Entries for 'News Release'

The Senate Committee on Health heard testimony this week on a beverage tax and Senators heard loud and clear that beverage taxes are not popular.  This Monday, the Committee will vote on one beverage tax proposal. Then on Wednesday, they will hold a hearing on another proposal that would tax beverages.

HONOLULU – The Regents Candidate Advisory Council (RCAC) has presented a list of candidates to Gov. Neil Abercrombie to fill four seats on the University of Hawai’i Board of Regents, including two City and County of Honolulu seats, a Hawai’i County seat and a Maui County seat.

HB12, a bill introduced by State Representative Cynthia Thielen (R, 50^th District) which establishes monetary restitution to property owners who have been victimized by plant thefts, will be heard by the House Committee on Agriculture this Friday, Feb. 11, at 9 a.m. in Conference Room 312 at the State Capitol. 

The House Republican caucus has led the effort to keep invocations a part of the daily legislative sessions in the Hawai`i State House following the ending of the practice in the State Senate.

In November 2010, Hawai‘i voters approved a Constitutional Amendment that gives the Governor the authority to appoint members of the BOE. Governor Abercrombie is encouraged that the State Legislature has been moving expeditiously to establish the appointment process for BOE members. When that legislative process is complete, Governor Abercrombie intends to name Horner among his first appointments.

Honolulu – Governor Neil Abercrombie today announced appointments for the following positions:  Chief Negotiator, Department of Human Resources Development (DHRD) Deputy Director, and Director of the Office of Environmental Quality Control.

• Bills to Decongest Traffic
• Bills to Cut Taxes & Make Government More Responsive to the People
• Bills to Solve Problems within Homeowner Associations
• Bills to Stop Elder Abuse
• Bills to Solve Problems for Our Schools

House Judiciary Committee Feb 1 acted on over a dozen election-related bills....

Health Care Repeal - Vote Rejected (47-51, 2 Not Voting)

Location: Kalama Heights Retirement Home, Garden Room

Date: Friday, February 18th, 2011, 6:30pm

Cost: Free and open to the public!

Senator Charles Schumer and other congressional leaders have called on government safety agencies to investigate why such elevated levels of lead are coming into contact with our food and leaching into the environment. Perhaps even more alarming, a University of Arizona study found fecal coliform bacteria and E. coli in some of the bags.

EPA standard for lead in packaging materials is 100ppm.  Safeway tests 6.72 times the EPA limit.  Walgreens is 2.98 times, KTA Superstores 2.85 times, and Defense Comissary Agency tests 2.35 times the EPA standard. 

SB602 proposes an amendment to the state constitution to legalize slot machines and video poker machines that are not visible from the street in designated resort areas within Waikiki.

Governor Neil Abercrombie today announced the appointment of State Representative Hermina Morita as the chair of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

Hopefully, every member of Congress will recognize by then that earmarks are a wasteful, unnecessary part of the budget process that should never be restored. CAGW will also be monitoring how members of Congress may attempt to circumvent the moratorium, through ‘phonemarking’ or other underhanded techniques.”

Nor have I, or any of the other fishermen here, seen any long term decline in numbers of aquarium fish. We've been diving the same reefs for more than 4 decades, and the fish always return year after year. If this supposed depletion was true, we'd have been out of business long ago. The state has been monitoring the fishery since the early 1970s, and there has never been any declining trend.

This will be Governor Abercrombie’s first appointment to the BOE.  In November 2010, Hawai‘i voters approved a Constitutional Amendment that gives the Governor the authority to appoint members of the BOE. The state Legislature is discussing legislation specifying the appointment process.

“It is my intention to replace Dr. Isa with a member who will continue serving on the Board of Education for the long term,” added Governor Abercrombie.

PRINCETON, NJ -- About 7 in 10 national adults, including 88% of Republicans, say it is important that Republican leaders in Congress take the Tea Party movement's positions and objectives into account as they address the nation's problems. Among Republicans, 53% rate this "very important."

Although the Flag Bill (HB1468) must eventually be heard – the Flag Bill will NOT be heard tomorrow.  This delay however gives all us who are passionate about displaying our flag on our own property more time to contact and urge Representative Cabanilla, Chairman of the House Committee on Housing, to put the flag bill – HB 1468—on the schedule for a hearing.

However, the bill that will be heard tomorrow, HB 1464, also deals with homeowner community associations and the lack of transparency by some homeowner community association boards in their decisions and actions and the lack of fairness by some of these boards in their treatment of their association members. 

It looks as though Sen. McConnell has determined a way to force Sen. Reid to allow a full repeal vote in the Senate today or tomorrow.

When are you just going to leave us alone to live our lives in peace?

Just because Maui and Kauai and San Francisco and other progressive enclaves have done it does not mean we have to be so foolish also.

Recent Congressional Votes

• Senate: Secret Holds Elimination
• House: Non-Security Discretionary Spending Limit
• House: Presidential Campaign Fund Termination

This bill, HB 1468, brings Hawaii into compliance with the federal law as well as ensuring that these home owners may display their American Flag continuously 365 days a year despite any association board's regulation, covenant, or similar binding agreement to the contrary.  It also removes any fee you would have to pay to display our Flag.  HB1468 IS BEING HEARD WED FEB 2, 8:30AM IN CONFERENCE ROOM 325 AT THE CAPITOL.

The most important message is what it doesn't tell us. It doesn't tell us whether the person who died consented when the lethal dose was administered.

Further to that, the physician is rarely present at the time the lethal dose is administered. If the person does not consent, who would know?

The reporting system has a conflict of interest, whereby the physician who wrote the lethal prescription submits the report. The physician will not admit to abuse.

The Senate Committee on Agriculture, chaired by Senator Clarence Nishihara and Vice Chair Gil Kahele, will hear SB 711 relating to genetically engineered fish at a hearing immediately following the joint hearing with the Committee on Energy and Environment which is hearing the other two anti-biotech bills.

Oahu:  Wednesday, Feb. 2nd, 11:30 am to 1 pm

Maui: Wednesday, February 2nd, 5:30 to 8pm

Today, Moody's Investors Service just put a price tag on the failed leadership of the Democratic Party in Hawaii.  According to Moody's, Hawaii has the highest debt burden in the nation.  Because the Democrats keep spending beyond our means, every man, woman and child in Hawaii now owes the State $7,987.00. 

The Hawaii Meth Project today announced its inaugural Teen Advisory Council, formed to promote and facilitate peer outreach.  Members of the Teen Advisory Council are playing a key role in the Hawaii Meth Project’s community action plan by encouraging teen volunteerism and identifying peer outreach opportunities at school and in the community to raise awareness about the dangers and risks of methamphetamine use.

SB 712 would require the Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture to make public the location of field tests of genetically engineered plants.

SB 713 would require a label that says "Genetically Engineered" to be placed on whole foods sold in Hawaii.  Since the transgenic papaya is currently the only produce that would be targeted by this law, its passage would have catastrophic economic consequences on Hawaii's papaya farmers since the label is intended to scare people from purchasing the fruit.

"The State House of Representatives needs to address the lack of transparency and public participation in the legislative process by using the technology we have at our disposal today by immediately communicating to the public through video, webcasting and audio transmission," said Representative Thielen.

Moody's says that the evaluation of current and projected pension liabilities is an important area of focus in its rating reviews.

• Gregory Jackson, Director of the Office of Veteran Services
• Jesse Souki, Director of the Office of Planning
• Russell A. Suzuki, First Deputy Attorney General
• Keith Kamita, Deputy Director of Law Enforcement for the Department of Public Safety
• Martha Torney, Deputy Director of Administration for the Department of Public Safety

Hawaii lacks the most basic protections for women, unborn children, and the terminally-ill. The state fails to provide for informed consent for abortion, to require parental involvement in a minor's abortion decision, or to ensure that abortion clinics maintain minimum health and safety standards. It also fails to ban destructive embryo research, human cloning, and assisted suicide.

In going through your bills and the other priorities you outlined in your speech, we have a few questions that will help us as we move forward. While we understand more questions and answers will arise as we go through the legislative process, these are the top 10 questions we would like to have discussed as soon as possible.

I’d like to address several issues with you this morning: our mission, our caseload, our programs, and our needs that have been impacted by the economic downturn.

In this very room, the House will produce, debate, and advance a budget. Last year — in an unprecedented failure — Congress chose not to pass, or even propose a budget. The spending spree continued unchecked.

We owe you a better choice and a different vision.

...for many, the change has been painful.  I've seen it in the shuttered windows of once booming factories, and the vacant storefronts on once busy Main Streets. I've heard it in the frustrations of Americans who've seen their paychecks dwindle or their jobs disappear -- proud men and women who feel like the rules have been changed in the middle of the game. 

They're right. The rules have changed.....

Introduced by Sen. Wil Espero (D) on January 21, 2011, to require the Department of Public Safety to establish a pilot program on Oahu that electronically monitors committed persons who are permitted to live and work in the community, in lieu of continued incarceration; and to appropriate funds.

Hawaii scores high in categories which measure money spent and low in categories showing the results of those expenditures.  Notably Hawaii scores 6th in “Net Formation of High-Tech Establishments per 10,000 Business Establishments 2002”—this reflects the large number of fake “hi-tech” companies being formed to sop up ACT 215/221 tax credits.

Judge McKenna, 53, has been serving in First Circuit Court since 1995 and currently serves as the Senior Judge of the Family Court.

While Hawaii reported total assets of $19.6 billion, the Institute’s review of the state’s 2009 financial report revealed that there are $11.9 billion of off-balance sheet retirement liabilities. More than $15.6 billion of the State’s assets cannot be easily converted to cash to pay State bills of $22.2 billion as they come due. These assets consist of capital assets, including infrastructure, buildings and land, and assets the use of which is restricted by law or contract. The State does not have the funds needed to pay for almost $18.2 billion of state obligations.

Dr. Ahu Isa, an assistant professor at Hawaii Pacific University and former state representative, decided to resign to allow Governor Neil Abercrombie to fill her vacancy by making his first Board appointment. Last year, voters approved a constitutional amendment that ended Board elections and gave the governor the authority to appoint members. The state Legislature is crafting a new law specifying the appointment process.

Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Vote Passed (245-189, 1 Not Voting)

The House voted to repeal the 2010 health care law. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has vowed to block the bill in the Senate.

Rep. Marumoto wants to keep passengers of all ages from riding in pickup truck beds (HB 15).  Several years ago she was successful in restricting those under 13 from riding in truck beds.  This year she will once again attempt to extend that ban to Oahu riders (counties over 300,000 population).