PKF Report: "OHA Will Run Out of Funds"
Hawaii Civil Air Patrol Volunteers Instructed not to talk to Media
Total Visitor Expenditures Decrease 4.3%
Hawaii Electric Car Charging Costs More Than Gasoline for 33 MPG Car
$11M Spent: Ige Dumps Abercrombie's IT Pipedream
Feds Grab for Control of 1,601 square miles of Hawaii Waters
Undersea cable project sparked NextEra Energy's interest in buying Hawaiian Electric Co.
PBN: NextEra Energy Inc., which is seeking to buy Hawaiian Electric Co. for $4.3 billion, would not be in a position to acquire Hawaii’s largest utility if the Florida energy giant had not already been doing business in the state, one of its top executives told PBN this week.
Eric Gleason is president of NextEra Energy Hawaii LLC, which was formed in 2012 when the company began showing interest in laying an undersea cable that would connect the electric grids of the islands of Oahu and Maui. He told PBN that without having those meetings and getting to know what was happening in Hawaii’s energy scene, the acquisition would not be on the table today.
In October 2012, NextEra Energy, the parent of NextEra Energy Transmission LLC, of which Gleason is the president, formed NextEra Energy Hawaii to develop energy projects in the Islands, namely the cable.
NextEra Energy also said it is actively looking to develop utility-scale wind and solar projects on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island.
Gleason, a keynote speaker at this week’s Maui Energy Conference, is NextEra Energy’s point man in Hawaii.
read ... All About Big Cable
Money: HEI-NextEra to 'Engage' With Energy Ex$elerator in Exchange for Support of Alt-Energy Schemers
CB: Lau heaped praise on Hawaii’s Energy Excelerator, a clean-technology startup company. She said it’s one of many resources the state can rely on to help make the eventual goal of 100 percent renewable energy power.
“As we seek to move towards these very aggressive and cutting edge goals, it is exciting to us to have a partner that has such resources and such commitment to that same vision of clean energy for America,” she said, referring to NextEra.
Lau said she hesitated to speak at this year’s conference, recognizing how controversial Hawaiian Electric has been. But she said she ultimately decided it is incumbent upon her and other utility leaders to speak up publicly.
“It really is time for us to engage,” Lau said.
read ... Payoffs
Caldwell Giving $18M to Solar Contractors
PBN: Honolulu is planning to spend $16 million during the next four years to install solar energy systems at city facilities, its mayor said Thursday.
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said that the funding is earmarked in his administration’s proposed budget.
On Thursday, a new report said that Honolulu has more solar energy per capita than any other major American city, with 276 watts per person, more than twice the amount of the second and third place cities, according to a new report.
Honolulu had enough solar energy online at the end of 2014 to power more than a piddling 18,000 homes, according to Environment America Research and Policy Center, a research and policy center.
read ... Giveaway
Maui Soda Company Pays $32K Monthly for Electricity
MN: Cathy Nobriga-Kim, vice president of Maui Soda and Ice Works: "What would be a way to get businesses like yours involved?"
Nobriga-Kim said education is the first step.
"We're all professionals in our business. If you ask me about ice cream, I'll be able to tell you the ins and outs of ice cream. But as far as energy, I don't have that level of understanding you (industry experts) do," Nobriga-Kim, a third-generation ice cream maker, said.
"The only understanding I have is my electric bill. Why (is it) costing me $32,000 to $36,000 a month? The price of oil goes down, but I don't see a significant drop, so you have to understand that that's all the information we users really have. Education is the key to understanding and our ability to validate what's happening," she said.
Her company and Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. are the only two large-scale, private manufacturers in Maui County that consume large quantities of electricity, Nobriga-Kim said....
read ... Impediment to Business
More Criminals Will Walk: Measure on videoconference testimony fails
SA: A plan to allow tourists who are ripped off during their Hawaii vacations to testify against the suspects by way of videoconferencing was rejected by state lawmakers this week, and it appears the idea is dead for the year.
Maui County Deputy Prosecutor Richard Minatoya said it is often difficult or impossible to prosecute property crimes against tourists because court rules of evidence demand that victims travel back to Hawaii to testify. Prosecutors say visitors usually can't do that, and law enforcement officials want to use videoconferencing instead.
County prosecutors on Maui, Kauai and Hawaii island all urged lawmakers this year to approve House Bill 792 to amend the rules of evidence to allow testimony via videoconferencing in misdemeanor and petty misdemeanor cases. The maximum penalty for a conviction on those charges is a year in jail or less.
