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Friday, May 23, 2014
May 23, 2014 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 5:38 PM :: 6316 Views

Free Ride for Legislators who Vote Against Religious Freedom?

ADF to Hawaii court: Dismiss renewed attack on churches

UHERO: Natural Gas is Cheaper and Cleaner

VIDEO: Why is the Rent So High in Hawaii?

Saiki: Republican Convention Energizing Party

Military Officers Assoc. Backs Jones Act Reform

Sen. Sam Slom: Legislative Session in Review

Should Honolulu Ban Biodegradable Bags?

Djou Urges Thai armed forces to return power to democratic institutions

Army hosts Memorial Day Remembrance

Abercrombie Releases CIP for Prisons, Mental Hospital

Prekindergarten classrooms available at 18 public schools this fall

Gold: Positive Feedback From Public on Proposal to Dump Obamacare

HTH: Mike Gold, president and CEO of Hawaii Medical Service Association, says that despite drawing criticism from some lawmakers in the past few weeks, he’s received largely positive responses since recommending that the state do away with the Hawaii Health Connector’s health insurance exchange for small business owners.

“We haven’t gotten much flack,” he said Thursday. “I think things are moving in the right direction. People are starting to come around. … They’re seeing there needs to be more flexibility.”

Gold has been asking this month for state leaders to consider doing away with a service that taxpayers have spent too much for, and which provides insurance for people who were already covered according to state law, he said.

“We’ve already got universal coverage for Hawaii, at least when it comes to small business,” he said. “It’s just another layer of cost for something that doesn’t work.”...

Of the insurer’s 13 percent increase this year in health plan rates, Gold said that more than 50 percent of that money is directly related to fees associated with complying with the Affordable Care Act, known more commonly as ObamaCare.

“We’ve spent a considerable sum working on the Health Connector. … And they don’t really even have anybody enrolled yet,” he said....

Background: Congressional Delegation Blocks Obamacare Exemption to Avoid “Awkward Political Narrative”

read ... HMSA CEO continues fight against state health care exchange

Ige, Abercrombie call on regents to reconsider UH prez search

HNN: The two leading Democrats in the governor's race called on University of Hawaii Board of Regents to reconsider their search for a new UH president Thursday, after questions have been raised about the search process and its outcome.

Just two candidates are still in the running for the UH presidency, interim President David Lassner and retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Frank Wiercinski.  The regents' search committee was originally tasked with coming up with five to six finalists, but three finalists dropped out and at least one qualified candidate was ignored.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie said the regents need to reassure the public.

"The question for the regents is can they assure the public that the process has been conducted fairly, and if that's an issue, then the perhaps the process should be reopened," Abercrombie told Hawaii News Now. "The regents need to examine what they have done at this point and come to a conclusion as to whether or not the public confidence is sufficiently established."

State Sen. David Ige, who's challenging Abercrombie in the Democratic primary for governor, said the search process must be reopened using a professional search firm.

"The question for the regents is, 'Has this process resulted in the candidate pool that we think the University of Hawaii and the people of Hawaii deserves?'  And I think not," Ige said.

read ... Abercrombie Chimes in

Cabanilla Claims She Didn't Use Taxpayer Dollars for Drawing of Herself--Takayama Caught 'Accidentally' Double Dipping $4,464

KHON: Last week, Always Investigating detailed how lawmakers spend their shares of nearly $1 million in allowance they’re given every year, and how the Hawaii Ethics Commission is questioning whether too much is personal....

The office of Rep. Rida Cabanilla (D-Waipahu, Honouliuli, West Loch, Ewa) pointed us to a sketch of her but the representative clarified the expense was for an intersection light draw-up for a community meeting.

After our story, the Ethics Commission office still awaits copies of all lawmakers’ spending lists they too asked for, and director Les Kondo says they have asked lawmakers more questions, like why things like hotels, cars and plane trips are listed on allowance paybacks when neighbor island lawmakers get $175 per diem to cover those costs....

