139,000 small businesses in Hawaii could face significantly higher taxes
DLNR Attempts to Clarify Ocean Commercial Use Permitting Status
Court backs mosquito suppression plan to save Hawaii’s rare birds
How many people are receiving substance use treatment in Hawaii?
‘We don’t have a slush fund’ – HTA probed for $11M of purposeful late payments to HVCB
SA: … The state Attorney General’s Office is reviewing whether the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority must pay $780,000 in interest for millions of dollars in late payments to a major contractor at the same time the agency is undergoing separate state probes to determine whether it committed procurement or ethics violations.
The issues were brought forward Tuesday afternoon during an HTA Budget, Finance, and Convention Center Standing Committee meeting, which was chaired by HTA board member David Arakawa….
“We don’t have a slush fund from the (Legislature), and we don’t have a profit margin to cut into, so where does that money come from?” McCully asked….
(CLUE: Know them by what they deny!)
James Kunane Tokioka, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism … said HVCB at one time was owed $11 million, and is now owed about $6 million and is pursuing $780,000 in interest for late payments. HVCB President and CEO Aaron Sala was not immediately available for comment….
“HVCB warned us over a year ago we were in arrears. At that time it was several million, and they warned us they would start charging interest,” Isaac Choy, HTA vice president of finance and interim chief administrative officer said. “At one point the (Kilohana) contract was 400 days in arrears. I think I speak for other members of the board: It’s unacceptable.”
Tokioka responded, “The sad part, chair, is that we had the money. It was sitting in our account.”
He said the debt was recently paid off for Kilohana, which was at one time owed $4 million. Tokioka added that the debt has mostly been cleared for Finn Partners, which was at one time owed about $25,000. Finn Partners was not immediately available for comment….
Tokioka told the committee that another pending issue is a possible procurement violation in relation to a $1.6 million Los Angeles marketing activation executed by HVCB last fall as part of a Maui recovery plan.
He said he has met with State Procurement Office Administrator Bonnie Kahakui because a “verbal project was done without a contract,” and “there were not any bids.”
“In my opinion, if you don’t have a contract and you provide a service, it’s a procurement violation. But the question will be asked by the state procurement office; that’s still pending,” Tokioka said….
The financial audit of HTA’s fiscal year 2024 by Accuity LLP, a firm contracted by the state auditor’s office, had earlier determined that there were procedural deficiencies that allowed for free food and rent for events at the convention center, but did not issue a finding of fraud.
(NOTE: Accuity somehow missed the $11M in past due payments and the $1.6M illegal ‘verbal contract.’)
DeCoite said SB1571 exists solely because lawmakers are questioning whether the public would be better served by an advisory HTA board….
SA: Editorial: Time for state to take reins at HTA | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
FLASHBACK:
- June, 2022: CNHA Swipes Juicy Mainland Tourism Marketing Contract from HVCB
- Oct, 2022: Dirty OHA Contract is Model for CNHA Takeover of Tourism Marketing
- Dec 2022: CNHA: Josh Green will Give us Tourism Contract
- Feb 2023: CNHA Inside Track: Robin Danner Snags Gig in Governor's Office
- March, 2023: Saiki: Rep Aiu’s side-gig as Nan Corporate Counsel ‘is a feature of Hawaii’s part-time citizen legislature’
- March, 2023: Dela Cruz Manipulation? Senate Rejects Green's Pick for DBEDT
- March, 2023: No Time for Senate: Dela Cruz too busy working at home with DBEDT’s Wicker
- May, 2023: Budget Gives Illegal $200M Slush Fund to Governor, Legislative Leaders--HTA to get $30M, Aloha Stadium, $50M
- May, 2023: ‘What the hell is this?’ Sen Dela Cruz Caught Lying about Hawaii Gov. Green’s $200M ‘pot of money’
- May 2023: Green’s Slush Fund Enables $70M HTA Contracts
- May, 2023: Slush Fund News: HTA Gives $27M Contract to CNHA
- 2023: HTA Splits RFP for US: Marketing vs 'Stewardship'
- 2023: Sneaky One Day Notice to Comment--Will Next KSBE Trustee be a Tax Credit Schemer or a CNHA Operative?
