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Entries for 'Tom Yamachika'
| Sunday, June 28, 2026 |
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Now You See It…
By Tom Yamachika @ 12:00 AM :: 1324 Views :: Taxes
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...There’s no magic involved here, only taxes. Taxes you can see, and taxes you can’t....
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| Sunday, June 21, 2026 |
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The Art of the Tax Deal
By Tom Yamachika @ 12:00 AM :: 2559 Views :: National News, Ethics
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... the “settlement” that created the Anti-Weaponization Fund has some issues ....
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| Sunday, June 14, 2026 |
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Hawaii Medicaid Fraud Control Problems Go Back 42 Years
By Tom Yamachika @ 12:00 AM :: 4694 Views :: Ethics, Health Care, Law Enforcement
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... the story of a psychologist that was indicted on 32 counts of Medicaid fraud in 1984 ....
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| Sunday, June 7, 2026 |
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Navigating the NIL(e)
By Tom Yamachika @ 12:00 AM :: 4243 Views :: Higher Education, Tourism
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... college athletes to be compensated for their name, image, and likeness (referred to as NIL) ....
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| Sunday, May 31, 2026 |
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Our Big Tax Bill Act
By Tom Yamachika @ 12:00 AM :: 4308 Views :: Energy, Small Business, Tax Credits, Taxes
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...Senate Bill 3125, Our Big Tax Bill (which is still a lot smaller than the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act) was signed into law on May 21 and became Act 24, what I am calling the One Big Tax Bill Act or OBTBA....
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| Sunday, May 24, 2026 |
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Changes to the Solar Credit
By Tom Yamachika @ 12:00 AM :: 4053 Views :: Energy, Small Business, Tax Credits
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... what is going to happen to the renewable energy technologies credit ....
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| Sunday, May 17, 2026 |
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Tax Bills: Follow the Yellow Brick Road
By Tom Yamachika @ 12:00 AM :: 4067 Views :: Tax Credits, Taxes
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... More tax news that’s fit to print (and maybe some that isn’t) ....
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| Sunday, May 10, 2026 |
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Tax Bills: Some Look Radically Different
By Tom Yamachika @ 12:01 AM :: 4428 Views :: Taxes
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... Here are some of the more significant ones ....
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| Sunday, May 3, 2026 |
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Deciphering the Budget
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 4433 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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... the bill is not for the faint of heart ....
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| Sunday, April 26, 2026 |
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What’s Dead – For Now
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 4305 Views :: Taxes
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... Most of the action happens in back rooms ....
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| Sunday, April 19, 2026 |
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Where’s Your Second Tax Return? Part 2
By Tom Yamachika @ 1:31 PM :: 4248 Views :: Tax Credits, Taxes
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... WAM adopted our redraft ....
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| Sunday, April 12, 2026 |
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Conveyance Tax Fright
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 4545 Views :: Taxes
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“Applies a cost-of-living adjustment to conveyance tax rates.”
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| Sunday, April 5, 2026 |
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Additional Car Tax Dead for Now
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 4627 Views :: Taxes
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... It might get resurrected this session if it, in Frankenstein fashion, is grafted onto another live bill ....
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| Sunday, March 29, 2026 |
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HB2429: Makes Your Tax Return Public Record
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 5715 Views :: Taxes
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... Somebody needs to rewrite this bill or put it out of its misery ....
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| Sunday, March 22, 2026 |
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Legislative Halftime Report
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 4533 Views :: Hawaii State Government
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... Any bill that hasn’t crossed over is dead for this session ....
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| Sunday, March 15, 2026 |
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A Taxing Debate
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 3163 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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... What will likely follow will be a bit of negotiating, most of which will occur behind closed doors ....
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| Sunday, March 8, 2026 |
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The Rental Car ‘Loophole’
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2072 Views :: Labor, Small Business, Taxes, Tourism
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... is it really a loophole? ....
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| Sunday, March 1, 2026 |
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The Cruise Fee Quandary
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1488 Views :: Jones Act, Taxes, Tourism
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... there are bills that would undo the TAT extension to cruise lines and, instead, impose a per-passenger charge on cruise ship docking ....
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| Sunday, February 22, 2026 |
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UH sitting on $429M Hoard
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1915 Views :: Higher Education, Taxes
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... The University of Hawaii has a $429M special fund for tuition and fees ....
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| Sunday, February 15, 2026 |
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Tax Cuts: Pause versus Stop
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1088 Views :: Taxes
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... House Bill 2306 and Senate Bill 3125 don’t delay the scheduled cuts by three years or five years. They propose to repeal the cuts, as in get rid of them for good....
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| Sunday, February 1, 2026 |
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Tax Versus Judiciary
By Tom Yamachika @ 12:01 AM :: 902 Views :: Judiciary, Taxes
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...There are two Hawaii Supreme Court cases pending that involve fights over the extent to which courts can get involved in taxation at all....
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| Sunday, January 25, 2026 |
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New Year, New Variance
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1134 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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... A mortality rate of 620 per thousand is something you might get with an atomic bomb ....
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| Sunday, January 18, 2026 |
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Idle Agriculture Funds
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1318 Views :: Agriculture, Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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... millions of dollars lying around ....
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| Sunday, January 11, 2026 |
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Idle DOE Funds
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1959 Views :: Education K-12
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... Can we put $80 million to good use instead of just allowing it to sit idle? ....