The Campaign Spending Commission found some cases where the same expense was turned in for two paybacks.

Former KHON2 reporter-turned-lawmaker Rep. Gregg Takayama (D- Pearl City, Waimalu, Pacific Palisades) was one of them, several thousand dollars on a mailout.

“There was a double reimbursement, but it appeared to be a mistake,” said Campaign Spending Commission Executive Director Kristin Izumi Nitao. “We did take a look and didn’t find that it was a repeated behavior.”

“I received a reimbursement check from the House clerk for $4,464 in March 2013 for a newsletter sent from my office, but paid from my personal credit card. This was my first legislative newsletter since I had been elected just a few months earlier in November 2012,” Takayama told KHON2 in a statement.

“In error, my wife (who is also my campaign treasurer) submitted a request for reimbursement from my campaign fund, in the mistaken belief that the expenditure on my personal credit card bill was for a campaign expense. The error was inadvertent… We have since rectified the error.”...

read ... Watchdog agencies have more questions on lawmaker spending

Honolulu Council Considers Massive Property Tax Hike

PBN: ...That’s the first thing I thought when I learned about City Council budget chair Ann Kobayashi’s proposal to enrich the city’s coffers with an additional new property tax on homes valued at $1 million or more. I suppose the idea is that $1 million is a lot of money, so people who own such homes and rent them out (the tax would be on non-owner-occupied homes) must be millionaires so, of course, let’s tax ’em! No one will cry about it and the affected owners will hardly notice the additional bite....

There are two problems with pegging this proposal at $1 million.

The median price of a single-family home on Oahu was $648,000 as of March, up from $625,000 in the first quarter of 2013. University of Hawaii researchers predict that price will climb to $774,000 in the far-off, distant year of .... 2015. See the problem? Kobayashi seems to thinks she’s safely aiming at only the rich, but in just a couple of years, her million-dollar definition could include nearly half the homes on the island. What about a decade after that? Or two? When inflation and the physical limits to growth take their toll and a single-wall shack falls under this definition?

The assurance that this tax is meant only for homes used as rental properties also seems poorly thought out. In a few short years, actual millionaires will hardly be the only people renting out such homes. Say, for example, two solidly middle class siblings — for the heck of it, let’s imagine that they’re public school teachers, struggling to pay their bills — inherit their parents’ tired 1960s home in Kailua and decide to rent it out. There’s a pretty good chance that’ll soon be a million-dollar home. Are they the people Kobayashi meant to target with a tax hike? Because, that’s where it will fall.

read ... A proposed tax increase on million-dollar homes misaims

Caldwell: EMT’s “still not really tired” after 12-hour shifts

ILind: The mayor put on a happy face and blithely said, “If they get a 12-hour shift, they’re still not really tired.”

Really? No reason to be tired after a routine, 12-hour shift. And no wonder EMTs are said to have a higher proportion of drug abuse issues than other occupations.

According to one source:

Exposure to traumatic events was reported to be between 80% and 100% among EMTs, and rates of PTSD are >20%. High-risk alcohol and drug use rates among other emergency response professionals were reported to be as high as 40%.

HNN: City ambulance union gives initial OK to 12-hour shifts to fight shortage

read ... Honolulu’s mayor: EMT’s “still not really tired” after 12-hour shifts

Bullying Poll Part of Gay Activists Legislative Strategy to Impose Agenda on Schools

KHON: A statewide survey among registered Hawaii voters found that bullying among school-aged children continues to be a significant problem in Hawaii.

The survey was conducted for the mis-named Equality Hawaii Foundation by Qmark Research....

“It used to be you could leave school and get away from bullying. Now, with Facebook, it can be 24/7 and from a large group of people quickly,” said board member Mathew Bellhouse-King. (Therefore the gay agenda should control everything, 24/7!)

The foundation has advocated for school administrators to develop training and outreach programs to ensure the gay agenda is implemented in safe and bully-free schools.

