Neighborhood Board Election results now available online
SB1396 Green Fee: Green Signs TAT Increase, Promises to Waste it all on Global Warming
Lawyer Outlines Cruise Industry Case Against Green Fee
Honolulu City Council rushing 60% sewer fee hike – Afraid Trump Administration Would Eliminate Need for Sand Island Project, thus eliminating excuse for rate hikes
SA: … Mayor Rick Blangiardi administration’s proposed 10-year, 115% sewer fee rate increase that’s expected to begin this summer has been countered by the Honolulu City Council.
(The council committee approved a 60% sewer rate hike in six years. Their successors will have to vote again in 2031—unless Trump admin eliminates consent decree. Then they will keep the rate hikes and use it for a CIP party without Sand Island. See how this works?)
The Council’s five-member Budget Committee voted 4-1 Tuesday, with Radiant Cordero dissenting, to approve passage of a committee draft of the city-initiated Bill 60.
Budget Committee Chair Tyler Dos Santos-Tam’s version of the measure, which shaves the city’s decade-long span for increased rates down to about six years, will start Jan. 1, 2026 and run through 2031.
Dos Santos-Tam’s Bill 60 proposes sewer fee increases for a household that uses about 6,000-gallons per month — deemed 50% of all single-family households in Honolulu — equates to a 6% increase in sewer fees in fiscal year 2026, 7.5% in fiscal year 2027, 8.5% in fiscal year 2028, followed by 9% over the remaining three fiscal years….
(DO THE MATH: 1.06 x 1.075 x 1.085 x 1.09 x 1.09 x 1.09 = 1.60 That is a 60% rate hike in six years.)
City officials say proposed sewer fee hikes are necessary to support ongoing wastewater operations and maintenance efforts, as well as a $10.1 billion capital improvement program (Christmas Tree) for Oahu’s wastewater collection and treatment system that is planned through 2040.
The fee hikes also will fund projects to prepare the city’s wastewater infrastructure for climate change and sea-level rise, city officials say.
And they ‘assert’ the work includes a $2.5 billion upgrade to the Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant as required under a 2010 federal consent decree.
(The rest are very expensive ornaments hanging on this $2.5B Tree. With the Council rate hike enacted, unions can keep the ornaments even if Trump chops the tree down.)
Previously, Council Chair Tommy Waters — who does not sit on the budget committee — offered his version of Bill 60, a 6.75% increase for the first five years, starting July 1….
But at Tuesday’s hearing, Waters admitted his version of the bill was found to have calculation errors. “We started from 2012 rather than 2016 … which is the last date that sewer increases took effect,” he explained….
During public testimony, Frank Doyle, a former city and county ENV director, testified the Council and city should work together to end the 2010 federally-mandated consent decree that included upgrading the island’s sewage treatment plants to “secondary treatment.”
Although secondary treatment does not make the water drinkable, it does turn it into recycled water that can be used for things like landscaping, city officials say.
“Since entering the consent decree the city has spent billions of dollars for improvements of our wastewater system, and has essentially completed almost all of the requirements of the decree except for the one, largest project — a $2.5 billion (secondary treatment) project for Sand Island,” Doyle said. “If secondary treatment was required at Sand Island (Wastewater Treatment Plant) in 2010 — because it really holds some significant public health or environmental concern — that project would have been prioritized immediately.”
“Instead, it comes in last, not needed until 2030,” he said, adding no real public health concern occurred in 2010. “And there isn’t any today.”
Doyle requested the Council “urge the administration to continue to pursue a discussion with EPA” on the consent decree. “And if the administration doesn’t want to do it, the Council should do it,” he added.
(TRANSLATION: Trump administration EPA could eliminate consent decree and thereby eliminate the need for the $2.5B project on Sand Island.)
LINK: Budget Ctte Meeting Materials
read … Honolulu City Council advances sewer fees bill
Will Hawaii’s New $100M Climate Fee From Tourists Actually Fix Anything?
BH: … an additional accommodation tax. That new law, just signed by Governor Josh Green, brings those taxes to about 19% and, for the first time, applies them to cruise ships…
critics call it another vague money grab….
“Grifting off the tourists appears to have replaced surfing as the Hawaiian state sport,” one reader commented under Industry Prepares Showdown Over Hawaii’s New Visitor Tax. “Money is fungible,” he added. “It just frees up general funds for pet projects.”…
This isn’t the first time Hawaii has added fees in the name of environmental protection. From visitor access permits to beach and state park entrance and parking charges, the state has layered on costs year after year. But whether those funds have truly protected the environment or just filled gaps elsewhere remains murky….
In The Cost of Paradise: Hawaii’s Neglect Leaves Visitors Wondering, readers shared countless personal stories about broken restrooms, unsafe trails, and worn-out roads—all despite years of taxes and visitor surcharges. The question isn’t just “Will this new fee work?” It’s “Why would this time be different?”
