IRS Admits Targeting TEA Party Groups—Maui TEA Party Among Victims
Tesoro Bidder: Dismantle Refinery, Ship it to China
NYC Reduces Street Homelessness with ‘Housing First’
Hawaii Gas delays LNG shipping container program
Reason TV: How Protectionism Hurts Hawaii--Why It's Time to Repeal the Jones Act
Kym Pine Backs Four Key West Oahu Transportation Projects
Big Cash Giveaway: Health Connector Announces Marketplace Assister Funding Opportunity
Star-Adv, Danner, Schatz vs Abercrombie: Federalize DHHL
SA: The performance of the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands in providing leases to Native Hawaiians has been disgraceful for decades — and strong oversight, federal and state, is needed to put it squarely on the right track. U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz is right in prodding the U.S. Interior Department to exercise its badly needed oversight authority and the Abercrombie administration must take strong action to revamp the state agency's poor performance.... (Obviously, 'federalizing' DHHL is a set-up for Federal DoI 'recognition' of Danner's Akaka Tribe. Duh)
In response to this week's series, Schatz has met with Rhea Suh, the assistant interior secretary for policy, management and budget, to ask her involvement in ensuring that Interior exercises its oversight authority with the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust, enacted by Congress in 1921 and leading to DHHL's administration of the program.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie, meanwhile, issued a statement that he is committed to reviewing DHHL and "where applicable, altering its existing policies."
What a weak response from the state's top executive, given the many years that the state auditor has found DHHL's failure to carry out its basic function. The department has been cozy and insular for too long — and the threat of forceful federal oversight could be the most promising first step in a long time to finally make this system work.
February 20, 2013: Schatz: Obama Administration May Recognize Akaka Tribe via Dep’t of Interior Without Congress
read ... Set up for Akaka Tribe
Bishop Silva: Lawsuit Possible over Abortion Pill Mandate
SA: Q: On the emergency contraception law, which the church opposed, do you think that because the St. Francis sisters left the management of the two hospitals, the church lost some influence on this issue?
A: That may be; that's a possibility. But more than that, I think, there is a question of religious liberty that is on the table.
We believe that life begins at conception, that that life is precious and valuable, and that life has a right to continue, to live.
Now, the emergency contraceptive issue is complicated, because certainly we have great compassion and sympathy for a woman who is raped; that is not something we just take lightly. And we can understand that it's a burden for her to bear that child.
But the key is this: Whether the child is conceived through rape or through love, it's a child, and it has a right to life, and that is our point. The emergency contraceptives may stop ovulation -- and if they do that, that's fine. But if they actually put to death a child that's already conceived, then we have a problem. ...
Some of the testimony was that some Catholic hospitals give the emergency contraceptive. Yes, that's true. But usually they give a pregnancy test first. If the ovulation has occurred, they will not, but if ovulation has not occurred, yes.
But that was a distinction that was lost to the legislators. And, let's face it, many of them don't agree with what we believe is good science, that a human life begins at conception.
Q: Is there a possibility the church could challenge this legally?
A: Well, it could, especially if somebody is forced to do something against their conscience. We have Catholic nurses and doctors who are opposed to abortion. ... We would want their conscience and rights to be respected.
This is the whole issue with the (Department of) Health and Human Services, as well.
Q: You mean the Obamacare mandate for contraception coverage?
A: Right. The government is telling us what we must believe.
read ... Bishop Larry Silva: Hawaii's first local-born bishop
SB623 Solar Credits: 1MW or Larger Projects Would Have Looted Treasury
PBN: Chris DeBone, managing partner of Waipahu-based Hawaii Energy Connection, is happy that SB 623 did not pass.
“It’s because a lot of people don’t understand what was in the bill,” he said. “It segregated two types of systems — under 1 megawatt and above 1 megawatt [with] the one below 1 megawatt being what most of the solar industry is in.”
He said the problem was that the bill’s language would have created an entirely different structure for systems above 1 megawatt.
“That structure would have cost more money and possibly drain the state’s coffers at a faster rate and hurt the entire industry,” he said. “We think that the rule in place is a better rule in the grand scheme of things.”
read ... Dodged a Bullet
UH legal bill for new telescope project nearly $3 million
HNN: The University of Hawaii has spent nearly $3 million in legal fees on its controversial effort to build the world's largest telescope on Hawaii island's Mauna Kea summit....
UH hired the law firm Carlsmith Ball and has so far paid them $2.9 million for legal services on the telescope project. That's money spent over five years, since 2008, a year before UH President MRC Greenwood was hired.
Barry Taniguchi, owner of KTA Superstores on the Big Island, is the former chair of UH's Mauna Kea Management board. He has been involved in the project for 12 years.
