January 5, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Monday, January 5, 2026

January 5, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 11:42 AM :: 284 Views

Act 298: LGBTQ have rights to your biological children—and a SECRET kangaroo court to enforce them

Tax Increases Will Drive Agenda Of Hawaiʻi Lawmakers In Coming Session

CB: … Gov. Josh Green and the county mayors seem poised to press for action on touchy tax issues that could prove to be perilous in an election year.

Green, for example, is suggesting the state may have to pause some provisions of the huge and popular state income tax cuts that lawmakers approved and Green signed into law in 2024. The governor now seems inclined to hold off on or even cancel those tax cuts for at least some Hawaiʻi residents….

The mayors, meanwhile, are focused on a separate but equally controversial issue. They want the Legislature to extend the half-percent excise tax surcharge now slated to expire at the end of 2030. …

Legislative priorities, however, may shift depending on the state’s next Council on Revenues economic forecast expected Wednesday…

(TRANSLATION: CoR will manipulate the Legislative session by saying something. They will then reverse themselves in April. They do this every session.)

Green is estimating the state will lose another $3 billion over the next six years because of actions by the federal government including tariffs, reductions in federal grants and an expected economic slowdown. Evolving federal policies have presented “new complexities” for all states, according to the supplemental budget’s executive summary.

(IQ Test: Does this make you want higher taxes?)

read … Taxes Will Drive Agenda Of Hawaiʻi Lawmakers In Coming Session - Honolulu Civil Beat

Grifting for Money, Global Warmers Trot out Another Bogus Hawaii Sea Level Rise Report

SA: … The report noted that under a high-emissions scenario in which the world does nothing to reduce current green gas emissions, coral reef loss in the islands is projected to result in an economic loss of up to $1.3 billion per year by 2050.

(TRANSLATION: Tax hike.)

(IDEA: The corals should form a union and go on strike.)

It also noted that Hawaii is the third-most vulnerable U.S. state to temperature-related deaths,

(TRANSLATION: Sue Big Oil for wrongful deaths. But not Parr Pacific. We need them.)

and that greater heat wave intensity is straining energy and water infrastructure across the islands.

(TRANSLATION: Higher electric, water, and sewer bills.)

LINK: State-Level Climate Security Education: Hawaiʻi - The Council on Strategic Risks

read … Climate security threats to Hawaii outlined in report | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Hawaiian Language Schools Grow As DOE Shrinks. There’s One Big Problem

CB: … Enrollment in schools that teach primarily in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi — collectively known as Kaiapuni schools — has increased by 68% over the past decade, with the number of campuses run by the state education department growing from 14 to 26. But students tend to have fewer immersion options in middle and high school, and the pool of qualified teachers isn’t keeping up with families’ growing demand. …

read … Hawaiian Language Schools Grow As DOE Shrinks. There’s One Big Problem - Honolulu Civil Beat

Expanding Waimanalo Gulch, as intended from the beginning

SA: … where we are in the tortured saga of the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill (WGSL). A state order requires the city close it, and Mayor Rick Blangiardi pledged repeatedly to use all tools at his disposal to make it happen. But Honolulu has twice been blocked by state law from choosing certain promising sites, and there’s nowhere to go. The city now says it has no other alternative than to continue taking the city’s garbage to an expanded WGSL ….

(CLUE: Kabuki script.)

read … Editorial: Expanding Kapolei dump is tough choice | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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