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Wednesday, November 5, 2025

November 5, 2025 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 1:07 PM :: 267 Views

Hawaii AG joins suit over Trump’s limits for FEMA grants

Hawaii AG joins suit to protect student loan forgiveness for 'illegal purpose' nonprofit employees

DoH Preps Hemp Retail Registration System

Matson Partners with WhaleSpotter to Commercialize Breakthrough Whale Detection Technology

Green’s $10B Negotiating Position on Army Training Lands

CB: … Green wants to secure $10 billion worth of investments from the federal government in exchange for the Army lands, the letter said, without elaborating. In response to a request for a breakdown, the governor’s office framed the $10 billion figure as a starting point for discussions.

Green proposed convening a negotiation team to set parameters on a settlement later this week. Details on community benefits would be worked out by a technical group led by a yet-to-be-appointed state agency. The governor’s office said it is still waiting for a response from the Army on Green’s letter….

According to Green’s letter, the Army supports the return of Mākua Valley to the state as well as improvements on the Daniel K. Inouye Highway and the Kolekole Pass emergency route through the Waiʻanae mountain range. It also supported increased housing investments, including new barracks and privatized housing.

The Army showed “openness” to giving the 1-acre Fort DeRussy site in Waikīkī back to the state.

It was also open to returning the 8,000-acre Keʻāmuku Maneuver Area in Pōhakuloa after already announcing in August that it planned to downsize the Pōhakuloa Training Area.

The Army also showed interest in exploring a cleanup fund that would be administered by the state and expanding environmental conservation programs.

The Army’s feedback, according to Green’s letter, did not address some of the more sweeping proposals from the state including renewable energy initiatives, although it acknowledged that geothermal development may not be feasible on lands it owns.

Officials with the EPA and the human services department were receptive to converting cesspools and improving Medicare costs in Hawaiʻi. Transportation officials also supported highway and bridge improvements. However, additional funding for the vastly overbudget Honolulu rail project and transfer of the federal detention center weren’t addressed….

HNN: Governor Green proposes $10 billion federal investment in Army land negotiations

PDF: Green letter to Army | DocumentCloud

read … What Hawaiʻi Gov. Josh Green Wants In Exchange For Army Training Lands - Honolulu Civil Beat

Hawaii residents face steep Obamacare premium increases amid subsidy uncertainty

HNN: … Thousands of Hawaii residents are facing significant increases in their Affordable Care Act health insurance premiums as federal subsidies that helped make coverage affordable are set to expire.

The premium increases are affecting roughly 25,000 people in Hawaii as open enrollment begins, with costs rising 10-12 percent.

However, most of the previous cost had been covered by federal subsidies that will disappear if Congress does not end its standoff and restore them.

Martha Khlopin, a health insurance agent and host of the radio show Medicare Moment, said one of her clients will see costs jump from $300 to over $2,000….

read … Hawaii residents face steep Obamacare premium increases amid subsidy uncertainty

Hawaii elections commission calls for end to mail-in voting

HNN: … The state elections commission has voted to ask the legislature to ban mail-in and early voting and return to traditional in-person voting on Election Day.

(KEY WORDS: “ask the legislature”)

The bipartisan commission, which is half Democrat and half Republican, voted 5-3 over several contentious meetings to recommend voting only on Election Day in person with ID required on paper ballots that would be hand counted in precincts.

Under the proposal, only military families and people with special needs would be allowed to vote absentee….

There was also concern that the emphasis on mail-in balloting made it more difficult for people to vote in person at limited sites.

Commissioner Kahiolani Papalimu, from the Big Island, said, “being an incredibly rural island, I’d much prefer voting in our precincts, which is accessible to everyone in their area.”…

Senate Judiciary chair Karl Rhoads, who would have jurisdiction over changing election law, said he believes the chances the legislature will approve the changes are zero.

MEANWHILE: Long Lines Suppress Republican Votes on Election Day: City Clerk Plans to do it Again

read … Hawaii elections commission calls for end to mail-in voting

DCCA 26 Years of Stalling on Condo Database

CB: … In 2021, Champlain Towers South in Florida collapsed and took 98 lives. The disaster was linked to the association’s failure to properly fund and manage its reserves, and exposed widespread failures in condominium association laws, oversight, and enforcement. It subsequently led to a $1.2 billion settlement for the families of victims and survivors that, in turn, sent insurance premiums soaring….

Less than a year later, an ordinance for a publicly accessible registry and database of condominium association documents was adopted, and the registry was quickly devised. The ordinance is overseen by the Consumer Protection department of the Miami-Dade County Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources.

In Hawaiʻi during the 2023 legislative session, Senate Bill 1201 and its companion House Bill 1297, a proposal to expand the existing condominium association registration system and replicate a registry similar to the 2022 Miami-Dade Ordinance, were heard.

the existing database referenced in the DCCA Real Estate Commission testimony cannot be properly called a “database,” lacking any condominium association documents except obsolete developer’s public reports from when the condominium was first originated, and a biennially updated registration that often has incorrect and outdated data or may be missing altogether.

