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Wednesday, April 7, 2010
April 7, 2010 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 1:36 PM :: 7040 Views

LINK>>>Abercrombie Promised He Would Not Reward Failed Banks with Massive Bailout – Then Did

LINK>>>Fact Checking: Anti-Djou attack ad “Simply false”

LINK>>>VIDEO: National Democrats' anti-Djou commercials starting tonight

LINK>>>Dan? Who’s Dan? National Dems sabotage Hanabusa to help Case

LINK>>>POLITICO: National Dems still refuse to rule out Case endorsement

Latest DCCC Hit piece>>>Charles Djou: Social Security and Medicare Not “Core Services”

Atomic Monkey>>>Neil Pulls Up Stakes in Washington, DC  (see pics of Neil’s DC crash pad now up for sale)

SB: Taxing bills gain momentum—Charities, gasoline, internet sales, to be taxed, HGEA kills school reform, HGEA to be fed from special funds

Thirty-seven transactions that are now exempt from the state's 4 percent general excise tax would be subject to a tax of 1 percent starting July 1, and the tax on a barrel of oil would jump to $1.55 from a nickel under proposals advancing in the Legislature.

The 37 transactions that would be subject to a 1 percent GE tax under Senate Bill 2402 include gross income generated by nonprofit organizations from certain conventions, conferences, trade shows or other events, and maintenance fees paid to condominium associations. (The complete list is online at www.hsblinks.com/29f.)

While passing measures to raise the barrel tax (House Bill 2421), raise the tax on cigarettes another penny per stick (HB 1985) and suspend for five years the so-called Act 221 high-tech tax credits (SB 2401), lawmakers also passed a measure giving gamblers the ability to deduct losses on state income taxes (SB 2834).

Another measure, HB 2598, takes $44 million in hotel room tax money from the counties to help balance the state budget by putting it in the state general fund. The bill barely cleared the Senate by a 14-11 vote. The House had kept the counties' money from the transient accommodations tax intact, so the two sides will have to work out the differences in conference….

Senators had hoped to save an estimated $5 million a year, starting next year by moving public school principals from a 12-month to a 10-month contract, but a letter from the HGEA on Monday caused state Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, Ways and Means Committee chairwoman, to ask that the budget be amended and the provision removed. (HGEA kills school reform)

Key Bills: SB2402 GET, HB2598 TAT, HB2421 Barrel Tax, SB2124 Hurricane Fund raid for furloughs, HB2376, SB2570 Appointed BoE on ballot, HB2962 Internet tax, SB2401 ACT 221 tax credit suspension, SB2650 feeds HGEA by killing DHS reorganization, SB1178 raids special funds to pay for failing Medicaid program (this will be 10X worse when Obamacare kicks in), SB2469 raids undetermined special funds of undetermined amount to feed HGEA, UPW  Look them up by bill number>>>http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2010/

RELATED: April 15 No New Taxes Five Rallies on Four Islands: Honolulu, Hilo, Kona, Maui, Kauai

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ADV: Hawaii Legislature focusing on targeted tax hikes, special funds  (use of ACT 221 tax credits to be suspended?)

The House and Senate also may suspend investors' ability to take advantage of technology infrastructure and high-technology investment tax credits for three years (the SB says 5 years) to help with the deficit. The move has drawn protests from some investors and lawmakers, who say they believe the state would be reneging on an incentive for investing in emerging technology.

(This is what happens when one depends on the State to create a “Potemkin Business” for you out of thin air by giving you tax dollars.)

Unfortunately the ACT 221 take back is tied to the imposition of an internet sales tax which will hit every consumer in the state.

READ: HB2962, SB2401

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Hawaiian homes, Kam School campus will be built in Makaha Valley

Stone is the master developer of Ko Olina Resort & Marina. He led a company that bought Mākaha Valley Country Club with a Weinberg Trust affiliate for $4.4 million in 2004 from an affiliate of troubled Japan-based golf operator Nitto Kogyo Co. Ltd.

Stone had previously offered to buy the neighboring golf course and hotel, the Mākaha Resort & Golf Club, in a bid to win support for $75 million in state tax credits to finance an aquarium at Ko Olina. But that sale was not realized, and the Mākaha Resort isn't involved in the education and housing complex plan.  (Now he is unwinding his $4.4m investment in a real estate deal which did not go through.  In exchange he gets lots of good PR, something Disney understand the value of.)