It hopes that data from the survey will be used by state lawmakers during the next legislative session (ie after the election) to right (write) laws against bullying implementing the gay agenda.

read ... Control of the Children

Inside look at Navy Region Hawaii sex assault prevention program

HNN: Military officials say, on average, 20 new victim advocates are trained at Navy Region Hawai'i each month as part of the Navy's ongoing efforts to combat sexual harassment, sexual assault and reprisal.  This Friday another round of volunteers, both civilians and service members, will be certified after completing their initial 40 hours of training.

The number of reported sexual assaults within Navy Region Hawai'i is up by nearly 18% over last year.  According to officials, 31 incidents were reported in 2012 compared to 37 in 2013.  (If the national pattern holds, 19 of the 37 are male victims of homosexual rapists. Source link. Funny how they didn't mention this in the article.)  Military officials attribute the increase to an improved environment in which more victims feel comfortable coming forward, which they say is crucial step to ending sexual violence.

Officials credit the Victims Legal Counsel program, which is congressionally mandated in each branch of service, as a major factor in increased reporting.

Over 50%: DoD Report: 14,000 Military Personnel Victims of Homosexual Rapists

read ... Inside look at Navy Region Hawaii sex assault prevention program

TRO Against Man Tied to Assault on Carroll Cox

SA: An Oahu business owner has agreed to a court order to stay away from Kalae­loa Raceway Park operator George Grace III.

On Thursday in Hono­lulu District Court, Mark Aiwohi of Aiwohi Trucking agreed to the terms of a temporary restraining order for three years, although he continued to deny threatening Grace or having any part in the May 6 beating of Grace's associate, environmental activist Carroll Cox.

"We have resolved the matter," Aiwohi's attorney Michael Green said.

Green said Aiwohi denies allegations brought by Grace that Aiwohi went to his business May 7 and threatened to harm him and Grace's sister, Sabrina Grace-Dereis.

Honolulu police continue to investigate the assault on Cox, which occurred while he was looking into alleged misuse of Department of Hawaiian Home Lands property.

Cox said he was taking photographs of a modular house from inside his car near Boxer Road in Kalae­loa when a masked man struck him on the head with an object that appeared to be a pipe and another masked man entered his vehicle from the passenger side and stole his car keys. Nine staples were required to close his head wound....

After Thursday's hearing Green said that when the attack occurred, Aiwohi was at his business in Kalae­loa and could see that some distance away someone was being beaten, but he didn't know it was Cox and had no part in the assault. (Quick IQ test: Buy this story?)

Related: Fireworks, dirt, and stolen trucks: Colleen Hanabusa and the Honolulu Raceway Deal

read ... And George Grace III is in this mess

Kauai Developers Ride on Anti-GMO Coattails

KE: Changes are afoot on the westside of Kauai, but they have nothing to do with the seed fields that have gotten all the attention lately — at least, not directly.

Along with “bubble gum” masking agents and pesticides, the scent of development is now in the air, with Gay & Robinson's Kapalawai resort project moving forward again, Kikiaola Holdings installing a developer as chairman of its board and PMRF ramping up.

But before I delve into that, let's get back to these seeds for a moment. A ballot initiative seeking to ban all GMO agriculture on Maui, Lanai and Molokai has been rejected because more than half the signatures are invalid. This, despite — or perhaps because of — an anonymous donor paying $5 per name for signatures. The payments were being made through SHAKA, a nonprofit headed by high-end Realtor Mark Sheehan.

Kinda makes you wonder about the fate of the Kauai Rising charter amendment, and who is really behind the anti-GMO movement with its pro-upscale development connections.

Now back to our own west side. Kikiaola Holdings, which has extensive land in the Waimea area, recently installed George Christensen, an Oahu real estate developer and building contractor, as its board chairman. Previously, the Board had been chaired by descendants of H.P. Faye, who incorporated the land when the Kingdom of Hawaii was still recognized. But with Mike Faye stepping down and an outsider — and developer — coming in, it seems to signal a shift.

