Caldwell Signs Bill 8: Protecting Politicians' Midnight Bathroom Escapades
Shield Law: Nine Senators Stand up to Clayton Hee
Senate Votes to Pass 174 Bills
Natatorium Decision Re-Launches EIS Contract
Robotics: Micronesian Schools Plan 'Yapital Robo Day'
Starting in October: 15% Penalty on Overpaid Unemployment Comp
Bills 11 & 12: Pine Appeals for Leeward, Ewa Projects
Meet Hawaii's Millionaire Union Bosses
HNN: At a time when many of their members are still struggling to find work, the heads of Hawaii's construction unions are taking home fat pay checks.
A Hawaii News Now study of filings with the IRS and the U.S. Labor Department found that many of the top managers at Hawaii's construction unions are among the highest paid in country for similar-sized organizations.
"These are tough economic times. Both union wage earners and nonunion wage earners feel it deeply and its times like these that leaders just need to be accountable to their stakeholders," said Kelii Akina, CEO of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii....
-- The top paid labor executive in Hawaii is George Paris of the Iron Workers Stabilization Fund. Paris earns more than $400,000 a year to head a fund that covers fewer than 900 active members;
-- He is followed by the Painter Union's Lynn Kinney. Kinney, who retired at the end of last year from the 2,000-member union, earned more than $281,000 in 2012;
-- Ron Taketa of the Hawaii Carpenter's Union earned about $270,000 last year. His pay is up about 22 percent after he took on additional duties due to a restructuring at the 5,800-member union.
Related: Feds Investigate Caldwell Admin Official
read ... Lucrative pay at Hawaii's unions
Rate Hike: $11M for Obamacare, $27M for HMSA
PBN: Hawaii Insurance Commissioner Gordon Ito has approved a rate increase of 6.8 percent for the Hawaii Medical Service Association’s plans for small businesses, which is nearly 2 percentage points 1.8% lower than the health insurer’s original request.
HMSA had requested a rate increase of 8.6 percent for its community-rated group plans, which cover small businesses with fewer than 100 employees, or more than 118,000 Hawaii consumers. Instead, the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs’ Insurance Division approved the reduced rate, which takes effect July 1, officials said Wednesday.
The reduction in the rate increase will save consumers and businesses about $10 million, the division said.... (If 1.8% = $10M, 6.8% = $38M)
The state noted that fees associated with the federal Affordable Care Act account for 2 percentage points of the 6.8 percent increase. (If 1.8% = $10M, 2% = $11M)
read ... $11M for Obamacare, $27M for HMSA
Portnoy: No Shield Law as Long as Hee is Judiciary Chair
SA: Free-press advocates lamented the impending expiration of the state's news media "shield law," hailed nationally as a model for protection of news sources, and laid the blame squarely on Sen. Clayton Hee, the Senate's judiciary and labor chairman.
At a news conference Wednesday, Jeff Portnoy, an attorney for the Hawaii Shield Law Coalition, said it would be a "waste of time" to pursue the matter as long as Hee (D, Heeia-Laie-Waialua) is judiciary chairman....
At least one senator who had worked on the shield law legislation said he would try again next year by helping fellow lawmakers and the public better understand what's at stake.
"The public gets most of its information through media sources, through journalists, and if journalists are concerned about being forced to reveal their sources it has a chilling effect on their ability to let the public know what government is doing," Sen. Les Ihara (D, Moiliili-Kaimuki-Palolo), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday. "Democracy, I think, is at stake."
Blame Game:
read ... Democracy at risk with shield law's end, senator says
Gil Rivere switches parties, Prepares for Rematch with Fale
SA: "I think I can be a really good, strong voice for that part of the Democrat platform," said Riviere, who plans to sign his party card on Friday.
Riviere, who was elected in 2010, lost to Rep. Richard Fale (R, Waialua-Kahuku-Waiahole) in the Republican primary last year by 76 votes. Riviere's district had been reconfigured after reapportionment into a new House District 47 that covers much of the North Shore and part of Windward Oahu.
