. Her counsel to IDG is anchored in the experience of representing the Kūpuna Wāhine of Ka Lāhui Hawai‘i in the Wao Kele O Puna debacle. The model she developed with IDG abandons the practice of token royalties to landowners at the outset for a process that shares the benefits of geothermal development with the community over the long term. As IDG founder, Robbie Cabral has said many times, “Geothermal development should empower the community, increase economic opportunities for small businesses, create jobs and reduce our dangerous dependence on imported oil.”
The Triple Bottom Line: Given the vision behind the establishment of IDG, the company chose to incorporate its development arm, Hu`ena Power as a Sustainable Business Corporation (or B-Corps) when Hawaii passed a law making this possible in 2011. That form of incorporation is a public affirmation that in the way it does business it will not make profits paramount but that it will be attentive to what is commonly referred to as the triple bottom line: people, planet and profits. That also means it will use the cleanest technology available and it will do everything possible to protect the public health and respect cultural sensitivities.
IDG ‘s experience in New Zealand has connected it to some of the world’s experts in geothermal development, companies that are using state-of-the art technology that protects the aina while tapping its gifts. This is a holistic vision of geothermal development, one that is consistent with Hawaiian values and respectful of local culture and beliefs.
read ... Protesting for Profit Payoff Time
HELCO Biofuel deal would be costly for Oahu electricity ratepayers
SA: The Public Utilities Commission is considering approving a contract between Hawaii island's HECO-owned utility (HELCO) and a partnership known as Aina Koa Pono (AKP). Its decision is expected within the next several weeks.
Why should rate payers on Oahu care about this proposed contract?
Because if approved, Oahu residents would pay about 90 percent of the cost — even though the very expensive biofuel would be used only on the Big Island.
The contract between HELCO and AKP calls for HELCO — and you — to purchase fuel from AKP at about $200 per barrel. Today, a barrel of oil costs about half that: $107. If this contract is approved, there will be a surcharge, to cover the difference, on your monthly electricity bill.
Furthermore, note that whenever oil has reached about $120 per barrel, world economies have slowed precipitously. Many have gone into recession. This tells us that there is a natural economic "stop" in place that keeps oil from getting anywhere near $200 per barrel.
And yet, HELCO/HECO is trying to guarantee AKP a fixed price of $200 per barrel.
read ... Richard Ha
Foreclosures: Mediation requirement stalls in the Legislature
SA: Twice in the past two years, Hawaii lawmakers passed bills aimed at letting homeowners use mediation to resolve foreclosure cases — only to see the mortgage lending industry sidestep the new laws.
This year another bill representing a third attempt was introduced but failed to pass.
Senate Bill 1370 had strong support from the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, and passed four legislative committees — two in the Senate and two in the House. But the House Finance Committee, chaired by Rep. Sylvia Luke, did not hold a hearing on the bill.
The bill would have required lenders to engage in mediation, at the request of homeowners, before filing foreclosure lawsuits in state court. The requirement was to apply only to cases in which borrowers live in their homes, and not investors or vacation-home owners.
Lending industry representatives opposed the bill, arguing that mediation would only extend Hawaii's already lengthy foreclosure process, which can last 12 to 18 months or more, and that borrowers would see little difference in case outcomes because lenders are required to explore loan modifications with delinquent borrowers.
Consumer advocates contended that lenders don't always make good-faith efforts at loan modifications and that in some cases loan servicers have financial incentives to foreclose instead of restructuring a loan.
read ... Mediation
Hirono: Immigrants Should Get Welfare
U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono has rightly expressed concern about the Senate version's intent to "mitigate the harm to families caused by eliminating the sibling category of visas and the provisions that affect immigrants' access to the country's safety net programs." She said her emigration as a young girl from Japan to Hawaii showed her "how important it is to support immigrant families in order for them to succeed in this country."
However, while the Senate bill's "merit-based" system would allow up to 250,000 visas a year based on a broad variety of factors, it would reduce the factor of family relationships.
The balance would shift, over a decade, away from 75 percent of visas that now go to family members of immigrants already here. Instead, half of visas would go to immigrants based on family ties and the other half would be based on job skills.
The Senate bill would eliminate the 65,000 family-based visas that are given out yearly to siblings of U.S. citizens and to married adult children. That change would be a blow to many immigrant families in Hawaii.
"Reform is crucial to our families, small businesses and our economy in Hawaii," said U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. "It is unacceptable that families wait decades to reunite with their loved ones. … We must address the unique immigration issues in Hawaii as part of the national reform legislation in order to reunite families and grow our local economy."
Modern Jizya: Tsarnaev family received $100G in benefits
read ... Welfare
Samoa to Buy Hawaiian Airlines?
RNZ: A standard return-flight ticket from Pago Pago to Honolulu costs 1,200 US dollars.
Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga says one option is for the government to buy shares and become part of Hawaiian Airlines.
“It’s just a simple thought. If we can’t beat the system we might as well join it.”
read ... Owned by Samoa
Does Hawaii need more hotel rooms?
HN: Unless Hawaii adds more guestrooms to its hotel inventory, the tourism-dependent state won’t be able to accommodate the growing number of visitors wanting to visit the islands, says Kailua, Hawaii-based economist Paul H. Brewbaker. However, that view isn’t shared by many executives and analysts in the state’s hotel industry.
