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Thursday, May 18, 2023
May 18, 2023 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 2:58 PM :: 2128 Views

Rectenwald Worked With Environmental Group Tied To Oil Plaintiffs’ Lawyers

'Empty homes' tax unlikely to ease housing crisis, new report concludes

US Pacific Fishing Fleet Role in Countering China

Got Nepotism? Ethics Commission has a Form for That

Honolulu Council ‘Affordable Housing’ Plan--A $25,000 per day fine on ‘empty’ houses

SA: … As drafted, Bill 9 would create an empty homes tax intended to encourage existing owners to rent or sell vacant housing stock for use as homes for local residents; increase the city’s supply of homes to better meet demand and reduce market pressures that cause high, unaffordable prices; and raise funds for affordable housing and homelessness solutions….

And Bill 9, as written, comes with penalties for violators: a civil fine of up to $25,000 per day, per offense, and the city’s ability to foreclose on any residential property if taxes or fines go unpaid….

CB: Vacant Homes Would Be Taxed At Higher Rate Under Possible City Plan

SA: Vacancy tax will wreck home values of residents

read … Panel reviews measure to increase Honolulu housing

Hawaii tax collections turned red in April

SA: … Driving much of the new forecast for a 1% decline was actual state personal income tax collections in April falling 22.3% from the same month last year. April represents the single biggest month for such revenue given the tax filing deadline in April….

Carl Bonham, a council member and executive director of the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, said during Monday’s meeting that an ongoing drop in local home sales volume running close to 40% during this fiscal year is a major factor in the income tax decline given how many people including brokers, appraisers and others work in the industry.

“A big piece of the estimated tax decline is almost certainly coming from the collapse of home sales,” he said.

The seven-member panel agreed unanimously on an expected 1% tax revenue reduction for the current fiscal year.

The council decided not to alter its previous forecast for 4% revenue growth in the 2024 fiscal year that begins July 1….

MN: Tourism, construction still Hawaii’s recession buffers

read … Hawaii tax collections turned red in April

People Fleeing Hawaii are Primary Creators of new Housing Units

SA: … Hawaii’s housing shortage eased somewhat with the addition of 6,071 housing units from 2020 to 2022, with help from the state’s declining population, according to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Honolulu County accounted for 2,696 of the new housing units, while Hawaii County added 1,751 units. Maui County added 1,335 units and Kauai County accounted for 289 units. In all, there were an estimated 568,075 housing units statewide, with 373,875 on Oahu, 90,672 in Hawaii County, 72,927 in Maui County, 30,487 on Kauai and 114 in tiny Kalawao County on Molokai’s Kalaupapa Peninsula, according to the estimates released today.

Chief State Economist Eugene Tian with the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism said the average annual growth rate in housing units of 0.54% from July 1, 2020, to July 1, 2022, was slightly lower than the 0.6% rate over the previous 10 years….

“But given that population has been declining,” he said, “the growth of housing units helped to reduce the housing shortage” — albeit mostly for those who could afford to buy a home. According to the Honolulu Board of Realtors, the median sale price for single-family homes on Oahu in April was $999,995 and for condos $500,000, down 10% and 2%, respectively, from the same month a year ago.

“Based on market demand, mainly driven by housing price and income growth, the production of 3,000 units a year is good to meet the market demand for those who can afford the homes,” Tian said in an email. “Based on pent-up demand (if housing is affordable, more people will purchase their own homes instead of double up with parents), Hawaii would need an average of 10,000 a year.”

Census Bureau estimates released in March showed the statewide population dropped 1% to 1.44 million from July 1, 2020, to July 1, 2022, with Honolulu’s head count dipping below the 1 million mark to 995,638, a decline of 0.75%….

read … Hawaii housing units increase as population declines, census data reports

Last Honolulu Permitting Worker Pleads Guilty

CB: … The bribes totaled less than the cost of a month’s rent for many Honolulu residents: $820.25.

But Jocelyn Godoy, a 60-year-old Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting employee, could go to prison and get deported to the Philippines for taking it.

On Wednesday, Godoy pleaded guilty in federal court to accepting bribes from an architect. He rewarded her for sharing digital files of building plans. Otherwise, he would have had to make a trip to the county’s office for hard copies, federal prosecutor Craig Noland told the court.

“I didn’t do my job right,” Godoy told U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson. “Emailing the documents and accepting cash or gifts.”

Godoy’s sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 30. She is facing a maximum of 20 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine, as well as restitution….

In exchange for Godoy’s guilty plea to one count of her indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s office agreed to drop two other counts. Part of the deal requires Godoy to testify honestly at future hearings, trials or grand juries, but whether she will have to do so is unclear. Nolan declined to say whether there is an ongoing investigation….