Riviere held the Haleiwa and Sunset Beach side of the district in the primary, while Fale, who had run unsuccessfully before on the Windward side, won in Kahuku and Hauula.
The dilemma for Republican candidates in Hawaii who appeal to voters from both parties is that usually only a fraction of the most committed Republican voters pull GOP ballots in primaries. Last year, just 17 percent of voters statewide pulled Republican ballots in the primary, 32 percent in House District 47....
"If we put a brick in the ground, and it helps the people in my community, and it helps bring those kids out of poverty, I'm for the brick," Fale said. "If I put the brick in the ground, and it doesn't help my kids, doesn't help my families, doesn't help our senior citizens, doesn't help bring those kids out of poverty, then I'm against the brick."
David Chang, the state GOP chairman, said: "It's more of a personal grudge and a personality conflict that's taking precedence. And I think that it doesn't do his North Shore or his district any favors."
Riviere's switch comes as Democrats are again going through their own internal turbulence over political candidates who lack fidelity to the party's platform. The party is preparing a lawsuit to close primaries so that only voters who declare their affiliation with the party can participate....
Dante Carpenter, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, said the party continues to welcome former Republican candidates like Riviere.
read ... One More Loss
Four Say Loyalists to Get Leadership Positions in Souki's House
PR: State House leaders are expected to announce four new leadership positions in a resolution on Thursday, the last day of session.
Rep. Derek Kawakami, Rep. Ty Cullen, Rep. Henry Aquino and Rep. Ryan Yamane would join the House leadership team.
Kawakami and Cullen would be assistant majority leaders, Aquino would be policy leader, and Yamane would be majority whip.
Sources described the move as an olive branch to the four lawmakers, who have been loyal to the faction of 18 Democrats behind former House Speaker Calvin Say and Rep. Marcus Oshiro.
The offer was not contingent on the four joining House Speaker Joseph Souki's leadership coalition....But sources did say that it would give the appearance that the Souki coalition is getting stronger, not weaker.
House Majority Leader Scott Saiki said Wednesday evening that the coalition intends to honor its commitment to minority Republicans through next session. Republicans enjoy three committee vice chairmanships in their partnership with Democrats.
read ... Olive Branch
DoE Boosts Scores by Repeating Test Three Times
HTH: At Nanakuli High and Intermediate, she listened to Principal Darin Pilialoha explain state math and reading scores. During the 2011-12 school year, 18 percent of seventh-graders tested proficient in math. This year, that figure reached 24 percent. Tenth-graders in 2011-12 tested 43 percent proficient in reading and then reached 52 percent after three attempts this school year. But a key challenge is eighth-grade reading scores, which have dropped since 2011-12.
Efforts under way at Nanakuli Elementary could help improve scores for students when they get to the intermediate school level. Principal Wendy Takahashi explained to Gabbard that taking the test three times a year under adaptive online testing is giving children a good motivation to improve. “If it was only one time, they could care less,” she said. “The scores come in the summer and no one looks at it.”
read ... Three Times
Anti-GMO Activists Burn Two Tractors on Maui
SA: Biotechnology is no stranger to the islands. In the 1990s, the papaya ringspot virus decimated Hawaii papaya farms. Thankfully, Dennis Gonsalves, a plant pathologist from Hilo, helped to develop a transgenic papaya resistant to the virus. In 1998, the variety was available to farmers and today the papaya industry thrives.
In spite of this, Hawaii is home to a fierce, loud and extreme anti-biotech movement. During our visit, anti-GMO activists burned two tractors on a Maui sugarcane farm. We also learned that many seed company employees receive threats against their families and properties. We understand that the arguments against the seed industry are steeped in the history of Hawaii agriculture, but it is also mired in the anti-Monsanto and anti-science rhetoric that grips so much of the food conversation today.