"Legal services are needed because this is a very complex project. It's a billion-dollar project. It involves issues in the environmental, it involves issues in cultural, zoning," Taniguchi said. "Too many times, a project is killed because someone screwed up on process. We wanted to make sure that the processes were all met and we just needed a great legal team to do that."
State Senate President Donna Kim (D-Kapalama, Kalihi Valley, Moanalua), who asked UH officials for the legal fee totals, said, "It seems a little excessive, in my opinion."
read ... Price of A&B
Honolulu mayor reveals plan to reduce homelessness
AP: The mayor he wants to spend between $3 million and $4.5 million in federal funds to help get at least 100 people off the streets over the next two years.
Caldwell says the project adopts the Housing First strategy, which focuses on giving people shelter before other services. The Hawaii Legislature is already investing in a statewide Housing First initiative and voted last week to renew the funding. Other states that have invested in the strategy include Oregon and Kansas.
Caldwell says his plan is different from previous attempts by Honolulu to reduce homelessness because the proposal seeks to help people find housing within their own communities, rather than corralling them into one neighborhood.
City officials also say that previous plans to fight homelessness prioritized substance abuse treatment before housing. The new initiative sees shelter as the first level of treatment.
He plans to start in Waikiki, Waianae and downtown. He didn't have an estimate of how much the program might cost if it expands to other neighborhoods.
City and state officials say the plan will save Hawaii money. They estimate that helping each person will cost about $30,000 per person....
SA: City tackles shelter first
Background: NYC Reduces Street Homelessness with ‘Housing First’
Homelessness Industry Pushback:
read ... Housing First
DoE SPED Teacher Busted for Meth trafficking
SA: A Honolulu police officer who is a member of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Honolulu Airport drug task force arrested Janice Pualani Fontes on Tuesday. She appeared in U.S. District Court on Wednesday and is scheduled to return to court Monday for a hearing to determine whether she should remain in custody without the opportunity for release on bail.
The DEA said in documents submitted in court Wednesday that the officer located Fontes at Leilehua High during school hours. Fontes agreed to talk to the officer off campus, where he arrested her.
Fontes told the officer she agreed to receive the drugs, collect the proceeds and send them to California for Raul Garcia, a convicted felon with whom she has kept in contact for the past 20 years, 17 of them while he was in prison.
She said Garcia visited her last September, following his release from prison, and she agreed to marry him. She said she later learned that the marriage was not valid because Garcia was still married to somebody else.
She also said Garcia could not move to Hawaii because he was on probation in California.
Fontes said Garcia asked her in January to start collecting his drug proceeds because he did not receive a previous money parcel from somebody else.
She told the DEA that she sent Garcia approximately $6,000 in drug proceeds every week. She said the money was dropped off at her home on Karsten Drive in Wahiawa....
The DEA said its agents were alerted to Fontes' activities when it intercepted a FedEx parcel May 2 containing 313 grams of methamphetamine sent to her ex-husband's address from California. Agents then learned that the FBI was investigating Fontes for allegedly sending drug proceeds out of Hawaii after U.S. postal inspectors intercepted a parcel containing $4,000 in cash she mailed to California.
read ... Another Day in the DoE
Greenwood Retirement Catches Visiting Accreditation Officials By Surprise
CB: Wolff didn’t elaborate much on the team’s conclusions but said it plans to start drafting a special report detailing its findings and providing some recommendations. WASC’s Senior Colleges and Universities accrediting commission is in June expected to review the report, Wolff said. And a finalized version of the report will be available to the public in July.
But Wolff said it looks like accreditation for the university’s several campuses will remain in tact, in part because most of the bills that would’ve cracked down on university governance died earlier this year.
WASC was “very concerned” about “potential legislation that could infringe or interfere with the appropriate level of autonomy of the university … but nearly all of them did not get enacted,” Wolff said.
He also said that the report would review some of the provisos attached to this year’s university budget.
Related: From Hawaii to Virginia, are College Accreditors Overstepping their Authority?
read ... Greenwood Retirement Catches Visiting Accreditation Officials By Surprise
Hawaii County PD: Sovereignty Scammers Lying About Investigation
BIN: The Hawaii Police Department today took an unusual step in denying that an investigation is underway, issuing a statement refuting a claim that five Big Island judges are the subject of a criminal probe over their roles in foreclosure proceedings.
The claim was made in a press release issued Tuesday by Oahu attorney Dexter Kaiama, attorney for Laulima Title Search and Claims, LLC, and its owner, Puna resident Kale Gumapac.
Kaiama’s statement said the judges were being investigated by HPD’s Criminal Investigation Section “for their alleged role in war crimes by denying defendants a fair and regular trial and foreclosure and ejectment proceedings at the court houses in Hilo and Kona.”
The judges named were Circuit Court judges Ronald Ibarra, Greg Nakamura and Glenn Hara; and District Court judges Harry Freitas and Joseph Florendo.