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| Sunday, January 4, 2026 |
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Tax Word Find
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1118 Views :: Taxes
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... a Word Find puzzle with 26 key words and phrases ....
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| Sunday, December 28, 2025 |
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Charitable Giving This Year?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1238 Views :: Taxes
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... there is an additional complication called the Pease limit ....
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| Sunday, December 21, 2025 |
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Gaming This Year?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1290 Views :: Gambling, Taxes
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... According to the Census Bureau, state tax revenue from sports betting nearly quadrupled in the last four years ....
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| Sunday, December 14, 2025 |
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More Grief Over SNAP
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1412 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government, Cost of Living
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... information to purge allegedly fraudulent recipients ....
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| Sunday, December 7, 2025 |
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Making a Federal Case Out of the Green Fee
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1539 Views :: Jones Act, Judiciary, Taxes, Tourism
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... the cruise lines alleged that the tax appeal system we have here is anything but plain, speedy, and efficient ....
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| Sunday, November 30, 2025 |
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SNAP Confusion…On Us
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1460 Views :: National News, Hawaii State Government
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... the new guidance says that immigrants in certain categories, namely Refugees, Individuals Granted Asylum, Parolees, and Deportation Withheld are “Not Eligible” for SNAP ....
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| Sunday, November 23, 2025 |
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Pitfalls in Tax Appeals
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1160 Views :: Taxes
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... People sometimes get into a disagreement with the Department of Taxation ....
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| Sunday, November 16, 2025 |
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Student Loan Forgiveness for a 'substantially illegal purpose'?
By Tom Yamachika @ 5:00 AM :: 1587 Views :: Higher Education, Cost of Living
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... better watch out because there are changes coming ....
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| Sunday, November 9, 2025 |
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Eligible Charges
By Tom Yamachika @ 2:48 PM :: 1692 Views :: Health Care, Taxes
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... some health insurance programs don’t cover general excise tax that we in Hawaii impose on health care charges ....
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| Sunday, November 2, 2025 |
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TATmas Tree
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1763 Views :: DHHL, Taxes, Tourism
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... Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is proposing Legislators again hike the Transient Accommodations Tax ....
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| Sunday, October 26, 2025 |
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Spend That Money, Vought Is Watching
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2227 Views :: DHHL
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... DHHL's carryover balances, and these high annual re-appropriations that they have, kind of made it low-hanging fruit for the Trump Administration ....
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| Sunday, October 19, 2025 |
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Even More TANF Hoarding
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1851 Views :: Family, Hawaii State Government
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... federal TANF money that we haven’t spent: $452 million ....
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| Sunday, October 12, 2025 |
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DoTax Employees Rebelling Against the Culture of Silence
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2890 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government, Taxes
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... with a very public step being taken, it will be impossible to simply sweep the matter under the rug ....
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| Sunday, October 5, 2025 |
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Nonresident Withholding, Six Years Later
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 2528 Views :: Taxes
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... the legislation was enacted in 2019, six years ago. At the time, the Department issued an announcement saying that it wasn’t ready to implement the requirement yet, so taxpayers could relax ....
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| Sunday, September 28, 2025 |
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The Deduction for State and Local Tax
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 1972 Views :: Taxes
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... the push and pull that the federal tax system inflicts on state and local tax systems ....
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| Sunday, September 21, 2025 |
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Your Money Stays in Vegas — Then the IRS Wants Some
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 3067 Views :: Gambling, Taxes
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... Trump tax act: new rules on gambling losses ....
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| Sunday, September 14, 2025 |
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Charitable Giving Under 'Big Beautiful Bill'
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 4441 Views :: Taxes
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"...a significant boost to the standard deduction...."
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| Sunday, September 7, 2025 |
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DoTax Suddenly Begins Collecting GE Tax on Tips
By Tom Yamachika @ 2:42 PM :: 6881 Views :: Small Business, Taxes, Tourism
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... This seems to me to be a departure from past practice ....
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| Sunday, August 31, 2025 |
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No Tax on Tips
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 6207 Views :: Labor, Taxes, Tourism
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An individual who receives tips can exclude up to $25,000 of those tips from his or her gross income....
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| Sunday, August 24, 2025 |
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Classroom Heat
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 6327 Views :: Education K-12, Energy, Ethics
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... ten years ago Governor Ige kicked off an effort to get air conditioners into public school classrooms ....
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| Sunday, August 17, 2025 |
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No Tax on Overtime
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 5643 Views :: Labor, Small Business, Taxes
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... this is critical information for employers too ....
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| Sunday, August 10, 2025 |
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Encumbrance for the Stadium
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 5302 Views :: Ethics, Development, Hawaii State Government, Higher Education, Tourism
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... Act 88 of 2021, which Act 248 amended, stated that the appropriations in the biennium budget would lapse on June 30, 2024 ....
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| Sunday, August 3, 2025 |
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Constitutional Expenditure Controls
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 3229 Views :: Hawaii History, Hawaii State Government
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... over the last fifty years, our lawmakers have tended to regard those provisions as bothersome annoyances, to be worked around or avoided ...
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| Sunday, July 27, 2025 |
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Pay for No Work
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 5449 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government, Hawaii Statistics, Labor
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... $6.3M salary for 'administrative leave' ....
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| Sunday, July 20, 2025 |
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Nonprofit Blankety Blank
By Tom Yamachika @ 6:00 AM :: 3304 Views :: Ethics, Hawaii State Government
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... $50 million in the hands of a four-person committee ....
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