- DOI: Native Hawaiian 8(a) List
- 2023: Kidnapping: Will Political Connections Help Anderson Evade Felony Charge? -- Miske Lawyer Pressures Prosecutor, Victim
- 2023: Prominent Native Hawaiian Defense Contractor Is Part Of New Federal Criminal Probe
- 2023: Native Hawaiian Defense Contractor Replaces Top Leadership Amid Federal Criminal Probe
- 2023: Hawaii Congressional delegation pushing for Native Hawaiian 8a Contracting to go beyond just DoD
- 2023: Hawaiian 8a Racial Contracting Finished?
- 2023: Audit Exposes Caldwell’s $175M Slush Fund
- Nov, 2023: After FBI Raid, CNHA Demands Hawai'i Free Press 'Cease Operations'
- Feb, 2024: Maunakea Authority confirms John De Fries as executive director
- Feb, 2024: Skimming Nuclear Munitions Contract? Lawsuit Alleges Dawson is Fake Hawaiian Company
- Dec, 2024: Native Hawaiian Contractor Chris Dawson Suicide as FBI Closes in
read … Hawai‘i Tourism Authority probed for late payments, ethics violations
Anti-Technology Protesters Cause Hawaii Economic Decline
SA: … Local opposition to the Thirty-Meter Telescope, biomass energy production and transgenic technologies (commonly known as genetically modified organisms, or GMOs) have been well documented in this newspaper. According to economist Paul Brewbaker, techno-skepticism and developmental resistance have a direct impact on the growth of Hawaii’s economy….
Question: According to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce, Hawaii’s per capita gross domestic product, or GDP, has declined since 2017 compared with the national average. How does this slide affect the average resident?
Answer: Average output per person in Hawaii equaled the national average seven years ago. Today it is more than 10% below national average. Because output is the source of your income, the average Hawaii resident today is 10% poorer than the average American today. There is less for residents in Hawaii, and more for residents elsewhere in America, so residents are leaving Hawaii in numbers larger than all other sources of population growth combined.
Q: You’ve stated “dismantle telescopes — don’t build them” as a factor that has precipitated the GDP slide. Why is that? Can you point to other causes?
A: There are many issues, comprising anti-tourism denialism, anti-science-based industry denialism, and anti-development denialism that populist political leaders in Hawaii now embrace, and their messaging to the world reflects their objectives to decrease tourism, shun science-based industry and obstruct home-building and urban development. Messaging from Hawaii to investors and to travelers reflects these populist attitudes. Do not come to Hawaii. Do not invest in Hawaii. We don’t build telescopes in Hawaii. That’s a fact. We dismantle telescopes in Hawaii. That’s a fact. Three of the four counties in Hawaii banned transgenic modification, including Hawaii County. There’s some irony there: Hilo High School grad Jennifer Doudna was the inventor of CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology and winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Message received….
RELATED:
read … Tech View: How does tech opposition affect Hawaii’s economy? | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
SB1202: Campaign Funds can be used to line pockets of friends and family
SA: … Political candidates would be allowed to use campaign funds to take care of their dependents….
They would not be allowed to pay family members to take care of their children or parents living in their homes if Senate Bill 1202 gets signed into law by Gov. Josh Green….
(TRANSLATION: A little creative accounting needed.)
But it also would help political candidates take care of their older family members…
“We want to encourage family,” he said. “We don’t want our elected leaders to choose between family or candidacy.”…
read … Campaign funds could be used for taking care of dependents | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Rail fiasco is one of the biggest deceptions in Hawaii history
SA: … The train will reach its final station in maybe 10 years, just as autonomous cars and buses become more prevalent, probably making rail obsolete the day it fully opens.
The rail fiasco is one of the biggest deceptions in Hawaii history, taking $10,000 per person for a useless system with money collected by our regressive general excise tax that punishes low-income people. Now it seems that HART is lobbying to extend that tax forever.
We are subsidizing each current rider about $50,000 annually, based on the annual operation and maintenance budget of $100 million, apportioned to approximately 2,000 riders.
