18th annual “Small Business Policy Index 2013: Ranking the States on Policy Measures and Costs Impacting Small Business and Entrepreneurship.”....

No reasons were given for his absence and he is still listed on the Committee's website as Ranking Member of the subcommittee....

...nonessential management employees are being furloughed three days per month for the next six months as part of a cost-cutting drive....

Some Members of Congress are using this logic in their latest budget proposal.... 

Video of the State of OHA speech delivered at Central Union Church December 10, 2013....

• DATE: Wednesday, December 18, 2013
• TIME: 1:30 p.m.
• PLACE: Auditorium, State Capitol

• DATE: Tuesday, December 17, 2013
• TIME: 10 a.m.
• PLACE: Conference Room 229, State Capitol

...amid the rush to enroll as many people as possible by the Dec. 23 deadline, there's a huge caveat that isn't getting much public attention: For coverage to take effect on Jan. 1, enrollees must pay their first month's premium....

...a web-based application that allows citizens to access a wide range of campaign financial data on any elected official....

The authority’s incohesive, self-described “marketing plan” and poor reporting on measures of effectiveness impede transparency....

To meet the promise of free preventive care nationwide, every family doctor in America would have to work full-time delivering it, leaving no time for all the other things they need to do....

Thursday, January 30, 2014 at 6:00 PM....

Hawaii's four members of Congress are pretty terrible by ACU standards....

Consumers choose plastic bags far more often than paper or reusable bags to carry their purchases.... 

Many had high hopes that the first budget conference in four years would make a substantial down payment toward fixing the U.S. spending and debt crisis.....

In Hawaii, 48.2 percent of adults aged 25 years and older with at least a high school education report their health is very good or excellent compared to only 28.0 percent with less than a high school education....

...as a seven‐year‐old student at St. Anthony's grade school in 1975 when homosexual then‐Father Joseph Ferrario began to groom and sexually molest him....

We will be watching via internet to see if he shows up at his subcommittee session tomorrow....

...a health insurance premium sheet that will give consumers a better idea of what a new 2014 Affordable Care Act (ACA) plan will cost compared to their existing 2013 health plan....

On November 14, 2013, President Obama announced that States could decide whether to allow small group and individual health insurance policies existing on Oct. 1, 2013 to be renewed for a policy year starting between January 1, 2014 and October 1, 2014....

Recent confidential negotiations between Molokai Ranch, California wind developer Princeton Energy, Maui County and Maui Electric Company, however, have cast doubt....

Topics include the special session, the law, Australia, initiative, referendum, recall, term limits and the upcoming 2014 Legislature....

On January 8 and 9, 2014, the Seminar Group is putting on what we hope will become a regular event - the Hawaii Agriculture Conference....

...sentenced to federal prison for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act by colluding on ocean freight rates and in cargo allocation schemes....

Matsuda resigned his post as Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation manager in the Governor’s office on Friday, Dec. 6....

A summary of changes coming up as a result of the Affordable Care Act in 2014....

The Healthcare Association of Hawaii (HAH) praised a select group of local, long term care member providers for their achievement....

Hale Kula’s “Hour of Code” event will include the presentation of a $10,000 check by Code.org and a brief session on computer programming with Hale Kula students....

Fifteen years after the 1998 state tobacco settlement, Hawaii ranks 5th in the nation in funding programs to prevent kids from smoking....

HD5 Democrats are required to submit names of three HD5 Democrats to the Governor.  Abercrombie will pick one of the three....

...state-run exchanges in Minnesota, Hawaii, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, New York, Maryland, and the District of Columbia are vulnerable....

...there has been a virtual blackout of news coverage....

Gov. Neil Abercrombie, one of the state’s most vocal advocates of Obamacare, predicted at a news conference Sept. 17 that the state’s 100,000 uninsured, plus thousands more, would sign up for insurance once the Health Connector launched Oct. 1....

Recent Congressional Votes

• House: Patent Infringement Reform – Passage

In 2011, the Obama Administration suggested that as many as 129 million Americans with pre-existing conditions were “at risk” and “could be denied coverage” without Obamacare....

U.S. energy policy should be changed to reflect its newfound energy abundance....

For years, local leaders, both within government and the business community, depended on the umbilical cord to federal funds secured by Hawaii’s Congressional delegation....

Paul Koester, 58, the Air Force's oldest current active-duty member, raised the Stars and Stripes above the Mighty Mo. Koester was one of 27 Armed Forces members to reenlist in today's ceremony....

... between $400,000 and $1,000,000 in fines for a single mature 40-day old plant ....

Forty middle and high school VEX robotics teams from across the state will compete Dec. 20-21 in the first-ever Hawaii VEX State Championship....

The closure only applies to the rifle range.  The complex will remain open during normal hours and the pistol, silhouette, archery, action, skeet, and trap ranges remain open....

This week marked the 80th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition.....

Ewa battlefield area involved not only destruction of planes at Ewa Field but also overhead air battles between Japanese planes, Army P-40's and Navy SBD's....

Abercrombie today announced that the State of Hawaii ended fiscal year 2013 with a positive fund balance of $844 million....

HART had issued an “Art-In Transit Call for Artists,” seeking proposals from artists for art at future rail stations....

For each letter to Santa that is deposited in the Santa Mail letterbox located at Macy’s stores, Macy’s will donate $1 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation....

Usually, in disputes about who owns oceanfront property (in Waikiki, the really nice part of Waikiki, down on the Diamond Head side), each party claims ownership....

The quotes below are a sample of the responses I received to part 1 ....