Videoconferencing in criminal cases was also endorsed by the Hawaii State Association of Counties. Hawaii County Council member Dennis "Fresh" Onishi said the bill would show tourists that Hawaii cares about them.
It would also send a message to thieves that "we're not going to let you guys take advantage of our tourists and nothing's going to happen to you," Onishi said. "We need to kind of put our foot down."
The state Office of the Public Defender disagrees (insert excuses here) ....
read ... Defense Lawyers' Welfare Program
State DOE structure is dysfunctional
PBN: A recent survey of public school principals suggests that the governance structure and culture of Hawaii’s Department of Education are dysfunctional.
School principals say they need more flexibility in determining who will or will not work in their schools, and the authority to seek support services outside the DOE to better serve the children. My own experiences convince me that their criticism of the existing system is spot on....
More than two years in the state office convinced me that meaningful progress will be impossible without major change in the DOE’s governance structure and culture.
We currently have the opposite of a schools-centered or schools-empowered system. Rather than empower school-level professionals to use their share of system resources to best serve the children in their respective schools, the central office functions as though only it knows what is best for the 185,000 children in Hawaii’s DOE.
To stay in the good graces of central administrators, principals must function more like compliance managers than leaders of their respective school communities. Principals who buck the system do so at considerable risk. Tellingly, only two in five principals said in the recent survey that they can express concern or critique DOE policies and practices without fear of reprisal, retaliation, or being unfairly evaluated.
When school-level leaders are treated this way, it is hardly surprising that the DOE’s prevailing culture is one of keeping your head down, not making waves, pretending not to see obvious problems.
The DOE’s food services branch serves more than 100,000 meals a day at an annual cost to Hawaii’s taxpayers of $110 million. A private enterprise of this magnitude would call for proven leadership, yet the DOE treats this like a rank-and-file position paying only slightly more than the average teacher’s salary.
The system’s food service manager should be responsible for providing budgetary oversight and rigorous management of costs, but that is impossible because each school’s food service manager reports only to the principal, whose budget is totally unaffected by food service costs.
Is it any wonder that the per-student cost of food service at one school can be twice the per-student cost at an otherwise comparable school?
Background: Full Text: 2015 Hawaii Public School Principals' Survey
read ... Ray L'Heureux
Lump-sum budgeting: No More Slush Funds for UH Administrators
SA: The state House of Representatives' approach to lump-sum budgeting for the University of Hawaii system in House Bill 500, HD1, recently passed by the House, reflects a different approach — an approach where insanity is avoided.
Our current budgeting system leads to interference from politicians and other outside influences. It also creates a division within the university system itself. Each campus and the community colleges have an "every man for himself" attitude.
Our new lump-sum budgeting plan creates a system similar to the budget and finance system in state government.
It empowers the UH system's chief financial officer in the same way as the state budget and finance director.
The CFO will be able to analyze budget requests from each campus and then allot, restrict and manage the funds given to UH.
No more coming to the Legislature with fake budget requests for electricity. No more hiding money in their slush funds.
This power will give the university true autonomy and will challenge the management of the university. Now the university system will have full control of its programs and funds to manage its repairs and its operating costs. No more, "The Legislature didn't give us the money so we can't fix the toilets."
If the toilets are broken, if the buildings are in disrepair, if debt service is due, if a project is over budget, if labor cost is unsustainable or if an operating unit is draining university resources — it will be because UH management allowed it.
read ... Ike Choy
Gov. Ige’s Fifth-floor Woes Commence
Boylan: Gov. David Ige stubbed his toe last week, bruised his knee, as well, and may have suffered hairline fractures in one or both of his gubernatorial legs. Only time, X-rays and future legislative votes will tell.
He tripped, of course, on his failure to muster sufficient votes to ratify his appointment of Castle and Cooke vice president Carleton Ching to head the state Department of Land and Natural Resources....
It was always a close thing. At one point, it was reported the Senate’s 25 votes were split: 12 for, 12 against, 1 undecided.
Somebody, or -bodies, caved. At least two Democrats admit to it: Sens. Les Ihara and Susanne Chun-Oakland. ...
Ihara told the press that, if a vote on the appointment got to the floor of the Senate, he’d vote for it. One almost got there, but then he announced he wouldn’t have voted for it....
So much for one of the new governor’s vaunted strengths: his good relations with members of the Legislature.
