Entries for December 2017

...This ‘consensus’ of disbelief is proven by the massive investment in sea-level construction of Kakaako condos and Honolulu Rail.... 

...Recently, the Hawaii Tax Review Commission’s primary consultant, PFM Group, issued a final report to the Commission asking it to review many taxing alternatives, including a $360M per year “carbon tax” on Hawaii consumers....

...Does the Supreme Court now have three votes to kill the telescope?....

...the William and Mary Law School awards U. Hawaii lawprof David Callies the Brigham-Kanner Prize....

...OHA will be submitting four bills for consideration this session, as well as testifying on hundreds of other measures that impact our beneficiaries....

...is spending five years of staff time on it to publish a book more important than the life of our people or their homeless plight? ...the public could easily see it as self-serving and done on the backs of our beneficiaries....

...OHA must be seen as a valuable partner, not an opponent, to the broader community....

...Tuesday, January 2 through Wednesday, January 17, 2018....

...Visitors to the Hawaiian Islands spent a total of $1.29 billion in November 2017, an increase of 4.5 percent compared to a year ago....

...lets take a look at the I and F grade projects--and guess which projects score an 'A'....

...Thomas A Allegretti is the outgoing chairman of the American Maritime Partnership (AMP), the primary Jones Act industry lobbying group....

...Boivin will assume duties as of December 22, 2017, replacing the retiring Glenn K. Y. Hong who served as the company’s president for 25 years....

...this could make Hawaii and other high-tax states less competitive for their wealthiest earners, since those residents will be less able to deduct the high local taxes....

...This week, an actress did something almost unheard of. She apologized for spreading misinformation about the new tax law....

...we assessed the division’s surveillance and response to three disease outbreaks....

...the inclusion of ASG allows approximately one third of the funds to stay in American Samoa....

...I committed myself to doing three things for the sake of the Hawaiian people:  First, ensure a full and independent audit of OHA.  Secondly, guide OHA towards financial sustainability as well as growth.  Third, watch to make sure OHA funds are not misspent but rather used to meet the real needs of Hawaiian people....

...It's turtles this time....

...American Maritime Partnership responds to Bloomberg....

...Ige is making appointments to his cabinet to fill the positions left vacant because of two planned retirements. He has also re-appointed the State Procurement Administrator....

...The Calendar for the 2018 Legislative session is now posted....

...over $50 million in bribes....

...People monitoring the ecosystem recovery on tiny Lehua Island report that - four months after the conclusion of a rat eradication project - there are still no signs of the invasive Pacific Rats....

"Hawaii is well on its way for approval once we make minor adjustments to our consolidated plan,” said Superintendent Dr. Christina Kishimoto....

...The biggest exception to this gatekeeper rule is the constitutional convention, where the people elect delegates directly....

...and 5th for speeding....

...“Varley noted that it likely would cost the company nearly twice as much to build its ships in an American shipyard and noted it already has a contract with a European shipbuilder. In addition, the current political climate in the U.S. makes it unlikely a variance to the Jones Act allowing Viking to use European-built vessels, would be approved.”....

...The debate over the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (Jones Act) has been revived as devastating hurricanes stormed through the Caribbean and public figures like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have introduced legislation for its partial or total repeal....

...First, grant at least a five-year waiver of the act to Puerto Rico. This would speed the island’s recovery. It would also test how best to regulate foreign-flag carriers, and provide data to show exactly what the act is costing....

• Senate: Tax Overhaul – Motion to Recede and Concur
• Senate: Short-Term Fiscal 2018 Continuing Appropriations – Motion to Concur
• House: Tax Overhaul – Motion to Concur
• House: Short-Term Fiscal 2018 Continuing Appropriations
• House: Supplemental Disaster Appropriations

...the president’s efforts to bar over 150 million nationals of six Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States....

...State tax law changes impacting businesses and individuals....

...Learmont fills the vacancy created when former Rep. Marcus Oshiro joined the Hawai‘i Labor Relations Board in October....

...the justices have issued several fairly extraordinary orders in cases involving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the latest iteration of the travel ban, which deals rather harshly with trial courts in California, Hawaii and Maryland....

...Full-time internships (10 weeks at 40 hours/week) with a $4,040 pay....

...Santa is an enthusiastic devotee of the surveillance state....

...The benefits of the act are concentrated among special interest groups, but the costs are broadly dispersed....

...UH is currently scheduled to present its budget request to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means in the afternoon of January 9, 2018....

...Labor force drops 1% -- from 690,800 to 684,350 year over year....

...Hawaii lost 1,145 residents between 2016 and 2017....

...a list of candidates to Gov. David Ige to fill one At-Large seat and one Maui County seat for 5-year appointments, beginning July 1, 2018, subject to confirmation by the Hawaiʻi State Senate....

...UH President David Lassner will receive input from the committee and stakeholders and will then present a recommendation for appointment to the Board of Regents....

...the new tax plan will impact Hawai‘i by adding 1,518 new jobs and predicts a $793 after-tax income increase for middle-income families....

...Caldwell is calling upon the Honolulu City Council to pass legislation that places a moratorium on their construction....

...Still playing with U.S. ports....

...Hawaii's Flu Vaccination Rate is 49.2 Percent, 18th Highest....

...Hokama also asked Thom Williams, executive director of the ERS, if the debt would still be owed if the county went bankrupt....

...Hawaii’s entrenched state and county bureaucracies delaying the advance of high technology into their own operations....

...To help provide a sense of how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would impact real taxpayers, we’ve run the taxes of eight example households....

...the second in a planned series of four editorials focusing on the impacts of Jones Act cabotage on the U.S. economy....