Since 1999, the Real Estate Commission recurringly stated in its annual reports its plan, “To accomplish the Commission’s long-range goal of providing all condominium information online, staff continues to study the feasibility of establishing a central depository for all association governing documents on the Commission’s website, including minutes of association meetings …

“The Commission will assess its long-range goal of providing all public condominium information online and the feasibility of providing associations with a central depository for all governing documents on the Commission’s website, including minutes of association meetings.”

This year, it once again reiterated its earlier plans in the DCCA’s Real Estate Commission Program of Work for the 2026-2027 period:

“(to) administer the website with a long-range plan of including all condominium information, forms, dataset, etc., and online registrations … Study the feasibility of providing Associations a central depository for all governing documents, minutes, etc., via voluntary participation, including the cost of such a program.”

Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes 514B-71 charges the DCCA with “the improvement and more efficient administration of associations” and “expeditious and inexpensive procedures for resolving association disputes.”

But the DCCA Real Estate Commission allowed 26 years of delays from preventing most of the disputes brought to the DCCA (899 total reported mediation cases since 1999) that the proposed database could have alleviated.…

read … Updated Database Essential For Condo Association Self-Governance - Honolulu Civil Beat

Opioids, cesspools and more: Inside the counties' 2026 legislative proposals

ASD: … The Hawai‘i State Association of Counties released its legislative package last week. Here's what's in it. …

read …Opioids, cesspools and more: Inside the counties' 2026 legislative proposals

HPD using mounted license plate reading cameras

KITV: … Honolulu Police have been using license plate reading cameras in their patrol cars for years. But they’ve recently started mounting them in fixed locations. And if police had their way, the cameras would be all over the island.

No matter where you look, there are cameras everywhere. Some are for traffic. Some are for security. And there are now others reading your license plate in some parts of Oahu.

“It’s a great investigative tool for the whole island,” said Ofc. David Barnett, Honolulu Police Department.

Honolulu Police have been using automated license plate readers – or ALPR technology – in its cars since 2012. And thanks to a federal grant, HPD has been using those cameras in fixed locations for about two months now – on street lights and light poles in Waikiki and downtown….

There are 11 cameras mounted in various locations. According to HPD, last month, those cameras read close to four million license plates. Of them, 666 were registered as hits – either stolen vehicles or plates….

read … HPD using mounted license plate reading cameras

Council to mull "Shared Streets" proposal to Jam up Traffic Even More

ASD: … The bill, to be discussed at Wednesday’s meeting of the Honolulu City Council, would call upon the Department of Transportation Services to develop “shared street” plans: sections of street where priority is given to pedestrians and other “non-motorized users.”

Those plans would implement “traffic calming measures,” physical design strategies intended to “reduce the negative effects of motor vehicle use and improve the safety of non-motorized users,” limiting speed limits within Shared Street areas to no more than 5 miles per hour….

read … Council to mull "Shared Streets" proposal

City selects corporations to lead inclusive housing development

HNN: … The City and County of Honolulu has selected preferred negotiating partners to develop affordable housing at 130 South Beretania Street.

The site bordered by Pali Highway, South Beretania Street, and Fort Street, offers a prime, transit-oriented location.

It is within walking distance of offices, shops, and essential services. It also provides access to major bus routes and the planned Kuloloia Station (Station #14 – Downtown) on the Skyline rail line, scheduled to open in 2031.

The nonprofit developer Pacific Housing Assistance Corporation (Pacific Housing) and Lanakila Pacific are to help further revitalize downtown Honolulu….

read … City selects corporations to lead inclusive housing development

Former UFC star B.J. Penn arrested, charged with assault in Hilo

KITV: … Former UFC star Jay Dee “B.J.” Penn was arrested and charged after he allegedly beat up a man in Hilo early Tuesday morning.

Hawaii Island police responded to a report of an assault at a home on Kanoa Street in Hilo at 1 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 4. A 45-year-old man told police that Penn punched and kicked him multiple times before he was able to escape and call police.

After reporting the attack, the victim went to Hilo Benioff Medical Center for his injuries.

Police officers were able to locate Penn at 11:50 a.m. on Lehua Street where he was arrested without incident. He was charged with third-degree assault then released after posting $1,000 bail.

Penn is scheduled to make his first court appearance for this case on Dec. 2, 2025, in Hilo District Court.

Since May and most recently in September, Penn has been arrested multiple times …

BIN: BJ Penn charged with alleged assault of 45-year-old man outside Hilo residence : Big Island Now

read … Former UFC star B.J. Penn arrested, charged with assault in Hilo | News | kitv.com

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