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Its Baaaack: Hawaii governor’s emergency housing panel resumes work
SA: … An emergency working group established in July by Gov. Josh Green to speed delivery of affordable housing in Hawaii has gotten back to work after initial setbacks that included legal challenges and the resignation of its leader.
The Build Beyond Barriers Working Group has yet to receive and approve an application for residential development, but the 36-member panel during a Nov. 14 meeting issued its first decision, one related to housing production.
Panel members agreed to let two Hawaii County agencies sidestep state laws that govern employee hiring so that the agencies can more quickly fill chronically vacant positions.
The Planning Department and the Department of Public Works for Hawaii County sought exemptions to state civil service and collective bargaining statutes to more easily fill 19 vacant full-time positions representing 25% of full staffing.
Representatives of the two agencies said at the meeting that they will be able to more quickly process permits, including permits for affordable housing, with more staff…..
Two lawsuits also had been filed by several people and organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i and the Sierra Club, to contest the legality of the working group.
The litigation led Green to issue a revised third emergency housing proclamation on Oct. 24 that resolved the litigation after a Sept. 26 meeting was canceled.
Now, panel leadership is rotating among a three-person “housing team” made up of Ouansafi and the directors of two other state departments: Mary Alice Evans at the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development and Dean Minakami at the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp.
Evans chaired the Nov. 14 meeting.
The panel’s next meeting is slated for this month, but a date has not yet been scheduled.
Meeting information is available at hale.hawaii.gov….
REALITY: Housing Emergency Designed to Fail
read …. Hawaii governor’s emergency housing panel resumes work
Our Insurance Crisis Is About To Get Much Worse
CB: … As a result of the Maui fires, home insurance in Hawaii is likely to become more expensive for most and unaffordable for many.
We may see “fire hazard zones” created for insurance purposes, similar to the lava hazard zones on the Big Island. Even if not officially defined, we will see areas designated by insurance companies as very high risk, which will bring very high insurance costs to those areas.
On the Big Island, lava hazard zones were drawn to estimate risk. In response, insurance companies have charged high rates in these areas, and now are no longer writing new policies in lava hazard zones 1 and 2.
The Hawaii Property Insurance Association was created in 1991 to address these areas where coverage was not available. Since that time it has grown to include areas beyond just lava zones where insurance is unavailable. HPIA is an unincorporated association of property insurance companies, and all such companies operating in Hawaii must participate….
read … Russell Ruderman: Our Insurance Crisis Is About To Get Much Worse
Hawaii Charter Schools Say Test Scores Don’t Tell The Whole Story
CB: … While charter schools fall below the state average in reading and math proficiency, leaders and advocates look to alternate ways of measuring success….
read … Hawaii Charter Schools Say Test Scores Don’t Tell The Whole Story
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