Regular visitor and Oahu resident John commented, “The North Shore is now covered in overgrown Razor Grass. By August, it’ll be dried out and ready to burn. I don’t recall it ever being this bad.”…
“Every new fee is for the same thing, yet those upgrades are never done. The coffers should be overflowing by now.”….
SA: Hawaii climate impact fee becomes law | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … Will Hawaii’s New $100M Climate Fee From Tourists Actually Fix Anything? - Beat of Hawaii
Developer applies for permit to demolish Aloha Stadium
KHON: … The demolition permit was filed May 23 by the Aloha Halawa District Partners, the group that is building the new stadium and entertainment district. The group is applying for it now, in hopes the city approves it by the time the demo is scheduled to start in August.
There’s a pretty good reason why the condemned stadium is still standing.
“The worst case scenario would’ve been if Company A destroys the stadium, Company B comes in to build the new stadium and says ‘eh you know the destruction wasn’t right, I’m gonna file a lawsuit, we’re gonna have all kinds of grievances,'” said Sen. Glenn Wakai. “This way, if Stanford Carr is not happy with the demolition, well that’s his demolition.”
We are in the final phase of procurement process for construction for the new stadium. At this time, the state and the developer can finalize any negotiations, hammer out any last-minute details, and get input from the community and key stakeholders.
“Totally understand the frustration, just because people don’t see the whole procurement process,” Morioka said. “But now that the demolition is going to be starting in August, you know, I think hopefully attitudes and perceptions will change about this project.”
The deadline for the developer to sign the contract was June 30, but Morioka says that was a self-imposed deadline to keep the state on track. He says the contract may be signed as late as July, but that won’t affect any deadlines since permitting for demo has already started.
And he says the plan is once the demo starts, construction won’t stop until it’s done….
read … Developer applies for permit to demolish Aloha Stadium
Want To Diversify The Local Economy? Make Hawaiʻi Pro-Business
CB: … According to a report by CNBC, Hawaiʻi was ranked “the worst state for business in America in 2024.”
Among the numerous reasons for this, high tax rates and obstructive regulations were the central reasons behind this. In fact, according to the state Department of Taxation, the top individual state income tax rate is 11% for those making $200,000 or more, making it one of the highest rates in the country.
Similarly, as a report by the University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization states, in 2021 local businesses faced an effective corporate tax rate of 6.6%, which is higher than the national average of 4.9%.
But perhaps the most damaging of our local taxes is the general excise tax. On the surface, its 4.5% rate seems insignificant. However, a deeper examination of it reveals an almost surreptitious effect. That 4.5% rate is charged on the gross income of a business….
read … Want To Diversify The Local Economy? Make Hawaiʻi Pro-Business - Honolulu Civil Beat
Hawaiʻi Has A New Ghost Gun Law. Will It Make A Difference?
CB: … Since 2020, it has been illegal in Hawaiʻi to possess, manufacture or sell unserialized firearm parts with the intent of building an untraceable weapon, making this state one of only about a dozen to restrict ghost guns….
Prosecutors in Hawaiʻi and Maui counties have used the 2020 statute to charge more than 50 people, according to court records reviewed by Civil Beat.
But their counterparts in the state’s most populous county, Honolulu, have found the law hard to enforce. The statute, they argued, only related to unserialized gun parts, not a fully assembled ghost gun. It required them to prove beyond a responsible doubt that someone intended to assemble an unregistered gun from those parts.
Meanwhile, the number of ghost guns recovered by police has been on the rise. Between April 2021 and January 2025, Honolulu police arrested 33 people for illegally having unserialized gun parts. None were charged under the unserialized parts statute, according to the previous Civil Beat story.
read … Hawaiʻi Has A New Ghost Gun Law. Will It Make A Difference? - Honolulu Civil Beat
Lunch Debt And Book Fines Are The Last Barriers To Graduation
CB: … A few years ago, ʻIlima Intermediate teacher Sarah Milianta-Laffin was surprised to see a student with previously good attendance start showing up to class late and without her uniform at the end of the year.
The teen earned enough tardy slips in the final weeks of school to be excluded from her eighth-grade promotion ceremony — a consequence that Milianta-Laffin believes the student was deliberately seeking.
ʻIlima Intermediate requires students to pay their meal balances, return library books and clear all other financial obligations before participating in celebratory end-of-year activities. But when students can’t afford to pay their debts, Milianta-Laffin said, they sometimes try to avoid being sidelined for financial reasons by misbehaving to get a less embarrassing excuse for missing class celebrations. …
read … Lunch Debt And Book Fines Are The Last Barriers To Graduation - Honolulu Civil Beat
TRUMP NEWS:
LEGISLATIVE AGENDA:
QUICK HITS: