Delegates Elect New Hawaii Republican Party Chairman
Bill 47: Hawaii County Developers to Build TVR Subdivisions
Feds bust Chinese-Canadian fraud ring operating in Hawaii targeting seniors
As Big as Rail: $10.1B Sewer Rate Hike Heading for Third Reading
SA: … Mayor Rick Blangiardi administration’s proposed 10-year, 115% sewer fee rate increase that’s expected to begin this summer remains under Honolulu City Council ‘scrutiny’.
The Council’s Budget Committee today is scheduled to review aspects of city-initiated Bill 60, which, if approved, will take effect July 1.
The measure passed its second of three readings April 16.
The city Department of Environmental Services says an average single-family residential sewer bill totals approximately $110.89 a month. By July 1 that bill could rise to $122.04 a month.
ENV contends planned sewer fee rate hikes are necessary to address … uh … rising operational costs as well as fund … uh … critical projects within its $10.1 billion capital improvement program, scheduled for 2025 to 2040.
That includes work to upgrade the Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant to full secondary treatment, which will cost an estimated $2.5 billion….
(DO THE MATH: $10.1B - $2.5B = $7.6B Christmas tree ornaments.)
HNN: Honolulu council closes in on sewer rate increase
read … Honolulu’s proposed 115% hike in sewer fee under review | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
PRP: Grab Property tax Revenues to Pork Up Aloha Stadium Project Even More
SA: … county and state lawmakers must embrace innovative financing tools such as community development financing to fund essential infrastructure. A prime opportunity to demonstrate this approach lies in the 98-acre New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District (NASED)….
…the high cost of infrastructure for water, electrical and sewer have stymied progress ….
Community development financing, widely used in other states and municipalities, offers a proven path forward. By issuing bonds backed by future property tax receipts or special assessments from TOD developments, local government can fund upfront infrastructure without straining budgets. These bonds are repaid as new housing and commercial projects generate revenue, creating a self-sustaining cycle. …
NASED, anchored by a planned 25,000-seat stadium and more than 4,000 housing units, is an ideal pilot for this strategy. The state has committed $350 million for the stadium, but the preferred builder, Aloha Halawa District Partners (AHDP), faces $179 million in infrastructure costs. Community Facilities District bonds or another type of community development financing, supported by future property tax revenue or assessments from NASED’s mixed-use development, could bridge this gap. This would enable AHDP to deliver a higher-quality stadium and accelerate housing construction…
Unlike traditional funding, which often competes with other budget priorities, community development financing leverages future growth to pay for today’s needs, ensuring fiscal responsibility while addressing our housing crisis.
City Councilman Tyler Dos Santos- Tam has created a permitted interaction group to study the issue of community development financing, also known as tax increment financing, or TIF, which is a step in the right direction. …
read … Column: Consider creative funding for NASED | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
‘Experts’ Coming to Hawaii to Impose Federal Consent Decree on Prisons—Mass Release for Hardened Criminals is Next
CB: …Two more prisoners at Hālawa Correctional Facility died in the past two months in what are believed to be the fourth and fifth suicides there since last summer, making the state’s largest prison a disturbing anomaly nationally that experts blame on longstanding operational flaws.
(REALITY: These conditions are created by soft-on-crime legislators underfunding prisons and obstructing new prison constriction. Their purpose is to manufacture a crisis which will then lead to a federal consent decree which will mandate the release of 100s of hardened criminals. Every time an inmate suicides, they smile. After decades of work, they are about to achieve their goal.)
The most recent, on April 12 and May 17, were reported weeks before two outside experts are scheduled to arrive in Hawaiʻi to scrutinize the mental health services provided in the state’s correctional facilities.
(CLUE: Federal Consent Decree coming. 100s of hardened criminals to be released.)
The state agreed to that review to settle a federal lawsuit that alleged the correctional system provides inadequate mental health services inside, and has failed to do enough to prevent suicides.
(CLUE: Federal Consent Decree coming. 100s of hardened criminals to be released.)
The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi is calling on state lawmakers to hold public hearings on the recent deaths to determine what steps the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is taking to prevent recurrences.
(CLUE: Federal Consent Decree coming. 100s of hardened criminals to be released.)
Many inmates have histories of mental illness, drug addiction and homelessness, but there aren’t enough mental health and drug treatment slots inside. “So really it’s this combustion of lack of services and tremendous needs that are not being addressed,” said Carrie Ann Shirota, the group’s policy director….
Five suicides in a single year in a prison that holds only about 800 inmates is “pretty damning,” said Jay Aronson, director of the Center for Human Rights Science at Carnegie Mellon University….
Even with the limited staffing at Hālawa, she said corrections officers were able to intervene in two attempted suicides in recent weeks, which saved lives. That is remarkable, she said, because suicides can happen very quickly….
Across the county 41% of federal and state prisoners have a history of mental health problems, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Meanwhile, state lawmakers were told earlier this year that 20 of 23 psychologist positions for the state’s correctional system were vacant.
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Director Tommy Johnson has said those positions are extremely difficult to fill because most qualified psychologists are not interested in working in a prison or jail setting….