Godoy is the fifth and final DPP worker to plead guilty in the case that began with federal indictments in 2021.

Jennie Javonillo, who admitted to taking over $63,000 in bribes over the course of a decade, is serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence. Jason Dadez, who took at least $9,900 from solar contractors, got an 18-month sentence….

Bill Wong, the architect and third-party reviewer who handed out money for favors, has also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. Two other former DPP workers, Kanani Padeken and Wayne Inouye, are awaiting sentencing.

In a statement, DPP Director Dawn Takeuchi Apuna said the corruption cases are indicative of longstanding systemic problems in the department.

“The indictments were a by-product of a system that has lacked basic infrastructure, including standard operating procedures and systems of accountability,” she said. “Combined with a permitting backlog, DPP was susceptible to exploitation.”…

On Wednesday, Godoy told the court she remains employed with the City and County of Honolulu and holds another job.

Records Civil Beat obtained from a public records request indicate Godoy has been on paid administrative leave with the city for more than two years.

It’s not the first time the city has paid someone not to work for an extended period of time after they were accused of wrongdoing. Another DPP building inspector who admitted to taking cash from a homeowner in 2018 was also put on paid leave for two years. That employee resigned after Civil Beat wrote about her case.

Takeuchi Apuna said that civil service rules require the city to pay employees who are under investigation “until a complete deliberative process and determination can be made of any alleged wrongdoing.”…

read … Another Honolulu Permitting Worker Pleads Guilty And Faces Deportation

State Fines Carpenters Union Operative $3,000 for violating campaign spending law

KITV: … State regulators approved a $3,000 fine for a Hawaii company Wednesday for violating campaign spending laws involving illegal contributions to the campaigns of several Maui candidates.

Kupale Technologies, owned by Carpenters Union operative Butch Buenconsejo, provided professional cleaning and disinfecting services for COVID-19 for offices of state and county agencies. The state Campaign Spending Commission said that contributions Kupale made to several campaigns violated campaign spending laws.

The candidates, who did not violate any laws, included former Maui Mayor Michael Victorino, former county council candidate John Pele and current county councilmember Nohelani Ulu-Hodgins….

CB:  In 2014, the carpenters union’s new super PAC, Forward Progress, spent $512,000 to support Butch Kaala Buenconsejo’s campaign and $83,000 opposing incumbent Maui Council member Elle Cochran, but Cochran still won.

read … State fines Hawaii company $3,000 for violating campaign spending law

Politicians and Judges Should be Held to Same Standard as Union Bosses

SA: … As a union leader, I am prohibited by United States law from receiving anything of value from any employer. I am required every year to submit a complete report on the union’s finances, which is posted on a public website maintained by the U.S. government. I have to report every dollar paid to every union employee and every dollar paid out for operations of the union. I have to report all my compensation and that of my spouse, and all payments to retained professionals. Any gifts to union leaders must be reported by both the employer giving and the union leader receiving them. All these requirements are monitored and enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor.

There are severe penalties if I fail to report all these things even if there is no money missing from the union. I can be criminally charged and possibly imprisoned, or removed and barred from office if I fail to file or if I falsify these mandatory reports. Clearly the U.S. government is able to establish and enforce high ethical standards for people that lead labor unions.

I don’t object to these legal restrictions. I think that full transparency is a good thing. I agree that union officials should not be taking valuable things from employers. Since I hold a position of trust, I embrace the high ethical standards that are required of me. It helps sustain trust.

But why is it that only union officials are subject to these high ethical standards? Why is it that businesspeople, politicians, and judges don’t have to adhere to the same standards that our government requires from union leaders?…

(The rest of this column is about Clarence Thomas.  Not a word about Hawaii’s corruption scandals.)  

read … Set higher ethical standards for judges and politicians

Perreira: Nobody Wants my HGEA Jobs

CB: … The City and County of Honolulu recently touted its efforts to slightly reduce its job vacancy rate, which they calculated at 23%. And while they were successful in cutting down the hiring timeline, there has been little effort to resolve some of the major issues that make these jobs unattractive in an age where our concept of work was reshaped by a global pandemic. …

(Translation: I want HGEA to ‘work’ from home.)

To stop chronic understaffing from reaching a point of crisis as it has with Hawaii County dispatchers or the Department of Planning and Permitting, government needs to figure out how to attract the next generation of workers. 

Workers, especially younger ones, want a better quality of life and a livable wage. It’s time that officials look at ways to make this happen for public workers. If nothing changes now, problems will only get worse. 

