Entries for December 2017

...The Calendar for the 2018 Legislative session is now posted....

...over $50 million in bribes....

...People monitoring the ecosystem recovery on tiny Lehua Island report that - four months after the conclusion of a rat eradication project - there are still no signs of the invasive Pacific Rats....

"Hawaii is well on its way for approval once we make minor adjustments to our consolidated plan,” said Superintendent Dr. Christina Kishimoto....

...The biggest exception to this gatekeeper rule is the constitutional convention, where the people elect delegates directly....

...and 5th for speeding....

...“Varley noted that it likely would cost the company nearly twice as much to build its ships in an American shipyard and noted it already has a contract with a European shipbuilder. In addition, the current political climate in the U.S. makes it unlikely a variance to the Jones Act allowing Viking to use European-built vessels, would be approved.”....

...The debate over the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (Jones Act) has been revived as devastating hurricanes stormed through the Caribbean and public figures like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have introduced legislation for its partial or total repeal....

...First, grant at least a five-year waiver of the act to Puerto Rico. This would speed the island’s recovery. It would also test how best to regulate foreign-flag carriers, and provide data to show exactly what the act is costing....

• Senate: Tax Overhaul – Motion to Recede and Concur
• Senate: Short-Term Fiscal 2018 Continuing Appropriations – Motion to Concur
• House: Tax Overhaul – Motion to Concur
• House: Short-Term Fiscal 2018 Continuing Appropriations
• House: Supplemental Disaster Appropriations

...the president’s efforts to bar over 150 million nationals of six Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States....

...State tax law changes impacting businesses and individuals....

...Learmont fills the vacancy created when former Rep. Marcus Oshiro joined the Hawai‘i Labor Relations Board in October....

...the justices have issued several fairly extraordinary orders in cases involving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the latest iteration of the travel ban, which deals rather harshly with trial courts in California, Hawaii and Maryland....

...Full-time internships (10 weeks at 40 hours/week) with a $4,040 pay....

...Santa is an enthusiastic devotee of the surveillance state....

...The benefits of the act are concentrated among special interest groups, but the costs are broadly dispersed....

...UH is currently scheduled to present its budget request to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means in the afternoon of January 9, 2018....

...Labor force drops 1% -- from 690,800 to 684,350 year over year....

...Hawaii lost 1,145 residents between 2016 and 2017....