(CLUE: Federal Consent Decree coming. 100s of hardened criminals to be released.)
read … Suicides At Hawaiʻi's Largest Prison Up The Stakes For Mental Health Review - Honolulu Civil Beat
State’s Top Economist Retires
SA: … Economics wasn’t an area of interest when Tian moved to Hawaii from China 40 years ago in pursuit of a graduate degree from the University of Hawaii.
It was lettuce.
Before Tian moved to Honolulu in 1985, he had a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering and was interested in the efficiencies of Hawaii farmers producing lettuce year-round by rotational use of farm plots instead of the one annual crop grown where he grew up in northeastern China historically known as Manchuria.
Tian, then 28, enrolled at UH to earn a master’s degree in agricultural engineering and as part of his studies took an agricultural economics course that changed his career trajectory.
“That course made me change my mind,” he said from his fourth-floor corner office in the No. 1 Capitol District Building where DBEDT is headquartered next to the state Capitol. “I thought that economics was so interesting.”
Tian’s new outlook at that time was ingrained in how economics can benefit people in their personal lives and society as a whole based on understanding resource allocations that maximize well-being.
After obtaining his master’s degree, he earned a doctorate in agricultural resource economics from UH in 1992 and became a staff economist at DBEDT that year after an internship as a research assistant.….
(SUMMARY: From communist China to UH to DBEDT to become State’s top economist.)
read … Changeover coming for state’s chief economic expert | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Hawaii’s New Cruise Tax Is Entering Some Uncharted Legal Waters
BL: … The state’s goal seems straightforward: Treat cruise passengers like hotel guests. After all, when a floating resort docks in Honolulu, passengers dine, shop, tour, and use local infrastructure. Why shouldn’t they pay their fair share, just like someone checking into a beachfront resort?
But when it comes to cruise ships, what appears simple rarely is.
Unlike land-based accommodations, cruise ships typically sail under foreign flags—Bahamas, Panama, Malta—and operate under international treaties and fall under federal maritime jurisdiction. That makes the question of whether a US state can tax passengers for being aboard a vessel in its port far more complex than taxing a room with an ocean view on Waikiki Beach.
Here’s the key legal issue: Does Hawaii’s new tax cross the line into territory reserved for federal regulation? Maritime law strongly favors federal preemption. That means states generally can’t impose taxes or regulations that burden interstate or international commerce—unless Congress has clearly said they can. In this case, it hasn’t.
The cruise industry has good reason to be concerned. There’s a credible argument that this tax runs afoul of both the US Commerce Clause and the Foreign Commerce Clause. These constitutional provisions restrict states from passing laws that discriminate or unduly burden commerce that crosses state or international boundaries. When you consider that many cruises begin and end in foreign ports, the constitutional questions only deepen.
Hawaii’s tax isn’t aimed at cruise lines, but at their passengers—people who may not even disembark. The law treats time spent onboard a vessel in port as equivalent to booking a hotel room ashore. That’s a novel legal theory, and one that hasn’t been thoroughly tested in court….
read … Hawaii’s New Cruise Tax Is Entering Some Uncharted Legal Waters
Rep Kila: Do not scrutinize DHHL. Let them waste money as they see fit.
CB: … When we frame support for DHHL as something that must be “earned,” we ignore history, law and justice….
(TRANSLATION: Let’s just keep pouring money into DHHL’s account until it forms a black hole. That’s how to get housing built.)
read … Why DHHL Deserves Support, Not Scrutiny - Honolulu Civil Beat
Honolulu Sees Doubling Of Vacation Rental Registrations Under New Rules
CB: … Kuilima Estates East is in Turtle Bay, one of Oʻahu’s five sanctioned resort zones. The others are Waikīkī, Ko Olina, Mākaha and Hoakalei.
About 80% of the complex’s 168 units are used as short-term rentals, Bert Wilkinson, president of the Kuilima Estates East HOA, said Friday. Of that 80%, he said, a little more than half were registered with the city as of December….
RELATED: Bill 47: Hawaii County Developers to Build TVR Subdivisions
read … Honolulu Sees Doubling Of Vacation Rental Registrations Under New Rules - Honolulu Civil Beat
B.J. Penn arrested in Hawaii charged with abuse of family or household member
MMAW: … "The Prodigy" has made several posts alleging that this parents and siblings have been murdered and replaced by imposters trying to steal his assets. …
“In Hawaii, ‘impostor theft’ refers to instances where individuals falsely impersonate others, often to steal their identity or commit fraudulent acts. This can involve using a fake identity to obtain documents, financial accounts, or even posing as law enforcement or other professionals to commit crimes," Penn captioned the video….
Former UFC champion B.J. Penn was arrested this past Sunday at his home in Hilo, Hawaii and charged with abuse of a family or household member, according to online records.
The 46-year-old posted a video of the arrest to social media. He was taken into custody by police and later released on $2,000 bail.
In the video, Penn can be seen laying in bed questioning the reason for his arrest. Penn argued with the officers before getting out of bed, being handcuffed and taken in for booking. …
HTH: BJ Penn misses court date following 2 arrests - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
SA: UFC champion B.J. Penn charged for alleged abuse of his mom, 79 | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
TMZ: BJ Penn Arrested (again)
UKDM: Ex-UFC champion BJ Penn shares video of bizarre arrest in Hawaii as police drag him out of his bed | Daily Mail Online
read … B.J. Penn arrested in Hawaii charged with abuse of family or household member - MMAWeekly.com
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