Kaiama claimed that the investigations would be routed to the US Pacific Command, the combined US armed forces headquartered at Camp Smith in Honolulu. He said that is the federal agency responsible “under the War Crimes Act.”
According to Laulima’s website, Gumapac and six others facing foreclosure – all clients of Laulima – are “victims of the alleged felony war crimes.”
Reality: Sovereignty Mortgage Scammer Keanu Sai at it again with help from Legislators, Maui Council, University
read ... Sovereignty Scammers
State Destroys $60M to Get $12M in Tax Revenue
PBN: By amending a portion of the tax code, lawmakers removed a two-year-old cap on itemized deductions by higher-income taxpayers. House Bill 430 now awaits Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s signature....
Kelvin Taketa, president and CEO of the Hawaii Community Foundation, said that even though the state intended to save money — bringing in $12 million per year from the cap — more damage was being done with the cap in place.
“There is about $600 million every year given to charity,” he said. “We looked at different studies around tax incentives, and we thought an incredibly conservative number would have said that 10 percent of that wouldn’t be given if people were not allowed to take full value of charitable deduction. So, the state was trading $12 million in general fund revenue for $60 million of charitable gifts going into our community.”
read ... HB430
Political Chicken: Alternatives to Gas Tax Hike
CB: The Honolulu City Council killed Caldwell’s gas tax in before it even got a hearing, which quickly lopped $15 million in revenue from his previously balanced budget.
And by lifting a hiring freeze and allowing city departments to start fill their vacancies, the administration has trimmed some of the cash pocketed to help pay for the increased salaries.
Now the administration is forced to look elsewhere for money to help cover the estimated $26 million it must pay out next year in union pay raises.
To put that figure in perspective, that’s the same amount of money Councilman Stanley Chang asked for to build a refuge for Oahu’s homeless population.
Chang’s plan included buying land, building new restrooms and even providing services such as job placement and drug and alcohol treatment....
Shinn admitted that the administration might have been overly confident when it came to the gas tax, and that it is "desperately" looking for the money to cover the pay increases. She also said the administration considered using money from the $142 million sale of the city’s 12 affordable housing complexes to help pay for collective bargaining costs.
“That was Plan A,” Shinn said, “And now that we’re looking at Plan B we are looking at some of the other provisional accounts which will create risk to the city.”
In particular, Shinn said the administration is eyeing the city’s surplus and whether it should raid the money it initially budgeted to pay for post-employment retirement benefits, otherwise known as OPEB. Governments across the country are scrambling to pay down this future debt in order to maintain good financial standing so they can borrow at lower interest rates.
“We’re looking at surplus, we’re looking at OPEB, we’re looking at all these other pots of money that give us financial stability for bond ratings, for fiscal prudence and other kinds of things,” Shinn said. “In the absence of enhanced revenue we have to look at things that put us more at risk.”
In many ways, this back-and-forth can be looked at as a game of political chicken
read ... A 'Desperate' Search For More Money Inside The Walls Of Honolulu Hale
Lawmakers Balk At Bills Targeting 2012 Hawaii Election Flubs
CB: This year’s legislative session wrapped up May 2 with only one significant election-reform bill passing.
Good-government groups celebrated the Legislature’s passage of Senate Bill 827. It prohibits employers, unions, candidates or their agents from assisting voters with completing absentee ballots.
Concerns of voter intimidation were raised last election over Rep. Romy Cachola’s hands-on approach to helping voters in his district with their absentee ballots. He denied any wrongdoing, but one family said he forced a grandmother to complete an absentee ballot as he watched....
House Bill 1481 set out to create a public funding program for legislative candidates starting in 2016. It was later changed to apply only to House candidates.
“We really do not know what happened, other than we know it was primarily Sen. Clayton Hee who stopped the bill from passing,” Payne said Thursday....
A related measure, Senate Bill 381, died near the end session. It would have changed the formula for a comprehensive public funding pilot project on the Big Island and limited to 15 the number of candidates who can take advantage of the funding....
A measure to expand the duties of the state Elections Commission to include conducting a performance evaluation of the chief election officer every six months passed the House, but House Bill 568 died in the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee without a hearing....
The Green Party of Hawaii in December filed a lawsuit to stop the chief elections officer from conducting another election until there are new rules in place to prevent the type of voter disenfranchisement that occurred in November....
Lawmakers tried to address the issue legislatively, but were unable to get the measure passed this past session. Senate Bill 225 would have clarified the definition of “residency” in election law. It cleared the Senate but died in the House without a hearing....
Senate Bill 223, which also changes the timeline for objections to the validity of nomination papers and clarifies existing election law, was in part a response to Sen. Laura Thielen running as a Democrat....
Freshman lawmaker Rep. Kaniela Ing almost convinced the Legislature to pass House Bill 321, which would provide a process for same-day voter registration at absentee polling places....
