Hawaii State Government

...HTA CEO George Szegeti said “In CY2017 the convention center turned a net operating profit of $1.1 million, marking its second consecutive year of profitability.” This is surprising news, indeed....

...thus making an accurate and comprehensive compilation of these costs extremely time-consuming, if not impossible to complete....

...several pieces of priority legislation succeeded in being passed this year. The governor has until June 25 to decide....

...Michael Pachter, perhaps the most outspoken and well-known analyst in the games industry didn’t spare any words against the Hawaii legislators led by Chris Lee....

...ERS director warns emergency overtime costs add to state's unfunded liabilities....

...The “Rusty Scalpel” award recognizes passage of a bill whose subject has been substantially amended without opportunity for adequate legislative review as required by the Hawaii Constitution....

...with 10 years of back payments thanks to a 3-2 decision of the Hawaii Supreme Court....

...With the recent passage of the anti-pesticide bills in our legislature, I received messages and emails from certain legislators apologizing for voting for this....

... the Hawaii ERS is only 51% funded -- 5th worst in USA ....

The 2018 Legislative Session has come to a close. Close to 200 bills sit on the Governor's desk awaiting his signature....

...Anderson will be taking over for Pressler.  He has served as administrator of the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Aquatic Resources since October 2015....

...basic questions that will elucidate the nature of the institution....

... Following the Money 2018 -- How the 50 States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data ...

...Saiki said that after passing last year’s rail tax hike, he feels like “the Legislature can do anything.”....

...$12.9 billion in unfunded liabilities, a huge risk for government employees and all Hawaii families alike....

...the floods caused more than $19.7 million in damage....

...The 2018 Legislature will adjourn on Thursday, May 3....

...The Court’s 1997 ruling on the majority required to call a state constitutional convention was a travesty of justice....

...look at how transparency goes by the wayside at the end of the session....

...This year, the State of Hawaii’s four-decade-old mainframe payroll system will transition to a modern payroll software and processes utilizing PeopleSoft....

... In 1998 Hanabusa and Nakata teamed up with Mafia Godfather Larry Mehau to get rid of Attorney General Margery Bronster in an effort to protect the corrupt thieving Broken Trustees of Kamehameha Schools--now her Legislators want to give him a big fat stack of money....

... Update to the bills list introduced by members of our Republican Caucus that crossed over to the Senate ....

...this budget provides $15 million to fund homeless services, $3 million more than requested by the Governor....

...Dana O. Viola as the First Deputy Attorney General and James W. Walther as the Special Assistant to the Attorney General....

...We are three weeks away from the end of the 2018 Legislative Session....

...With two days left before the Second Crossover deadline more than 220 bills have crossed over from the House to the Senate....

....Grassroot president says high taxes, regulations discourage higher-paying jobs....

... A Hawaii State Senator goes for somewhere between $50K and $100K per year--and its all legal ....

...Second Crossover is one week away....

...Other Post-Employment Benefit Liabilities, 2017 surveys the more than 100 state-administered post-employment benefit plans, such as health insurance, Medicare advantage, life insurance, and other non-pension benefits....

...HI-EMA and News Media Fail to Inform Public of Oahu Emergency Siren Test....

...highlights include funding for...Ohana Zones....

Suzuki has been serving as the acting chief legal and law enforcement officer for the state since February 2 when Attorney General Doug Chin resigned to become Lieutenant Governor....

...hackers got access to Hawaii state computers using a technique called "password spraying"....

...sex harassment complaints have been secretly adjudicated against three unnamed State Representatives and one State Senator....

...Sex Harassment: Hawaii Legislators Admit Covering up Four Cases....

...Suzuki has been acting as the chief legal and law enforcement officer for the state since February 2 when then Attorney General Doug Chin resigned to become Lieutenant Governor....

...March 16th, 12:00 noon  --  Hawaii State Capitol, House Chamber....

...an economic plan based on general excise tax collections....

...bills introduced by members of the House Republican Caucus that crossed over to the Senate....

... these 128 are in addition to bills passed earlier ....

...The following are a few of the measures to pass on third reading....

...Thousands of files have been digitized at the state’s disability compensation program. However, they need hardware with capacity for more storage to continue progress....

...We reviewed 85 house and senate bills proposing 64 special and revolving funds during the 2018 legislative session of which none met criteria....

...In the middle of this process, sometimes a letter from the Governor arrives saying, “We need to make some adjustments...."

...The bills include housing, homelessness, education, health, the environment, public safety, governmental affairs, the environment, and other important issues....

...The ESRB’s decision to label video games with paid add-ons essentially does nothing to address the complaint that loot boxes are akin to gambling....

...the PUC’s $2.8 million Document Management System (DMS) is almost universally considered by management and staff to be difficult to use, unreliable, slow, and obsolete, with staff developing elaborate workarounds to accommodate for the system’s shortcomings. Yet the PUC has no firm plans to fix or replace this problematic system....

...Committee members asked some very telling questions that identified loopholes that still remain in the bill.  The Attorney General's representative couldn't definitively state that all their concerns from the 2017 version were resolved in this current version that is supposed to have more robust protections.... 

...All House bills are in their final committees, they have until March 8th to pass out of their last committee and pass third reading to cross over to the Senate....