KGI: About 50 protest GMOs
read ... Eco-Terrorism
Bio Tech Backed by Nature Conservancy
SA: Proponents of agricultural technologies are not limited to "company scientists" but include a wide range of independent academic researchers, like myself, who have spent decades in laboratories and fields studying ways to improve crop production methods, increase food safety and reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture.
Those who see the benefits of biotechnology and other crop protection practices used and developed on the Hawaiian islands include conservation and environmental groups like The Nature Conservancy, anti-poverty groups like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a wide range of sustainable farming organizations seeking to address suffering in some of the poorest part of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Further, respected food-safety and health experts like the World Health Organization, the American Medical Association and the American Dietetic Association have extensively reviewed and endorsed the safety of foods from biotech crops. Many opponents of modern agriculture, such as "Babes Against Biotech," are making uninformed and false claims about important food safety issues and should not be characterized as food safety advocates or representative of local interests in Hawaii.
read ... Wisdom
Witness in officer's extortion case cuts deal
SA: The key prosecution witness in the federal extortion case against retired Honolulu Police Department.
Maj. Carlton Nishimura has pleaded guilty to methamphetamine possession in a deal with the prosecutor that reduces her possible penalty to a maximum two-year prison term from a minimum five-year term.
Doni Mei Imose Crisolo pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court to misdemeanor possession of 7.7 grams of the drug under a new charge the government filed against her that same day. The charge carries maximum penalties of a year in jail and $1,000 fine.
But because she committed the crime while free on bond for another criminal case, she faces up to an additional year behind bars and mandatory fine of $1,000 to $100,000....
Drug Enforcement Administration airport task force members arrested Crisolo at Honolulu Airport in November as she was about to board a flight to Las Vegas. The court had approved the trip to allow her to attend a job-related conference.
At the time of her arrest, Crisolo was free on bond pending sentencing for her role in a methamphetamine distribution ring.
read ... Extortion
SB391 'Safe Places' Dies in Conference
CB: Senate Bill 391 wanted to change that by establishing a preliminary network of "safe places" for youth. The two-year pilot program would've made use of existing organizations such as the YMCA and the Boys & Girls Club. But the measure, which was the state Keiki Caucus's top priority this year, died in conference committee Friday.
read ... Safe Places
87% of Domestic Violence Cases Dismissed
CB: The Honolulu prosecutor's office says that in the six-month period from October through March, there were 31 trials and 243 dismissals due to speedy trial requirements. That's one trial per eight dismissals.
Victims advocates say those statistics are poor incentive for domestic violence victims to stick with their cases.
"That's a broken system. Wouldn't you agree?" said Cindy Spencer, vice president of survivor and community programs for the Domestic Violence Action Center, which works with victims. "There's not enough courtrooms, not enough judges, not enough criminal justice system staff to accommodate the size of the problem."
"The reality is that the backlog in the system really becomes a barrier for domestic violence victims to seek justice or to get maybe what they want — which is for their partners to get some kind of counseling," she said.
read ... Dismissed
Baisa: Tax Increases Needed to Fund Profitable NonProfits
MN: Baisa's position was supported by more than a half-dozen nonprofit officials who testified before the committee Tuesday morning. They were seeking increases in their funding levels to keep pace with rising costs of utilities, insurance and medical benefits. They said they have endured cuts in recent years from various government agencies.
Several testifiers said that they have done everything they can to raise funds on their own through grants and fundraising and have even turned to furloughs and layoffs of staff to balance their budgets.
Baisa said a "nominal raise" in property taxes was needed to assist those nonprofit organizations as well as to assist county programs and departments that have made valid cases for more funding.
During the meeting, Baisa sought to keep some proposed new staff positions in the budget.
read ... More Taxes
Med School Puts Best Face Forward To Lawmakers
CB: As a medical doctor, state Sen. Josh Green knows the health needs of the residents his Big Island district of Kona and Kau.
What he may not have known is that three social workers who graduated from the University of Hawaii work in District 3. Or that 24.2 percent of the South Kona adult population smokes. Or that there have been significant shifts in use and attitudes of crystal methamphetamine among teens and young adults.
