February 8, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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February 8, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 4:44 PM :: 127 Views

HB1875: Juvenile Sex Change Operations on the Move in House

$100M -- Idle Land and Natural Resource Funds

The kind of playbook Hawaii lawmakers need

Election 2026: 94 Candidates Pull Papers to Run

Deferred: SB 433 Would Criminalize Knives and Bows

State Wastes $82.8M on Long-Vacant ‘positions’

SA: … The number of stagnant state job vacancies tying up taxpayer revenue jumped last year after flattening in 2024, expanding a pile of cash that some Hawaii lawmakers want to use for urgent needs amid looming budget uncertainties.

There were 485 civil service positions unfilled for over four years as of Nov. 1, up from about 420 in each of the two preceding 12-month periods, according to a Jan. 8 report from the state Department of Human Resources Development.

Yet abolishing a large number of the overwhelmingly funded positions, which DHRD refers to as “stagnant” and are among close to 4,300 state job vacancies, may still be a tough sell at the Legislature this year, as it has been for many years, despite extraordinary anticipated budget challenges ahead….

According to the state Department of Budget and Finance, which had only three of the 485 stagnant positions reported by DHRD, about $20.7 million in general fund revenue is budgeted for vacancies older than four years across departments under its administration, which excludes the Department of Education….

(DO THE MATH: $20.7M x 4 = $82.8M wasted on ‘vacant positions’ – and this does not count the vacant positions open less than 4 years.)

(DO THE MATH: $20.7M / 485 = $42,680 per position per year x 4 = $170,720 per position.)

In the past, there’s been durable reluctance by state agency leaders and the Legislature to abolish stagnant job vacancies…. “That’s their cushion,” said Dela Cruz….

To consider automatically abolishing chronically vacant positions, leaders in the Legislature this year have scheduled (pretend) hearings on such bills, unlike in past recent years.

SB 3180, Moriwaki’s bill, is to be heard by two Senate committees Monday.

SB 2014, Inouye’s bill, is to be heard by one committee Wednesday….

read … Long-vacant state jobs with languishing funds on rise in Hawaii | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Green Fee Slush Fund off the GRID

SA: … Green fee revenues will support critical work across multiple state agencies in partnership with community partners, including reef restoration, invasive species management, watershed protection, climate adaptation and infrastructure improvements. Yet today, there is no simple way for the public to understand where the money goes or what it is accomplishing as a whole.

That is where the Green Fee Resiliency Impact Dashboard (the GRID), House Bill 1949, plays an important role. The bill is not about creating new fees or raising existing ones. Instead, HB 1949 focuses on making information clear and accessible. It proposes a single statewide dashboard that would allow anyone to see how much revenue is collected, which agencies receive funding, what projects are being supported, where they are happening, and what outcomes they are delivering….

(And that is why it will not become law.)

HB1949: text, status

read … Column: Put Hawaii’s green fee actions on GRID | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

DOE Travel: $4 Million, 8,000 Trips And Few Details On Educational Value

CB: … For the third year in a row, the Department of Education has failed to provide lawmakers with clear records on how it spent almost $4 million on more than 8,000 trips in 2025.

Last month, the department submitted more than 200 pages of travel records dating from January to November 2025. But of the 13 pieces of information lawmakers require agencies to submit for each trip, DOE only filled out five — the general programs associated with the travel, the start and end date of the trips and the total cost.

Not included were the position numbers or job titles of the attendees, DOE’s justification for the travel and whether the trip involved meetings or training sessions. The department also didn’t specify whether the trips were covered by state dollars or other funding sources.

Employee expenses ranged from $2 for a single day of travel to $10,000 for a trip spanning eight days in May, although the report didn’t specify what the expenses covered or where employees and students went. Some expenses were the per diem rates employees receive for neighbor island travel…

read … DOE Travel: $4 Million, 8,000 Trips And Few Details On Educational Value - Honolulu Civil Beat

Lawmakers Again Pretending to Consider Banning Contributions from Contractors

CB: … Lawmakers are again trying to ban contractors from making donations to political candidates after a bill looking to end pay-to-play in politics was watered down by leaders in the House and Senate in the final days of the 2025 session. And then even that flawed version didn’t pass.

To recap: Hawaiʻi bans companies under contract from donating to campaigns, but a loophole in the law allows officers of those companies to continue contributing. Two years ago, the New York Times and Civil Beat found that the loophole let through $24 million from people tied to contractors.

Last year’s bill would have closed that loophole, applying the contributions ban to the immediate officers and family members of companies under contract with or given grants by the state and counties. But amendments inserted at the last minute effectively hamstrung the measure by limiting the donation prohibitions to people under contract with a specific branch of government. It would have virtually exempted lawmakers because the Legislature rarely issues the types of contracts covered under the bill.

Rep. David Tarnas introduced a version of that measure this year, House Bill 1519. …

The measure passed the Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee Tuesday, which Tarnas chairs, but only with some pretty significant amendments….

the biggest change would take county contractors out of the bill. … (LOL!)

Meanwhile, the committee killed the Campaign Spending Commission’s long-debated proposal, this year in the form of House Bill 2052, which for several years has been the vehicle of hope for significant pay-to-play reform. ~~Fortunately,~~ (As a joke) it lives on as Senate Bill 2530 and is slated for a (pretend) hearing in Sen. Karl Rhoads’ Judiciary Committee on Tuesday….

read … The Sunshine Blog: Lawmakers Told $35K Probe Could Take Until ... August? - Honolulu Civil Beat

Blangiardi wants Taiwan to fix crumbling, crime-plagued Chinatown Cultural Plaza

CB: … A “beyond frustrated” Mayor Rick Blangiardi is pressing Taiwan to fix its deteriorating Chinatown Cultural Plaza in Honolulu, taking his appeal directly to President Lai Ching‑te and arguing that years of inaction have turned the 4-acre complex into a magnet for crime and a public‑safety threat.

Blangiardi said the city has spent several years urging the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, referred to as TECO, Taiwan’s representatives in Hawaii, to address decades of neglect at the plaza, which he described as “a haven for illegal activity, unwelcoming, and a place of danger to the residents of our community.”

“This blight on our city needs to be addressed immediately. We aren’t going to have slum landlords,” Blangiardi told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, adding that federal law complicates any attempt to condemn the property. “They’ve owned this monolithic building for decades and let it fall into disrepair.” …

CB: Tenants describe decades of decline at Chinatown plaza | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

read … Blangiardi wants Taiwan to fix crumbling, crime-plagued Chinatown Cultural Plaza | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Shapiro: Ed Case had right strategy for achieving Dems ICE reforms

Shapiro: … Hawaii U.S. Rep. Ed Case took flak from some fellow Democrats for helping Republicans pass a spending package that included disputed temporary funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but he put Democrats in a better position to ultimately get what they want.

Case was among 21 House Democrats who joined Republicans in advancing by 217-214 a Senate compromise to fund most of government for the upcoming year, while providing two weeks to negotiate differences over $64.4 billion in spending for ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.

The vast majority of House Democrats, including Hawaii U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, chafed at funding ICE for even two weeks more as its siege of Minneapolis and other cities continues.

Case, a member of the Appropriations Committee that generated the spending bills, argued it made no sense to shut down the entire government over ICE differences when the two could be separated….

read … David Shapiro: Ed Case had right strategy for achieving ICE reforms | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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