(REALITY: Most vacancies exist to provide a slkush fund for ‘top-three’ overtime.  HGEA is just angling for ‘work’ from home.)

read … We Can’t Solve High Job Vacancies By Staying Stuck In The Past

DoE Feeds Propaganda to Star-Adv

CB: … It’s no secret among Hawaii reporters that one of the worst agencies to deal with is the state Department of Education.

Teachers and school administrators are discouraged, sometimes forbidden, from talking to the press without getting permission from DOE higher-ups. DOE communications staff routinely drag their feet on requests for information or are reluctant to set up interviews.

The DOE lags behind many other school districts in the amount of data and public information that it posts online. Community groups have had to sue to get access to financial information that is public record.

Civil Beat successfully sued the DOE in 2019 to obtain records from teacher misconduct cases, but then the DOE took so long to hand over the records that our lawyer had to file a sanctions motion against the department — a year after a deadline set by a judge for the DOE to make more disclosures.

So we were surprised, to say the least, when we saw Superintendent Keith Hayashi’s self evaluation, part of an annual performance review that is set to go to the Board of Education on Thursday.

Hayashi says he’s been working to “foster productive working relationships with reporters” by holding monthly meetings with education-focused reporters. He says he’s been making that effort since February. 

Huh? That’s news to us. No reporter who writes about education at Civil Beat has been invited to one of these meetings. In fact, we’ve never even heard of such a thing.

DOE Communications Director Nanea Kalani now says the only reporter who’s been invited to Hayashi’s monthly get-togethers is the education reporter from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Coincidence? Kalani was the Star-Advertiser’s education reporter before she jumped ship to go to work for the DOE communications office. …

read …  Schools Chief Gets A Job Review

Despite accelerated timeline, military’s Red Hill plan doesn’t account for up to 400,000 gallons of fuel

HNN: … Joint Task Force-Red Hill included the new timeline in a supplementary plan filed with the EPA.

The agency said defueling will kick off Oct. 16 and focus on 104 million gallons of fuel in the tanks.

That fuel should be emptied from the tanks by January 2024, leaving 100,000 to 400,000 gallons remaining.

The DOD said it is still finalizing a plan for emptying that last remaining fuel….

CB: Military Team Seeks To Drain 100M Gallons Of Fuel From Red Hill Without ‘A Single Drop’ Leaking

read … Despite accelerated timeline, military’s Red Hill plan doesn’t account for up to 400,000 gallons of fuel

Hawaii County Council Tinkers with Property taxes to create Utopian Agricultural Dream

HTH: … The future of a property tax break for farm owners is uncertain after Hawaii County Council members discussed Wednesday whether to scrap a bill that would overhaul the process.

Over the past few months, the County Council has mulled several bills that would revamp the county’s current processes for offering real property tax breaks to farmers. Two of those bills were discussed at Wednesday’s meeting of the full council, but council members were unsure whether to pass them or toss them.

Bill 44 would, if passed, sunset the county’s nondedicated agricultural use assessment, one of two county programs that allows property owners whose lands are used in part for agriculture to have that land assessed at lower values for tax purposes.

The nondedicated assessment values eligible land at two times the land’s commercial agricultural use value instead of its market value, whereas the dedicated agricultural use assessment only assesses the land at just its commercial use value without the multiplier.

In that assessment’s place, Bill 44 would establish a “community food sustainability use assessment,” which would instead allow eligible nondedicated lands on which farmers raise food crops to be assessed at 30% market value….

Lisa Miura, real property tax administrator, said the existing nondedicated use system needs updating because it was written loosely enough to allow for people to exploit loopholes and claim the tax credit despite keeping their land largely as open space. Bill 44, she said, would at least require more documentation from claimants than is currently required.

Meanwhile, Miura said that simply phasing out the nondedicated program without setting up a replacement would leave some beneficiaries in the lurch. Roughly 8,000 properties are eligible for the nondedicated program, but, she said, not all of them would be able to qualify for the dedicated agricultural use assessment.

Keita Jo, real property tax assistant administrator, said that a $400,000 property with no farming benefit would have $3,700 in taxes levied against it annually. With the assessment established by Bill 44, the tax burden would be reduced to $1,100.

Most other council members agreed that the nondedicated assessment needs to be reworked — several cited the problem of “gentleman farmers,” wealthy landowners with sizable lands claiming agricultural benefits despite not farming at any significant scale — and opted to keep Bill 44 alive simply to keep the options open.

