May 31, 2011 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

May 31, 2011 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 12:03 PM :: 10478 Views

HB838: Reapportionment Funds Held up by Abercrombie

Public gathers at Schofield Memorial Day Remembrance Ceremony

"What makes it especially emotional is the fact that we have soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division and other units stationed here in Hawaii, currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, engaging in combat operations and who are continuing to make their sacrifices."

Kalapa: State Limits on Tax Deductions will Hurt Non-Profit Sector

As a result of measures adopted by lawmakers this session, high income taxpayers will not be able to deduct state income or sales taxes - those individuals with greater than $100,000 in federal adjusted gross income and couples with more than $200,000 in federal adjusted gross income. The deduction for state income and sales taxes will also be wiped out for all corporate income taxpayers. Further, the total of itemized deductions will be limited to $25,000 for single individuals with federal adjusted gross income of greater than $100,000 and to $50,000 for couples who have $200,000 or more of federal adjusted gross income.

There was a similar limitation on all itemized deductions at the federal level, but that limit expired at the end of 2009 and it was not renewed largely because Congress realized that the limit discouraged many from making charitable contributions which are the lifeblood of the nonprofit community. While the new limits at the state level may have the same effect, one has to wonder how the combination of eliminating the deductions for state income taxes will shift more deductions in the charitable contribution column.

And the Non-profit sector is not ready: Nonprofit Boards: Confused or M.I.A.

Duckworth not considering run for Hawaii posts

Decorated Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth has not decided if she will run for elected office again. But if she does, it will not be for Hawaii.

"As honored as I am by all those who'd like me to run here — and I get asked that question all the time — my home and my National Guard unit are in Illinois. And if I run for office again, it'll be there," she said.

Hanabusa holds 3rd DC Lobbyist Fundraiser of Year

Rep. Colleen Hanabusa has her third fundraiser of the year coming up on June 21st at the Hotel George in Washington, supported by the DCCC. Tickets from $1,000 to $5,000. (The lobbyists are paying her to lord it over Hawaii.)

Hanabusa still hasn’t Moved into District

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa continues to plug away at keeping her campaign promise to move into the 1st Congressional District she represents.

According to her spokeswoman Ashley Nagaoka, Hanabusa has been holding open houses to sell her Ko Olina home, with the intent of using the proceeds to buy in CD1.

“Until that happens she will have to rent an apartment,” Nagaoka said. “She has narrowed her apartment search down to one building in Honolulu, but I can’t give you the name of the building for security purposes.” (In other words, she hasn’t actually DONE anything.)

BoE to conduct every kind of Audit—EXCEPT the Financial one

The audit committee passed a charter document outlining its mission and duties. Its purpose is to provide

- ...oversight assistance to the Department of Education’s Board of Education (“BOE”) in fulfilling their responsibilities relating to:
- A. The integrity of the Department of Education’s (“DOE”) financial statements;
- B. The DOE’s compliance with legal and regulatory requirements;
- C. The qualifications, independence and performance of the external auditors;
- D. Monitoring the performance of the DOE’s internal audit activities; and
- E. The business practices and ethical standards of the DOE.

One interesting thing about the newly adopted charter document is that in addition to saying what the committee can do, it also establishes what it can't do. It tells us that the audit committee will not be planning or conducting audits or determining for itself the accuracy of financial statements.

…"In my opinion, that was not a strategic plan," Horner said. "I said that in an open forum at the meeting that it's a very important set of objectives, but those need to be tied to strategies and tactics. It's one thing to set an objective three years from now, but the board is also concerned with milestones and the process gone through to achieve those objectives." (Designed to fail)

Defined: Integrity of Financial Statements

Filling Up the General Fund: HVCB market blitz targets 3 cities

HVCB has launched blitzes in these cities to improve overall visitor traffic to Hawaii and offset expected shortfalls from Japan related to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami….

These latest blitzes are expected to boost visitor arrivals by an additional 26,000 from July through year-end, said Hawaii Tourism Authority economist Cy Feng. The gain, when combined with those from other markets, is enough to project total 2011 arrivals to Hawaii will increase by 5.4 percent to 7.47 million and overall visitor spending to rise by 11 percent to $12.7 billion, Feng said.

Another benefit of the blitzes is that they increase load factors for airlines in the key cities at a time when carriers are cutting nonperforming flights and routes, Monahan said. And they have helped offset Japan drops, he said.

(Food for the Corporatist State)

Medical home model Improves patient care

Yes it does. But a government-imposed medical home destroys patient care through the use of incentives tied to outcomes which will lead to unhealthy patients being dumped and care being rationed.

REALITY: Abercrombie’s Medical Homes scheme rejected by Mayo Clinic, other top clinics

The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan: Easier Eligibility Standards for Hawaii Residents

Starting on or after July 1, 2011, people applying for coverage can simply provide a letter from a doctor, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner dated within the past 12 months stating that they have or, at any time in the past, had a medical condition, disability, or illness. Applicants will no longer have to wait on an insurance company to send them a denial letter. Applicants will still need to meet other eligibility criteria including proving that they are U.S. citizens or residing in the U.S. legally and that they have been without health coverage for six months.

Partnering with Agents and Brokers: Beginning this fall, HHS will begin paying agents and brokers for successfully connecting eligible people with the PCIP program.

(Meanwhile the Gov’t-imposed Medical Homes plan will be incentivizing providers to kick unhealthy patients out.)

read more

Senators Question Guam Base Plan

Inouye, who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, downplayed a letter written by three colleagues earlier this month that called for a reevaluation.

Senators John McCain, Carl Levin and Jim Webb said the Defense Department should rethink its overall plan to restructure American forces in East Asia, calling it "unrealistic, unworkable, and unaffordable."

