March 13, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Friday, March 13, 2026

March 13, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 5:44 PM :: 162 Views

House Approves Bills to help out Other Criminals

DBEDT Projects 1.7% Growth for 2026

Hawaiian Electric Outlines Case for $170M Rate Hike

Acting Chief Justice Appoints District Court Judges on Oahu, Big Island

BoE Seeks Nominees for Charter School Commission

Child Abuse: DHS Launches New Training System for 'Mandatory Reporters'

Hawaiian Electric Claims 37% 'Renewable Portfolio'

How Honolulu Easily Saves $50M by Cutting Funding For Vacant Positions

CB: … Days after Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi proposed balancing a tight city budget by cutting the funding set aside for open positions, department heads lined up to explain their high vacancy rates — and some asked to be the exception.

When Blangiardi and his budget director Andy Kawano unveiled the plan last week, they said the $50 million in vacancy budget cuts would fall across the board. They avoided going into detail at the time, but public budget documents posted since then show which departments got big cuts and which got out scot-free.

That money often does get spent, department directors told the City Council this week – just in roundabout ways, such as temporary work, overtime pay and vacation payouts for retiring employees. Currently 1 in 5 city positions are open….

An open accountant position at the budget department that pays $61,284 was last filled in December 2009. It pays about $10,000 less than what a similarly experienced city accountant would make in Portland, Oregon, but on par with private local salaries. A construction equipment operator position in the road maintenance division hasn’t been filled in almost 27 years. . …

About 2,000 positions remain empty out of a county workforce of roughly 10,000, with a lot of money allocated each year for them….

Out of 220 openings at the Department of Facility Maintenance, 88 would not be funded under the plan. Director Gene Albano did not ask the council to amend the plan, noting that he will still have budget to fill more than 130 other openings by next year….

The Honolulu Police Department gets a steady stream of recruits but struggles to retain existing employees. At more than $17 million, it would receive the largest cut in vacant position dollars.

But Chief Rade Vanic told council members his department would be OK. “It’s going to be tight,” he said, “but we’re going to make it work.”

read … Here's Where Honolulu Wants To Cut Funding For Open Jobs - Honolulu Civil Beat

Tax increase bills crossover at the Hawaii State Legislature

KITV: … Today is the halfway mark for state legislative bills to crossover from the House and Senate — and vice versa. And one of the crucial bills lawmakers are still hammering out is how to ~~continue~~ (eliminate) tax breaks for local families.

(NOTE: All the changes needed to make this text honest.)

The Legislature's halfway through and lawmakers are determined to figure out how to ~~continue providing~~ (increase) tax(es) ~~relief~~ for families struggling with inflation, ~~while saving critical social services threatened~~ by (using) federal funding cuts (as the excuse)….

"A lot of my friends have left, and it's just so hard to make ends meet here and I get it," said Rep. Chris Todd. "So our priority is to make sure that we continue ~~to provide relief~~ (until they all leave)." …

BIN: $10 billion Hawaiʻi state budget advances to House Floor for final vote : Big Island Now

KITV: Tax ~~cut~~ (hike) bills crossover at the Hawaii State Legislature | News | kitv.com

BIN: Tax relief for state’s working families (not) preserved in Hawaiʻi Senate measure : Big Island Now

read … Tax cut bills crossover at the Hawaii State Legislature | News | kitv.com

Honolulu transit agency proposes $501M budget for FY27

SA: … The Honolulu Department of Transportation Services, charged with operating TheBus, Skyline, TheHandi-Van, is requesting a more than half-billion dollar operating budget for fiscal year 2027.

Starting July 1, DTS proposes a combined operating budget of $501.27 million, up from its latest $488.2 million appropriated budget — a roughly $13 million increase….

read … Honolulu transit agency proposes $501M budget for FY27 | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Controversy Engulfs HECO's Proposed $1 Billion Power Plant

CB: … The day before the PUC was expected to decide the issue, members of the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee were grilling Glick about a January 2025 study focusing on how to fuel power plants while the state transitions to renewables, and how those plants will be fueled after the 2045 deadline.

The study identified liquefied natural gas as “the most cost-effective transitional fuel to be used until carbon-emitting fossil fuels can be permanently eliminated by 2045.”

Called in to rebut the study was Mattias Fripp, a former University of Hawaiʻi electrical engineering professor who now works for Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology, a San Francisco firm led by Sonia Aggarwal, former President Joe Biden’s special assistant for Climate Policy, Innovation, and Deployment.

In a bombshell assertion, Fripp said the energy office’s study contained a $1.2 billion error that obfuscated the costs of LNG, which Fripp said were greater than its benefits. Questioned by the committee’s chair, Rep. Nicole Lowen, Fripp said he was staking his professional reputation on his statement that the state’s study contained a major blunder.

“I’m sticking my neck out saying this is an error,” Fripp said.

Glick told Lowen that he would analyze Fripp’s critique and report back to the committee.

Fripp, Glick said in an interview, “had a completely different methodology in his mind” when he said the office failed to include the cost of natural gas in its calculations.

“We unequivocally stand by our study,” Glick said….

IM: Hawai`i State Energy Office’s LNG Study Might Be in Deep Trouble | Ililani Media

read … Controversy Engulfs HECO's Proposed $1 Billion Power Plant - Honolulu Civil Beat

$25M wastewater project stinks, says Kaua‘i County Council

ASD: … “This is a very antiquated facility, it’s very old,” said Council Chair Mel Rapozo. “How much have we paid in emergency repairs over the last five years? Because I know we have paid a lot.”

Rapozo went on to say the plant is located within a tsunami inundation zone and therefore cannot be expanded beyond its current footprint. And, because of constant equipment failures and repairs, the plant is currently incapable of operating at its full capacity of 1.5 million gallons per day.

“We’ve got to make a decision today on whether or not we continue to fund a plant that is antiquated, in a tsunami zone and cannot be expanded, or do we reassign these funds to building a new plant,” Rapozo said.

While Kaua‘i Mayor Derek Kawakami published just on Wednesday a list of administrative accomplishments stating that the county is “actively evaluating sites to relocate the Wailua Wastewater Treatment Plant outside the tsunami zone,” that list adds that such a project will take at least 10 years to complete, during which time east Kaua‘i will still need a facility to process wastewater.

By the time the new resolution reached the Council agenda, the county was already up against a deadline. Donald Fujimoto, chief of Kaua‘i’s Wastewater Management Division, told the Council that the county has until June 2026 to expend the funds approved via the initial 2024 loan.

However, Fujimoto said, between the project’s inception in 2009, the loan’s approval in 2024 and when the county posted a bid for contractors to carry out the project in Dec. 2025, the economy has changed drastically. The lowest of the four bid responses — from Maui-based Alpha Inc. — was for $17.4 million, already more than the total loan.

Hence, Fujimoto said, the need to expand the loan. Fujimoto explained that the $25.5 million will cover the low bid, along with another $1.1 million for construction management, $3 million to meet new environmental compliance standards and $3.5 million for contingency funds….

read … $25M wastewater project stinks, says Kaua‘i County Council

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