“I do feel like we would be penalizing quite a few people who are doing some (agricultural work) but aren’t able to make the jump,” said Hilo Councilwoman Jenn Kagiwada. “I feel like something like this is really important. … I would hate to see it taken completely off the table, because I do think a lot of individuals in our county would see a big jump in their tax rates when they’re really trying to do the right thing.”…

read … Council kicks ag bills down the road

Naniloa again seeks permission to refinance

HTH: … A manager of the Grand Naniloa Hotel pleaded to the state Board of Land and Natural Resources on Friday to give him a third chance to settle the hotel’s financial problems.

Ed Bushor, president of Tower Development — primary partner in WHR LLC, the corporate entity which owns the Grand Naniloa — appeared before the BLNR last week to request that he be allowed to refinance the $50 million mortgage on the hotel with a $54 million loan.

It was not Bushor’s first time pleading his case to the board over the hotel’s finances, nor was it the second. Last year, Bushor made a similar request, asking to refinance WHR’s mortgage with a $62 million loan from another lender.

And in 2021, the BLNR threatened to terminate WHR’s lease of the property — which is state land managed by the Department of Land and Natural Resources — unless it paid the state more than $600,000 in unpaid rent….

read … Naniloa again seeks permission to refinance

Soft on Crime: Honokaa shooter got ‘supervised release’ for selling drugs, stealing car 

HTH: … According to police, a witness at the scene reported that he and Franklin were hanging out on the Rickard Place Salvation Army homeless campus, when Whitehead-Shibata showed up.

A short time later, Whitehead-Shibata got upset with the victim, pulled out a handgun, and shot at him multiple times prior to fleeing on foot while still in possession of the firearm, police said.

Capt. Rio Amon-Wilkins of the East Hawaii Criminal Investigation Division said Wednesday that Franklin and Whitehead-Shibata are acquainted and added the disagreement was “about a previous incident that is still actually under investigation.”…

(QUESTION: Did somebody get ‘released pending investigation’?)

According to court records, Whitehead-Shibata pleaded no contest on Nov. 14 to unauthorized control of a stolen vehicle and third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, both Class C felonies punishable by up to five years in prison.

Records indicate Whitehead-Shibata was granted supervised release by Hilo Circuit Judge Peter Kubota — who’s on paid administrative leave for an undisclosed reason — while prosecutors and the public defender were working on a probation deal to get Whitehead-Shibata an early release from jail into a drug treatment program.

(QUESTION: What happened to Kubota?)

A bench warrant for Whitehead-Shibata’s arrest was issued Feb. 28 for failure to appear in court on Feb. 23, with bail set at $5,000….

read … Victim in shooting at Salvation Army Honokaa identified

Plea Bargain: Schizo Killer will be out in a Few Years

SA: …20 year sentence running concurrently.  He will be out in 10 years with good behavior credits.  Minus 3 1/2 yrs time served equals 6 1/2 years in State Hospital followed by release.  Should be out before 2030.  Pathetic….

Ezequiel Zayas, the 30-year- old man who secretly lived in a military family’s home in 2019 and plotted to perform surgery on them, pleaded guilty Wednesday morning in Circuit Court to first-degree burglary in that case and also pleaded guilty in three other cases.

… Zayas’ most serious crime was killing fellow inmate Vance Grace, 62, in the Oahu Community Correctional Center while awaiting trial in the burglary case…

Zayas also used the family’s laptop to keep detailed information about them, made videos of the family and planned to do surgery on them, said the Campbells, who realized he had been in the house much longer than a week.

On Wednesday morning, Zayas’ hands were uncuffed in order to sign plea agreements in four cases with the Department of the Attorney General and the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office.

The second-degree murder case in the Grace death was initially charged as first-degree murder, which would have meant life without the possibility of parole if convicted. That charge was downgraded to manslaughter for recklessly causing his death.

According to police, correctional officers witnessed Zayas punching Grace’s head multiple times and stomping on his head.

However, the plea deal means he will face a maximum 20 years’ imprisonment instead of life imprisonment for second- degree murder.

He also pleaded guilty to:

>> First-degree burglary for entering the dwelling of another with the intent to commit a crime (in the Campbell case), and faces a maximum 10 years’ imprisonment and a $25,000 fine.

>> Second-degree burglary, with a maximum five years in prison and a $10,000 fine for an Oct. 9, 2019, burglary at the Buddhist Study Center on University Avenue.

>> Second-degree assault for a June 12, 2020, attack of an employee at a mental health facility, and faces a maximum five years’ imprisonment….

Zayas was returned Wednesday to the Hawaii State Hospital, where he had been held since Feb. 4, 2020, after being found unfit to stand trial….

(Maybe he will marry some of the HGEA members there.)

Court documents show Zayas told a pretrial officer he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, but had stopped taking his medications and began using cannabis….

read … Burglar who hid in military family’s home pleads guilty

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