The senators said the agreement, aimed at decreasing America's military footprint in Japan, imposes an enormous financial burden on Tokyo as it recovers from a major earthquake. They offered alternatives they said would save billions of dollars but still keep U.S. military forces in the region….

Under the 2006 agreement, the Futenma base, located in a heavily populated southern part of Okinawa, would be closed and its air operations relocated to Camp Schwab in the north, where a new airfield would be built. Some 8,000 Marines would also be shifted to the U.S. territory of Guam by 2014. Japan would foot much of the multibillion-dollar relocation bill.

REMEMBER ABERCROMBIE’S PLAN? Follow the money: $10B Guam pork project benefits Abercrombie contributor

Hawaii may become only state where injuring or killing someone while driving without License is not a Felony

Robert Dams is a former Greendale police chief whose son was killed in 2005 by an unlicensed driver who was issued traffic citations and remains on the road. “People just don’t want to take responsibility, I believe, for their actions, because there’s no penalty in the law,” said Dams. “Legislators have decriminalized all operating after revocation or suspension, unless it’s alcohol related.” Dams said the number of people whose licenses have been suspended or revoked has been steadily increasing the last several years. Wisconsin and Hawaii are the only states in which injuring or killing someone while driving without a valid license is not a felony.

Act 221 Scammers still pushing Lanai Windfarm

The CBP that Hawaiian Electric Co. struck with Castle & Cooke was intended to resolve the community issues on Lanai, but it remains to be seen whether the Friends of Lanai or any other organization claiming to represent the people of Lanai will agree or will or should be a party.

CBPs could bring Hawaii together for an age of energy enlightenment. Those who opposed all projects in the past are now recognizing that CBPs can serve both majority and minority interests and make more projects possible. In short, they've become important to the greater good, so we might as well do them right.

But it's not a free lunch. Whatever we do, we need to remember that some or all of the costs of these benefits will be passed on to the ratepayers and taxpayers of our state, you and me.

(Obviously this begs one question: What are the ‘community benefits’ for the Act 221 scammers?)

What You Won't Learn From Honolulu Council Financial Disclosure Forms

Financial disclosure forms are the basis by which the public can judge possible conflicts of interest for elected officials.

Civil Beat exposed flaws with the forms at the state level. It found lawmakers not reporting stock they owned or listing any dependents with stocks or mutual funds and errors in the reporting of the value of real estate investments.

An examination of the disclosures of Honolulu's nine City Council members reveals that there are also problems at the local level.

Council Devises Escape Hatch for Recycling Subsidy

For Schnitzer, the subsidy has meant a savings of $19 million since 1998, the earliest for which figures are available. While waiving fees might have made sense during the fledgling period of Honolulu's recycling efforts, that time has clearly passed. The Council was right to rescind this subsidy, and Carlisle should sign the bill.

Nonprofit groups, as well as one-day noncommercial cleanup events, would continue to be exempt from the tipping fees, as they should be.

Unfortunately, the Council seemed to have acted on Bill 47 only once an escape hatch had been put in place. Two bills were advanced on the same day, offering alternatives to cut or cap, rather than eliminate, the subsidy. Bill 36, the approach to reduce it gradually, now appears to have Council favor and is up for a final vote Friday.

City might permit fireworks storage

By law, fireworks that may be sold legally on the neighbor islands may no longer be warehoused or stored on Oahu. The city has been sued by one company — American Promotional Events Inc.- Northwest, a fireworks import and wholesale company that does business as TNT Fireworks — which said it completed significant upgrades at its Honolulu storage facility to comply with storage regulations before the fireworks ban on Oahu took effect.

Fire officials said about a dozen other retailers have complied with the law and moved their storage of fireworks off Oahu.

James Pacopac, a representative of American Promotional Events — a fireworks distributor — told lawmakers the company supports Bill 38, adding that the restrictions allow for inspections of the warehouse at any time to ensure all products are accounted for.

"All we're asking for is to let us do business in our warehouse," Pacopac said….

Among those who voted against the bill in committee was Councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard. "I'm bothered by the fact that I feel like we are being somewhat bullied into passing legislation to avoid a lawsuit," Gabbard said.

NOW THE UKULELE OUTSELLS ELECTRIC GUITARS IN UK

The current sales boost has largely been put down to the quirky Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain which has broadened the instrument’s appeal with performances everywhere from the Proms to summer pop festivals.

The sales boom was uncovered by research for the annual Musical Instrument Retail Conference in London later this month. In a survey of 180 music shops, 42 per cent said the ukulele was the single instrument which had grown most in popularity over the past year.

This was followed by 31 per cent who named keyboards and 16 per cent who chose acoustic guitars.

LINK: http://www.ukuleleorchestra.com/main/home.aspx

Fake CO2 readings keep going up as atmosphere cools

Preliminary data from the US government's Earth Systems Research Laboratory at Mauna Loa in Hawaii, where measurements of CO2 have been continuously monitored for almost 50 years, show that 2011 CO2 levels peaked last week at 394.97ppm. This is an increase of nearly 1.6ppm on last year and the highest ever recorded.

The research comes after estimates from the International Energy Agency, revealed by the Guardian on Monday, that carbon-dioxide emissions from energy generation in 2010 were also the highest in history. About three-quarters of the energy emissions increase in 2010 came from developing countries, including China and India, said the IEA.

The continuing upward trend of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is alarming climate scientists who say that levels must be held at or around 400ppm if we are to have any chance of avoiding serious climate change.

REALITY: "95% water vapour" Global warming debunked by New Zealand Meteorologist

MORE REALITY: Greenhouse Gas Observatories Downwind from Erupting Volcanoes