Environment

...unnoticed in the public summary of the report are a couple of paragraphs which point out some serious risks to the corporatist State of Hawaii. The cut-off of Earmarks and other Federal pork is having an impact and the full effect is only just beginning to be felt....

Says Washington’s Gregoire: “(Change in marijuana laws) must first come at the federal level."

...a shift towards whole-person health rather than focusing primarily on the treatment of illness....

S. 52 would make it a criminal offense to..."import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase in interstate or foreign commerce" any fish or fish product taken in violation of any treaty or agreement to which the United States is a party; or make or submit a false record, account, label for, or identification of any fish that passes in interstate or foreign commerce. 

In Senate Bill 120, it states that there are many special funds “in excess of the requirements” of those funds. The director of finance has up until June 30, 2011, to raid all of that “excess” money, amounting to more than $17 million, and put it into the general fund. 

We have found that support for the political status quo, abetted by private interests, remains strongly in place. It will take time and action by the executive to change this culture.

the Mortgage Foreclosure Dispute Resolution Program, seeks to provide the owner-occupants of residential property in Hawai'i who are facing foreclosure the opportunity to meet face-to-face with the mortgagees to possibly resolve their differences....

The 2011 New Starts funds for the whole nation is $1.59 Billion and Honolulu is asking for $1.55 Billion.

Even when wind is present, the turbines are doing nothing.

Appropriates funds for the operating and capital improvement budget of the Executive Branch for fiscal years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013.

This fee increase will only help perpetuate the program. If there’s one thing we’ve all learned this year, it’s that once you put money into a program and personnel, it’s very hard to get it back out. It’s harder still to shut down the program entirely. In a word, if we provide more money, the program will become dependent - even addicted - upon that money.

I have initiated establishment of a 501(c)4 nonprofit educational organization called "Foundation 1776,"the mission of which will be advocate for the application of the foundational principles on which our nation and our families were built....  We will also build a separate Political Action Committee designed to help recruit, train and fund the campaigns of like-minded candidates seeking to serve in the 76 legislative seats in the Hawaii House of Representatives and Senate.  

Several businesses have already announced hiring freezes, and possible layoffs because of the legislative action. Several local non-profits are even harder hit and several may cease operations.

The best that can be said about this session is what bills did NOT survive, such as: a 1 percent increase in the general excise tax; a 10-cent fee for a plastic or paper bag to carry consumer purchases; tax-free pensions that will now remain untaxed; Lanai and Molokai will not be covered with windmills to produce power for Oahu, saving Hawaii taxpayers an estimated $3 billion on an intra-island, under-water cable; and competition for shipping services that did not get eliminated as was included in a Public Utilities Commission clarification bill.

“All during this session I received a steady stream of letters, phone calls and e mails. I was stopped several times in neighborhood markets and shopping centers. None of the communications were form letters, but individual pleas reminding me that retirees could not afford to lose more income to taxes."

For five and a half years, the US has hunted for Ahmed Hashim Abed--code-named "Objective Amber." Abed is the alleged ring-leader of an Islamist mob which murdered four US military contractors--including Pa`auilo resident Wesley Batalona--in Fallujah, Iraq on March 31, 2004.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed spent most of 1994 plotting to blow up or hijack 12 airplanes carrying about 4,000 passengers bound for Honolulu and 11 other locations as part of Operation Bojinka, based in Manila, Philippines.  He would later use operational experienced gained from his Bojinka failure to mastermind 9-11.

Now Hawaii's two Senators have voted to help spring Mohammed from detention at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba. 

...NLIHC calculates Hawaii’s "housing wage" at $31.08 per hour. The “housing wage” which is the full-time hourly wage a household would need to earn in order to afford the fair market rent for an apartment....

The JABSOM measure appeared to have support in both houses, but the conference committees deadlocked over a different bill-one the House of Representatives supported to tax pension income over $200,000. The Senate firmly opposed any pension tax.

...the 2011 Legislative Session ends on Thursday. Tomorrow, for the last time, your House of Representatives will vote on the entirety of bills still alive this session....

Please join us for a Spirit filled night of prayer on Thursday, May 5, 6:30-8:00pm in the State Capitol Auditorium....

The Jones Act has singularly failed to deliver on its declared objectives of "supporting foreign and domestic commerce and creating a merchant marine of the best equipped and most suitable types of vessels." The "must build in America" clause is the biggest problem. Today the U.S. builds 1 percent of the world’s commercial ships — with 95 percent being built in Asia....

Separately from the Army’s license application, a resident of Hawaii filed a petition on March 4, 2010, requesting the NRC take enforcement action against the Army if it found the Army possessed or released depleted uranium to the environment without a license in violation of NRC requirements. 

