Entries for March 2022

... The purpose of the Commission is to dissipate reform energy in order to preserve the status quo. ... 

... Hawaii’s contributions have fallen below minimum actuarial standards since 2011, which has caused the state’s funding level to decline from 94% in 2000 to 55% as of 2019 ....

... Vitaly Tretyakov, quipped amid the crosstalk "Is she some sort of Russian agent?" prompting Solovyov to joke "yes." ....

... February 2022 visitor spending was lower than the $1.46 billion (-10.4%) spent in February 2020 ....

... Senator Kim pushed the elimination of a tenured faculty member’s position and introduced SB 3269 SD1, a bill that attempted to alter tenure and transfer managerial authority over the university from the Board of Regents to the legislature ....

 ... The appointments are subject to approval by the Senate .... 

... The fixed monthly bill credit will be applied at an amount equivalent to the respective retail rate for exporting energy during a two-hour period of the evening peak ....

... the Hawaii VEX Robotics State Championships held in February and March qualified 32 out of 77 Hawaii VEX robotics teams to advance to the 2022 VEX Robotics World Championship in Dallas, May 3-12 ....

... SB3089 SD2 HD1 would amend the state’s emergency-management statute to clarify that the powers granted for emergency purposes should not be inconsistent with the Hawaii Constitution, require justification for the suspension of laws and place limits on such suspensions, and allow the Legislature or county councils to terminate an emergency, in part or in whole, by a two-thirds vote. ...

... evidence on the effect of minimum wages on employment, skills, wage and income distributions, and longer-term labor market outcomes ....

... three tax types of state tax burdens — property taxes, individual income taxes and sales and excise taxes — as a share of total personal income in the state ....

... when it comes to vacant homes, Hawaii is just average.  This demonstrates that home vacancy rates do not correspond with housing costs ....

... it is not possible to turn an economy on and off like a light switch ....

... the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s contract with the Pacific Maritime Association, a maritime employer representative, ends in July 2022 ....

... Harleman faces up to 20 years imprisonment on each of the wire fraud counts and up to 10 years imprisonment on each of the money laundering counts, as well as a fine of up to $250,000 on each count, plus a term of supervised release up to three years ....

... David Akui-Cabanilla, III, 36, pleaded guilty today in federal court to two counts of assaulting a federal officer ....

... public universities were hit the hardest with a 13.2 drop in new freshmen enrollment over the two-year pandemic period ....

... Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, interim assistant vice provost for faculty excellence and Department of Political Science professor, is the newest addition to the five-member Kamehameha Schools Board of Trustees ....

... Case’s Appropriations Committee will review the request as part of the President’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget request ....

... Tomorrow, the Senate Committee on Judiciary will hear House Bill 2075HD1, to make changes to Hawaii’s pistol permitting and registration system in an effort to comply with the recent Yukutake v. Connors court case decision ....

... Honolulu rents since 2018 have continued to increase, despite a downturn in short-term rental stays during that time frame ....

... an empty homes tax would have the effect of penalizing homeowners, driving up already sky-high taxes, implementing privacy-invasive and severe enforcement measures and providing little to benefit to residents in need of affordable housing ....

... Including the federal tax, taxes account for 13.8% of the average price of a gallon of gas in the state ....

... in Hawaii 9.6% of mortgage holders are behind on their payments ....

... people on the lower end of the income spectrum spend comparatively more of their hard-earned dollars on general excise tax ....

... Esther Bodyu-Ogawa said word of his kidnapping took days to become public because the city was captured by Russia and the troops confiscated the family's cellphones and other devices ....

... $3.92 for a Tall Latte ....

... Maui council member plans to offer JA waiver resolution ....

... HB1697 Becomes Resolution: Let the Keiki do the Dirty Work ....

... the dust hasn't settled yet ....

... The Pacific Legal Foundation said the ban was an unlawful move by a low-level federal bureaucrat who destroyed a business avenue central to the livelihoods of many in Hawaii ....

... a deliberative process exemption to the UIPA would be little more than a loophole by which state agencies could evade records requests ....

... Only Hawaii, North Dakota and Louisiana have not reached at least a 70 percent recovery of jobs lost as of the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. ....

... Hawaii is home to some 70,410 renters who owe their landlords rent, and an estimated 19.1% of them reported being either somewhat likely or very likely to face eviction in the coming months - the fourth smallest share among states ....

... Hawaii doesn’t have a presidential primary law — Democrats there used a party-run event in 2020 ....

"...Thi$ Bill DOE$ NOT provide for any benefit$, or any procedure for $uch benefit$ to tran$fer to the beneficiarie$...." -- Anti-Telescope Protest Leaders

... Senator Kidani Education Committee Chair, announced bill 2125 will be deferred, sighting a "fracturing of relationships between DOE and our special education families and community" ....

..."We submitted a Recovery Plan to the FTA, proposing to amend the Full Funding Grant Agreement" (not quite) ....

... knowledge and technology outputs are America’s particular strengths--but not Hawaii's ....

... None of these insiders know anything about electricity so Schatz makes federal taxpayers to pay for experts who can do the actual work for them ....

... BWS has requested all Oʻahu water users to voluntarily decrease water usage by 10% ....

... Top 5: Hawaii, Mississippi, Kentucky, Maine, Kansas.   High income Hawaii is more costly--as a proportion of income--than the other four which are low income states ....

... high taxes for poor quality services ....

... Low taxes, school choice help inform ALEC's ranking of best, worst governors ....

... King v McKelvey for State Senate? ....

... resulting in misstatements in eight different ADC accounts and a three-year delay in financial reporting ....

... In terms of dollar figures, Hawaii spent the last two years in a class by itself. The state tallied the steepest increases in the country across every category and every time period throughout the entirety of the pandemic. ....

... 2022’s Best & Worst States for Doctors ....

... The Hawaii State Teachers Association Human and Civil Rights (HCR) Committee is proud to present its 2022 Social Justice Summit on Sunday, April 3, on Zoom. This event is free and open to the public ....

... The Honolulu Star-Advertiser adds its voice to those urging special consideration for Hawaii during the current fuel crisis ....