The Ko Olina aquarium plan was canceled several years ago, and Stone has told members of the West O'ahu community that the Kamehameha Schools-DHHL land donation is a charitable reinvestment in the community with no strings attached.

SB: 300 acres donated for learning center

RELATED: Cayetano: Hanabusa's Broken Trust connections lead to Ko Olina, Hanabusa, Souza tied to Pali Golf course shooters’ mob, Fireworks, dirt, and stolen trucks: Colleen Hanabusa and the Honolulu Raceway Deal

read more

Rail propaganda fills papers, airwaves

Speaking of propaganda: “Modesty among keys to Inouye's success”

It turns out Inouye’s secret is that he takes a 40% cut of everything and he doesn’t leave his name—or any fingerprints—on anything.

Oh, and Inouye’s “mentor” is former KKK kleagel Sen Robert Byrd (D-WV).  No wonder HI and WV compete for the bottom ranking in so many national indicators.

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Common Cause Urges Hawaii Senators to Adopt Floor Amendments to Shed Light on Corporate Political Expenditures

HONOLULU – Citizen groups are urging the Hawaii State Senate to adopt a last-minute floor amendment to shed light on corporate donations to and expenditures on behalf of political candidates. The 107-page campaign finance bill, House Bill 2003, omits language from earlier versions that would require corporate political contributions and expenditures to be clearly reported through a PAC. The bill is up for third reading in the Senate on Tuesday.

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SB: Find alternative to curfew at public housing

The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii has expressed "serious concern" about the curfew, questioning its constitutionality.

"Keeping residents here under house arrest ... is not the way our government works," said ACLU attorney Daniel Gluck.

"We never had peace like this in 20 years," Kalihi Valley Homes resident Robert Manning told the Star-Bulletin's Gary T. Kubota.

(And the SB and ACLU are here to make sure you never have it again.)

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Stagnant trash riles officials: At least 2 on council believe waste company 'intentionally misled'

Hawaiian Waste originally said it would begin shipping O'ahu trash to a Washington state landfill last October, but has postponed the start of shipments at least 10 times. The city now says the earliest the company could begin shipments is the end of April.

More than 20,000 tons of compacted trash are baled and sit on three different sites at Campbell Industrial Park. The city, which had been sending up to 200 tons per week, has stopped sending trash to Hawaiian Waste at the company's behest.

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UPW follows ILWU in backing Tavares re-election bid

Reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, Arakawa said he has no animosity toward the UPW for not endorsing him, saying the union needs to do what it feels is best for its workers.

He added that having a "too friendly" relationship with the union can make things difficult when tough decisions have to be made, especially when budget cuts are looming with a projected $56 million budget shortfall next fiscal year.

In a choice between making "tough cuts" in government versus raising fees, Arakawa said Tavares has chosen to raise fees rather than "make tough decisions in government."

In addition, Arakawa said that the mayor has proposed trimming allocations to nonprofit agencies in the community and cutting county funding for the 6-year-old helicopter ambulance program.

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Hanapepe ‘Dial-a-doc’ faces 5 years in prison

The charges stem from federal search warrants that were executed on Spear’s clinic in Hanapepe in March and June 2006, the release says. State Narcotics Enforcement Division investigators, who were assisting federal agents, discovered and seized hundreds of pre-signed blank prescriptions.

Further investigation revealed that Spear was prescribing and dispensing controlled substances without being present at the Hanapepe clinic, the release says.

On at least two occasions in October and December 2005, several dozen prescriptions for Scheduled II Controlled Substances, including Oxycontin and Ritalin, were prescribed and dispensed from the Hanapepe clinic while Spear was in Florida, the release states.

(If he were prescribing marijuana, this would mostly be legal.)

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Hawaii biofuels, solar power being boosted for military use

About 160 people from 61 companies on the Mainland and in Hawai'i attended a forum yesterday at Marine Corps Base Hawaii to discuss the effort cash in on the scam.

A short distance away, also on Marine Corps Base Hawaii, a biofuels gathering that focused on growing renewable energy crops for Navy fuel drew 250 people and about 100 companies.

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