Meanwhile, the Kapalawai resort project, which was ready to roll when the economic downturn derailed it, has been resurrected under the auspices of Canadian developer Derek Trethewey....

read ... Ah, The Money

Hawaii 'Clean' Energy Initiative Born in Secrecy

IM: The State goal of 70% clean energy by 2030 is codified in various sections of the Hawai`i Revised Statutes (HRS). The electricity goal (Renewable Portfolio Standards) is codified at HRS §269-92. The energy efficiency goal ( Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standards) is codified at HRS §269-96.

The State strategy is the Hawai`i Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI). The HCEI is codified as HRS §196-10.5

The HCEI Strategy was developed by power brokers meeting behind closed doors.

Three major HCEI documents are the Memorandum of Understanding (January 2008), the Energy Agreement (October 2008) and the Roadmap (2011).

For five years the Energy Agreement was available only as an image document. Life of the Land converted the image document into a searchable and copyable version.

The spin was that the HCEI Documents were developed collaboratively; that all stakeholders were involved. In reality the public was excluded from the process.

HCEI Road Map (2011 Brochure) stated, "At its core, HCEI has been designed to be a collaborative effort between all of the citizens of the State of Hawaii to leverage their respective strengths."

HCEI Roadmap Introduction and Review (2011) noted that: "the HCEI Steering Committee and working groups have collaborated to create this detailed Road Map to help guide the journey to energy independence. ... The HCEI Road Map was developed by the HCEI Steering Committee, and its working group members."

The HCEI Steering Committee included representatives from the government, utilities and energy companies. At most only one member could possibly be called a community member. No member explicitly represented Native Hawaiians.

HECO opined that "the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) is a comprehensive road map"

Life of the Land was forced to file a formal legal document to request that the government release the names of the working groups, their leaders, and their membership.

Upon learning the names of committee members Life of the Land approached them to get a better understanding of what was happening. Like Life of the Land, many of them were also being kept in the dark.

The decisions were made by Committee Chairs, all of whom were from the US DOE, DBEDT and HECO. The process was top-down.

BP: Green Energy Scammers Buy Favor from NonProfits

read ... Alternatives to the Hawai`i Clean Energy Initiative

24 Housing-First Units Planned for Waikiki

KHON: At last count, there may be at least 500 homeless people in Waikiki alone.

“It’s our No. 1 issue and it is a growing concern,” said Rick Egged, president of the Waikiki Improvement Association. But KHON2 has learned about a possible new approach to the problem.

In two years, a 13,000-square-foot open space along the 2400 block of Ala Wai Blvd. may see a nine-story building, with as many as two dozen units planned to be set aside for homeless who qualify for the Housing First program.

The program seeks to find shelter first for the homeless, with job training, mental health treatment and other services available for those who need it.

After years of trying to develop a Housing First project in Chinatown – only to meet with opposition from residents in that area – it seems that the city may have found a place in Waikiki.

“We feel Housing First works,” said Pam Witty-Oakland, the city’s director of community services. “We come with 24-hour contact, wrap-around services and we guarantee rent payments.”

read ... Building in the works to help homeless in Waikiki

Tourist Ag Forms Used to Generate Instant Tourism Stats

HNN: The final destination for this data is the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

HTA pays 140 thousand dollars to print 7.5 million forms in 5 languages and another 250 thousand to process the paperwork.

The forms are picked up daily to track tourism trends.

HTA Director of Tourism Research Daniel Nahoopii said, "It's the envy of all the States and most nations that we can collect data so quickly. Most states and countries have to wait 6 months to a year before all their immigration data comes in."

The State gets a lot of mileage out of this data.

It's used by the Department of Business and Economic Development to tally tourism impact. DBEDT projects an increase in visitor arrivals and spending for 2014 based on the surveys received so far.

The data also helps the Council on Revenues to form its forecast. The Council recently lowered its forecast to project zero growth in general fund tax receipts.

Nahoopii added, "The number of visitors coming, they use that to kind of determine the amount of revenue that will be collected." 

ILind: Should tourism data be gathered under guise of regulating plant & animal imports?

read ... Total Information Awareness

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