That information is detailed in the John A. Burns School of Medicine's annual report to the 2013 Hawaii Legislature, which represents a new initiative on the part of JABSOM officials to keep lawmakers abreast of select education, research, community services and outreach in their districts — all 76 of them.
It's intentional — a way of showing thanks to the Legislature for its continued financial support, and to keep the funding coming....
The report is available online. But JABSOM took an extra step to get the word out by printing hard copies and delivering them directly to lawmakers' offices.
read ... Keeping the Cash Flowing
Faculty resolution calls UH study “flawed and premature”
ILind: A recent study on the cost of higher education was based on flawed data and faulty comparisons, resulting in “a less than positive impression of the University of Hawaii at Manoa and its faculty,” according to a resolution to be considered by Manoa faculty senate this afternoon.
The resolution, presented by the Senate executive committee, says “the decision to release a flawed and premature report reflects the poor judgment of the UH System administration.”
It calls on the university administration to publicly acknowledge and correct the errors and consult with the faculty before drawing any conclusions from the study.
read ... Defending Turf
Tesoro refinery closure leaves Hawaii Gas looking for new supplier
PBN: Hawaii Gas, which has been receiving naphtha from the Texas-based refiner and marketer of petroleum products since 1974. Naphtha is a byproduct of petroleum refining and the sole source of feedstock used to produce synthetic natural gas on Oahu
Joe Boivin, a spokesman for Hawaii Gas, told PBN the company has been working on the issue ever since Tesoro (NYSE: TSO) announced in January its plan to shut down its Kapolei refinery and convert it into an import, storage and distribution terminal.
“We have made very good progress and everybody’s been helpful in the effort,” he said. “But because we are in negotiations, we can’t talk publicly about it.”
Boivin did say, however, that Hawaii Gas is confident that it will find alternate suppliers.
“Over the next few months, we should have a deal,” he said....
“I believe we have given an application to Hawaii Gas,” said Al Chee, spokesman for Chevron. “With Tesoro shutting down, Hawaii Gas will have to find another supplier or [have] Tesoro bring that in.”
Chee says that Chevron supplies naphtha to the Neighbor Islands, with the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative being one of its customers.
“We have contracts in place with Neighbor Island power generators to supply naphtha [and] we are going to honor our contracts and terms,” he said.
read ... Next Few Months
First Full Cruise Season Under New EPA Rules Start
AP: industry officials fear new fuel standards intended to limit pollution from large ships could drive vessels away....
While the rules affect much of the North American coast and Hawaii, officials in Alaska argue they will have a disproportionate effect here, and they have sued to prevent the restrictions from being enforced in waters off Alaska's coast.
A federal judge has yet to weigh in on the lawsuit filed by the state shortly before the new standards took effect Aug. 1.
read ... EPA vs Tourism
$739M Airport project set for takeoff
SA: After years of planning, the largest airport expansion in Hawaii's history is finally taking off.
The ground breaks today on a sweeping four-year modernization of Honolulu Airport, starting with a new maintenance building for Aloha Air Cargo.
When construction wraps on the $739 million project, travelers using the main gateway to the islands will see two more concourses; a large central building for the airport's rental car companies; wider taxiways to accommodate larger planes and other upgrades.
The expansion has been in the works since at least 2005....
The Outdoor Circle, a longtime grass-roots group aimed at protecting Hawaii's green scenery, has raised concerns that the airport project's preliminary landscaping plans call for a net loss of 333 trees, including large trees such as monkeypods, coconut palms and royal poincianas.
"To me, the gateway to paradise is about to lose its entire look of aloha," said Bob Loy, Outdoor Circle's director of environmental programs. Too many trees will be lost to more concrete, steel and glass, Loy said, and Outdoor Circle is drafting an alternative to provide more green canopy.
SA: Honolulu Airport: Multi-year expansion plans [Infographic]
read ... Airport Pork
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