As the 2011 Hawai`i State Legislature moves closer to an end, boisterous applause, back-slapping, and high-fives erupted on the morning of Friday, May 1st in Conference Room 229 at the Hawai`i State Capitol as health insurance lobbyists congratulated themselves. They were celebrating the passage of Senate Bill 1274 that repeals a decade-old consumer protection law consumers have used successfully to overturn health plan denials approximately 80% of the time.... 

SB754  will increase the cost of construction, shipping, air travel, rent, and cellular phone use.  Suppliers to tourism are specifically targeted for double taxation which will push up the portion of the tourist dollar which goes into the State General Fund and reduce the portion which circulates in the privately-owned economy.

Abercrombie recently signed the following bills into law....

On Thursday, May 5, the last votes will be taken and the regular 2011 session will come to a close.

Friends of Lāna‘i (FOL) today petitioned Hawaii’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to reopen the competitive bidding process for the “Big Wind” project.

... despite a few early skirmishes — including the one that cost the English explorer his life — the people who preceded the Europeans to the so-called "Sandwich Isles" by at least a thousand years generally had good relations with the British empire....

Total spending by visitors who came to Hawai‘i in the first quarter of 2011 increased 16.9 percent, compared to the first quarter of 2010, to $3.2 billion. Total visitor days for all visitors grew 10.8 percent, and total arrivals rose 9.1 percent to 1,823,870 visitors, according to preliminary statistics released today by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority.

…And another immigration memo, from June 1964, records that Harvard officials were trying "to get rid of him" and "couldn't seem to figure out how many wives he had."….

An extremely high cost of living, coupled with a fairly high tax rate, give Hawaii the lowest adjusted-average income....

While enforcing the federal antitrust laws in Hawaii, (in the early 1960s) my boss, Ray Carlson, and I investigated the big five companies’ control of the Matson Steamship Company. We had the fervent support of the Hawaii Attorney General. We finished the investigation and filed a case against the Matson and the companies controlling it....

Representative Gene Ward, introduces the balanced budget summit Representative Aaron Ling Johanson discusses the guiding principles for a vibrant economy in Hawaii. Representative Gil Riviere discusses first steps in revamping government in Hawaii.

Abercrombie signed the following bills into law today....

On the second Monday of every October, Hawaii celebrates, “Discoverers' Day", in recognition of the Polynesian discoverers of the Hawaiian Islands.”  But the Senate wants to put a stop to the celebrations.

According to the text of SCR55, introduced March 3 by Abercrombie-appointed Senator Maile Shimabukuro, the holiday should be dropped ....

Apparently Abercrombie hasn’t met the nurses.  They have plenty of “accusations and confrontations.”

The revised state measure now calls for the establishment of a 9-member Native Hawaiian roll commission, which will appoint an interim council of 9 members to “commence the organization of a convention of qualified Native Hawaiians.”

"It is our hope that as we return to the bargaining table, the State Administration and Hawaii Health Systems Corporation take a realistic approach to bargaining a fair agreement with their nurses, or risk losing more staff because of the pay gap they are enduring.”

A total of sixteen measures have been enacted thus far.  The Governor has until July 12, 2011 to sign into law all measures that are passed out of the state Senate and the House of Representatives.  The Legislature adjourns on May 5th.

KEY QUESTION:  What will these four organizations and the Abercrombie Administration do with the information they receive about homeless individuals and homeless camps?  Will they attempt to bring the homeless into shelters or will they focus on feeding the homeless in place and “enabling” them to stay on the streets?

With Hawaii now experiencing the highest gasoline prices in history, it is baffling that the politicians in the City government are actually contemplating an increase in the gasoline tax.

Pacific Office Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE Amex: PCE), a real estate investment trust owning interests in 45 office buildings primarily in Hawaii and California, reported today that it received notice from the NYSE Amex (the “Exchange”) indicating that the Company is not in compliance with the continued listing standards ....

in a House committee, HCR 135 was the victim of “gut and replace”  .... 

Believing that the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has gone too far in an assault on individual and states rights, a new, national, bipartisan legislative caucus is emerging to take action.

Traditional history courses were torn down in favor of “queer” studies, black studies, Asian studies, women’s studies; language was deconstructed in order to remove its capitalistic foundations; traditional sexual mores were torn asunder in the name of “tolerance.”  President Obama was the result.

How can the people, or even legislators really know what is currently going on financially with the state when the Department of Accounting and General Services takes nearly 2 years to release its comprehensive annual fiscal reports?

Tony Santos, former resident of Hawaii, Farrington High School student, and past Mayor of the City of San Leandro, California, has been actively advising Hawaii lawmakers to kill off a proposal to establish Instant Runoff Voting on the county level.

Here is a geopolitical look at the Turkish Gulen Cult currently attempting to curry favor with Hawaii legislators and take over Mokapu Elementary School....

...at the same time our society is becoming more pluralistic on questions of basic morality, the government continues to intrude more than ever in both public and private areas of social life....