What went wrong?
Read Henry Adams, a descendant of two presidents of the United States. In his The Education of Henry Adams, he famously wrote, “A friend in power is a friend lost.”
SA: Leader of the Conservation Council of Hawaii is upbeat about environmentalism in Hawaii
read ... Gov. Ige’s Fifth-floor Woes Commence
Housing Authority Pushing Micronesians into Streets
HNN: Hilton and other Kapalama business owners have been meeting with city leaders to address the canal camp. Another meeting is scheduled for Friday.
One option the city is considering, putting up a fence around the canal. But critics say restricting access won't solve the growing problem.
"They have no where else to go," says advocate Kathryn Xian (lying), "If they put up a fence, they're just going to move to other areas in town, also visible." (Translation: They could go to shelter any time they want--but they don't want to.)
Kimo Carvalho of the Institute for Human Services says outreach workers have moved three families in three months, either into the shelter or direct housing. But Carvalho knows, the process isn't moving fast enough.
"They have to want to make that choice, and we're going to offer them every single solution to getting there," says Carvalho.
He says the homeless they've talked to recently moved to the canal after being kicked out of state public housing units. (Thanks a lot, Hakim Ouansafi.)
"They come from Micronesia and they start living with families and relatives, and because they're doubling up and tripling up into small units and spaces, public housing does not allow for that," says Carvalho.
read ... Kalihi
Law Prof: Religious Freedom Restoration Act Already Law in Hawaii
WM: ...Nineteen other states already have their own versions of the federal RFRA: Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
Another 11 states have courts that have established RFRA as a legal precedent, according to Christopher Lund, a religious liberty expert at Wayne State University Law School: Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Washington, and Wisconsin.
RFRA gives courts a legal test for cases: The government cannot substantially burden someone’s religion unless it has a compelling interest and uses the least restrictive means for accomplishing that interest. That gives courts a clearer guideline than the First Amendment’s free exercise clause when considering religious freedom cases.
read ... RFRA
Omidyar Continues to Use Civil Beat to Pander to National Democrats
Rail Won't Work, So Lets Ban Cars and Houses
Bob Jones: ...The obvious solution would be to restrict the purchase of cars. You can’t buy one until you show that you’ve moved one off island.
Trouble is, a key part of our economy is the selling of cars and the lending of money to buyers.
Additional problem: I’ve been a strong rail supporter because mass transit off the streets is the obvious future for all large cities. But we pro-railers have to acknowledge that it won’t replace cars and trucks, and won’t end highway congestion because of the constant growth of people and their vehicles. It only will be a faster-than-road option for those such as Waikiki hotel workers or UH-Manoa students who come in from the Ewa end.
Most families need a car, even if they live adjacent to a rail station. They need to pick up young kids after school. They take children to soccer games and piano practice. They shop for groceries and are not going to lug all those bags on the train.
Some will exclusively use the train and we hope that’s enough to fill it most of the time.
Another obvious solution would be to quit approving all those housing projects that cover us with crackerboxes at inflated prices or mega-homes/condos for foreigners parking their money safely in the USA.
We also could say, “Sorry, but your children probably aren’t going to find housing here. They’ll have to live elsewhere.”
That’s Spock-like logic....
read ... Liberal Logic
Honolulu Seeks IAL Designation for 56,000 Acres
SA: The map made available by DPP shows the roughly 56,000 acres of private agricultural land on Oahu that meets one or more of the three qualities deemed most essential to meet the definition of IAL designation: land currently in agricultural production, land with prime soil qualities and growing conditions, and land with sufficient availability of water to sustain agricultural development.
The two largest swaths under consideration are in the Wahiawa-North Shore region and Kunia, while others are scattered throughout more rural parts of Oahu including the Waianae Coast, Mililani Mauka, Waimea-Sunset Beach, Kahuku-Laie, Hauula-Punaluu, Kaaawa and Waimanalo.
Three public meetings are scheduled on consecutive Wednesday evenings in April in Kapolei, Mililani and Kaneohe. DPP, which is developing the plan, will give an overview of the plan's objectives before yielding to public comments and recommendations.
DPP officials are hoping to send a completed proposal to the Honolulu City Council for its approval by the end of the year. The plan would then be submitted to the state Land Use Commission, which would have the final say over Oahu's and the other counties' maps.
read ... Locked Up
Wrongful schools termination cases costing $418K
HNN: State taxpayers will pay $418,500 to settle three cases of wrongful terminations of public school employees.