Gov. Neil Abercrombie, presumably enraged and likely embarrassed by last year’s elections debacle, pushed the Legislature to consider an all-mail voting system.
House Bill 199 would have let the state conduct elections in whole or in part by mail, but it never got a hearing. Nor did several other bills that would have enabled the same thing.
House Bill 1027 came close. The comprehensive measure — which included provisions related to elections by mail, absentee ballots, secrecy, voter assistance and election fraud — passed out of the House but died in the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee without a hearing.
Another progressive measure, Senate Bill 216, would have established a pilot project to enable registered voters to cast their ballots online. It never got a hearing though....
Another measure to die was House Bill 32, which the Senate shelved at the tail-end of session. The bill would change the order of names on the ballot from alphabetical to random.
read ... Election Flubs
New laws target sex exploitation of children
SA: Senate Bill 194, which prohibits defendants accused of solicitation of prostitution from entering deferred acceptance of guilty pleas, is one of the most exciting of the human trafficking laws to pass. Such pleas allow a defendant to have a charge erased from their record if they behave well for a specified period.
"What that means is they have to go to trial now," Coffield said, noting that high-earning defendants will be more likely to hire lawyers. "So what it does, effectively, is it makes prostitution really expensive."
Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed the bill, now Act 53, last month. It took effect upon approval.
Lawmakers also passed Senate Bill 192, which establishes solicitation of a minor for prostitution as a Class C felony that carries a minimum $2,000 fine and adds the offense to the state's list of crimes subject to the sex offender registry.
Victim advocates said they are also excited about a bill recognizing for the first time that minors coerced into human trafficking by strangers are victims of child abuse.
HB 1187 protects minor victims of sex and labor trafficking under the state's Child Protective Act by amending the statutory definition of harm to include children who are victims of sex and labor trafficking and clarifying that sex and labor trafficking are reportable cases of child abuse and neglect.
"The Department of Human Services will be able to recognize them as victims," Xian said.
The fourth and final bill to combat human trafficking, House Bill 1068, requires certain employers to display a poster that provides specified information relating to human trafficking and the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline....
Coffield said he hopes the next big step will be to target online advertisements for prostitution because there is no law to curtail the act.
About 300 advertisements for prostitution related to Hawaii are posted per day on the three most popular such websites, he said.
read ... New laws target sex exploitation of children
Online Voting Leads to Low Participation in Election
SA: There is a citywide election going on right now, even as we speak — and has been, in fact, since April 27.
It's Oahu's Neighborhood Board elections, and if you were registered to vote in the 2012 state elections, you're automatically eligible to vote.
If this is the first you've heard about it, it might be due to one or both of these reasons: Only residents living in neighborhoods with contested races received notice of balloting; and, it's being conducted online.
The Neighborhood Commission Office mailed out online pass codes to some 180,000 eligible voters for the contested board seats; voting runs through May 17.
For voters without computers, the city is making some available at the Mission Memorial Building and at Kapolei Hale; or you can vote by phone, 1-888-907-6717.
For more details, see http://www1.honolulu.gov/nco.
read ... First you've Heard of it?
HCDA: Secret Plans for Another Kakaako Tower
PBN: Plans are in the works for another mixed-use high-rise condominium project in Kakaako that would include hundreds of residential units, according to Anthony Ching, executive director of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, the state agency overseeing the development of Kakaako and Kalaeloa.
He declined to say who the developer is or exactly where the project would be located.
“They haven’t finished full site control, [and they’re] still negotiating for a lease or sale [of the land],” Ching told PBN. “I believe by [the end of] this year we will receive their plans.”
Kamehameha Schools, which owns much of the land in Kakaako, also declined comment about possible locations or developers for such a project. But the most likely sites would be within parcels bounded by Halekauwila Street, Ala Moana Boulevard, Keawe Street and South Street.
Those three parcels are part of Kamehameha Schools’ master plan for the area...
read ... Another Kakaako high-rise planned
'Complete Streets': Cooke St to Be Closed to Traffic
SA: On Sunday, as part of a daylong event promoting more pedestrian and bicycle travel, a stretch of Cooke Street will become what organizers hope could be the future of traffic on Oahu.
Using tubular barriers for curbs, special striping tape for lanes, benches, 40 large trees, hundreds of plants and other temporary materials, Cooke between Halekauwila and Auahi streets will morph into what transportation planners call a "complete street." The road there will be redesigned to show how motorists, cyclists and pedestrians could all better coexist.
Most of the demonstration area won't be open to vehicle traffic, but it will showcase bike lanes, traffic circles, shorter distances for pedestrians to cross, places to sit and park bicycles — even a human-sized chessboard for outdoor activity, organizers say.
read ... Complete for everybody except drivers
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