“We should all remember there are cycles, and the last one really hurt the tourism industry,” said Jerry Gibson, area VP for Hilton Hawaii. “Well-planned, positive growth in the timeshare and some hotel segments can be positive, but too much growth will be painful as the cycles arrive. We still have peaks and valleys on Oahu, and the neighboring islands still have tremendous growth potential.” (Yup. The Hilton is anti-development.)
Brewbaker, an economist with TZ Economics, said he believes unnecessary restrictions on tourism development may put a cap on the number of vacationers who can visit the islands.
read ... Mo' Room
Is U.S. demand for Hawaii on the decline?
TW: According to a flight schedule provided by the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB), Alaska Airlines will reduce nonstop service between the U.S. West Coast and the Hawaiian Islands by 6.1% during the second half of 2013, with the biggest decreases occurring on routes from Oakland and San Jose, Calif.
United Airlines is planning to cut nonstop flights to Hawaii from U.S. gateways by 7.4%, with the largest reductions coming from the carrier’s Washington Dulles-Honolulu service as well as cutbacks on its San Francisco-Kahului, Maui, segment and Los Angeles-Honolulu route.
Hawaiian Airlines, which recently reported a $17.1 million loss for the first quarter of 2013, is enacting service reductions, as well, according to a spokesman for the company.
The carrier is suspending its thrice-weekly flight between San Jose and Honolulu this month and dropping its Honolulu-Las Vegas service from 17 flights a week to 14 in May and June. Hawaiian will also reduce its current daily, nonstop service between Honolulu and New York Kennedy to five times weekly beginning in mid-September, though the service will return to daily for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
read ... Fewer Visitors
How A Shattered, Disorganized Hawaii Supreme Court Was Manipulated into Gay Marriage
SA: "I knew this was going change the world," Levinson recalled (eyeing the mirror and ignoring all the precedents of the entire history of the human race)....
Levinson, 66, who retired in late 2008, believes that he may have been the right person at the right time to write the opinion, which generated more reaction nationally and locally than any Hawaii state court ruling.
If the issue had arisen earlier before the older justices, Levinson said he "would bet my house" that the Hawaii high court would not have ruled the same way....
It was, he recalled, an exciting time for the new associate justice, who had earlier served three years as a circuit judge obligated to follow high court precedents that he thought had been incorrectly analyzed.
"If they happened to arise, to come up in an appeal, I really wanted to do some re-sculpting, if possible," he said. "Being new and relatively young, and not lacking in self-confidence, and understanding the nature of the power that the court wielded, I wasn't temperamentally inclined to shirk big issues."
Because the Hawaii Supreme Court was in transition, Levinson and Chief Justice Ronald Moon were the only two sitting members of the court.
Moon joined in Levinson's opinion. Moon was 52.
Former Chief Justice Herman Lum had stepped down from hearing the case. Associate Justice James Wakatsuki had died. And Associate Justice Robert Klein could not hear the case because as a circuit judge, he had earlier thrown out a lawsuit by three same-sex couples challenging the state marriage laws. The couples' suit was the subject of the appeal.
The three replacements were substitute justices James Burns and Walter Heen from the state appeals court and retired Associate Justice Yoshimi Hayashi.
In the ruling, Levinson reversed Klein's decision and reinstated a lawsuit by the couples who were denied state marriage licenses.
Levinson wrote that the state's ban on same-sex marriages was sex discrimination in violation of the state Constitution's equal protection clause unless the state could show "compelling" reasons to justify the ban.
Burns, then 56, agreed that Klein's ruling should be reversed, but said a hearing should be held to determine whether homosexuality was "biologically fated" to fall under the equal protection clause.
The two oldest justices, Heen, then 65, and Hayashi, who was 69, disagreed. Heen wrote the dissent, pointing to the rulings in other state courts and holding that he didn't find the ban to be sex discrimination.
Hayashi's opinion was not part of the ruling because his appointment had expired before the decision.
But Levinson recalled that during an earlier conference, Hayashi pointed to Heen and said, "I'm a traditionalist. I'm with him."
Reality: Broken Trust Gang Finally Imposes Gay Unions on Hawaii
read ... Levinson Never Served Time
Mainland Gays Aroused by Ability to Recruit at Farrington
CB: The Farrington Club holds weekly after school meetings, field trips and community events, including the AIDS Walk. It also ran a public service announcement.
From the press release:
“Hawaii is often pictured as an island paradise; but in reality, we too, struggle with intolerance and discrimination, particularly towards our LGBT population,” said Alison Colby, co-advisor of Farrington High’s GSA. “Our school is located in the center of a tough urban area, and consequently, our reputation is often negative. This honor gives us all a tremendous lift - it is a celebration of our youth’s power to create a school and community based on acceptance and love.”
But Farrington isn’t new to LGBT leadership. Prominent transgender advocate, Mr. Janet Mock graduated from the school in 2001 and plans on attending the awards ceremony to celebrate her his alma mater.
DoE News Release: Farrington High wins national LGBT award School to be honored in New York for promoting respect among students
read ... Recruitment Ground
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