Some part-time employees at Mililani High School's cafeteria brought the first case. They claimed they were not hired for future work after complaining that their supervisor, the cafeteria manager, was drinking alcohol at school and falsifying payroll records. They will receive $13,500 to settle their case.
A second case involves Ross Nishi, who oversaw personnel matters at all public schools on the Big Island as the personnel regional officer.
The Department of Education terminated him in 2008 for improperly accessing the Hawaii criminal justice database for personal reasons.
"He was fired in spite of the fact that the criminal justice data people felt this was a very minor infraction," said his attorney Ted Hong, in a telephone interview from Hilo.
Hong said a DOE hearings officer found there was no proper cause to terminate Nishi, but the day after she made the ruling overturning his firing, the hearings officer also was fired....
In the third case, another schools employee, a member of the United Public Workers union, was fired in 2011 for violating the DOE's workplace violence policy. He challenged the firing and two years later an arbitrator reinstated him. So the state will pay him $80,000 in a settlement.
State lawmakers must approve these three settlements and 26 others from various state departments totaling $3 million.
read ... Wrongful Termination
Retaliation at Hawaii County Fire Department
WHT: Rosario, a 25-year veteran of the department, has been fire chief since September 2011.
Battalion Chiefs Steve Loyola and Ty Medeiros were suspended in November. Loyola told a Honolulu television station they were suspended for criticizing how Rosario was running the department.
Medeiros spoke to the county Fire Commission at its Dec. 1 meeting, according to the minutes.
“He stated that he was there to speak on two letters he sent to the commission for the evaluation of the fire chief,” the minutes said.
The commission, which later conducted an annual evaluation of the chief in a closed-door session, denied Medeiros’ request to be allowed to speak in private about the chief.
“The commission does not have authority over administrative matters of the Fire Department,” the minutes said Deputy Corporation Counsel Craig Masuda advised the commission. “The written complaint he filed with the commission is not within the commission’s jurisdiction. His complaint should go to the Chief, then the Mayor, then the Merit Appeals Board.”
The Merit Appeals Board next meets April 15. Its agenda has not yet been posted.
County Human Resources Director Sharon Toriano said any complaints, if they reach the stage of the board, will be publicly on the agenda. She confirmed that the two firefighters remain employed by the county, but declined to discuss any ongoing investigation.
Kailua-Kona resident Edwin Whitlock, a retired police officer from the mainland and a volunteer firefighter, is concerned about recent events. He was contacted by the newspaper after writing a letter to the editor.
“I am concerned by both the allegations and the manner in which Rosario has responded,” Whitlock said. “Rosario is not only squandering department resources and wasting tax dollars, but compromising his own integrity because his actions are clearly retaliatory.”
Attempts to reach Loyola and Medeiros were unsuccessful this week. But Loyola, a 24-year employee of the department, told Hawaii News Now TV News on March 19 that morale is at an all-time low, and 25 people have quit the department over the past three years.
“He surrounds himself with a bunch of people that can’t do the job, in my opinion, and it’s dangerous,” Loyola told Hawaii News Now.
read ... Hawaii County Fire Department personnel investigation ongoing
Hawaii residents' opinion on tourism industry
PBN: When asked to rate tourism as an industry in Hawaii on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most favorable, the average response was 8.06, in line with the 8.00 average in 2012 and 8.10 average in 2010. Ankersmit said it was surprising to see that respondents with no ties to the tourism industry - meaning they had no household members working at a hotel or other industry - gave the industry a more favorable rating than those who did.
When asked about how tourism had impacted their family, with 10 being the most positive, 45 percent rated it seven or higher, compared to 44 percent who did so in 2012.
Most residents believed the industry created many well paying jobs for residents (average score of 6.78, with 10 being completely agree and 1 not agreeing at all), created shopping, restaurants and entertainment opportunities for residents (average score of 7.63), and created jobs that have opportunities for advancement (average score of 7.0).
Asked if tourism helped in preserving Hawaiian culture, 48 percent rated it five or lower, with an average score of 5.63. Asked if tourism helped sustain Hawaii’s natural resources, parks and cultural sites, 39 percents rated it five or lower with an average score of 6.21.
When asked if tourism provided more benefits than problems, 64 percent agreed that it did, down from 67 percent in 2012 an a high of 80 percent in 2010.
read ... Opinions
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