Consider how many actual problems could have been resolved with that huge amount of money, such as adding some relatively inexpensive express bus lanes and using the remaining cash to build 15,000 homes. Our rail is overpriced compared to other new systems, such as the 218-mile Los Angeles to Las Vegas train planned at $12.4 billion.
Unfortunately, we are stuck with this useless monster, which will stand as a monument to political idiocy, autocracy and greed, a painful example of our incompetent, broken political system. Cut the loss, say no to further extensions, and develop real solutions….
read … Column: No extension for costly, useless Skyline | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
After Clearing the Trannies out of Female Sports, Maybe Trump will make Hawaii DoE Build Female Lockerrooms
CB: … The truth is that won’t take up all SIT’s time here in Hawaiʻi, where fewer than a dozen transgender athletes compete in interscholastic sports, according to the director of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association.
Which is why we’d like to fill in some important facts about the “discrimination and indignity” female students face here that we think the Trump administration might otherwise overlook. But because of the limited public information available around local Title IX complaints, we’re going to need some help from you to do so.
Title IX has its own version of small print. One of its weaknesses, in Hawaiʻi as well as nationally, is that it’s complaint-driven, many students don’t know they can file a complaint and the complaints that do get filed are often confidential.
We do know that the education department has made some big investments in girls’ athletics since settling that class action lawsuit with ʻEwa’s James Campbell High School students in 2023. We also know that the ACLU of Hawaiʻi continues to hear from students and community members about the ways in which schools still favor boys over girls. …
read … Feds Want To Protect Hawaiʻi Female Athletes. Let’s Show Them How - Honolulu Civil Beat
Wisdom: Measles vaccinations increase after Oahu child infected
HNN: … The state health department said after the governor confirmed an unvaccinated child was infected, the number of MMR vaccines administered doubled ….
KHON: One pediatrician said even those against vaccines are coming around.
SA: Kokua Line: How would DOH enforce measles rule at schools? | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … Measles vaccinations increase after Oahu child infected
100s of Volunteer Lawyers Needed to Commit Mentally Ill Homeless
KITV: … The ACT program brings care to the street and require residents to accept the help.
"Their mental illness has really taken hold of them and caused them to be at a point where they're at severe deterioration and de-compensation. That, if they continue along this trajectory, it's very clear and predictable that they're going to become a real danger to themselves or others," said Deputy Attorney General Ian Tsuda.
But ACT care needs court appointed guardians for each case and that is a problem.
"Right now, the city only has two Guardians Ad Litem, and only one has actually been practicing here in Oahu," said Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.
There were only 8 ACT cases last year, but homeless experts feel the number of residents the program could help is much higher.
"There are easily a couple hundred people that we could identify and really gather the information on and then move forward with an ACT. I even think there's many more than that," said Connie Mitchell, Executive Director of Institute of Human Services….
CB: Attorney Shortage Undermines Court-Ordered Mental Health Treatment Program - Honolulu Civil Beat -- To address the problem, the Legislature is considering increasing how much those lawyers get paid to $150 an hour.
Meanwhile: Homeless woman accused of abusing puppy - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
read … An urgent call to action to help Honolulu's chronic homeless | Local | kitv.com
Police shut down cockfighting derby in Waianae
HNN: … Police say they shut down a cockfighting derby in Waianae over the weekend. A man was arrested for having prohibited gaffs, and the owners of the property on Halona Road were served with a federal forfeiture warning….
HNN: Alleged gang leader sentenced for meth distribution, running chicken fights
read … Police shut down cockfighting derby in Waianae
Hawaiian Ocean View Has Abandoned Cars As Far As The Eye Can See
CB: … “Some of those lots in Ocean View have hundreds of cars.” …
… Hawaiʻi County’s Vehicle Disposal Assistance Program was expanded in 2023. Residents can apply to have two vehicles towed from their property each fiscal year. In the 2024 fiscal year 500 unwanted vehicles were disposed of. Around 1,600 vehicles are estimated to be dumped on the Big Island every year. …
(ONE WORD: ‘Methamphetamines.’)
read … Hawaiian Ocean View Has Abandoned Cars As Far As The Eye Can See - Honolulu Civil Beat
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