Entries for 'Keli'i Akina PhD'

...would expansion of Medicare be good for America?....

...The administration just told New York and New Jersey they would have to fund their $13 billion Hudson Tunnel rail project on their own, backing out of an Obama-era promise to foot half the bill....

...OHA must be seen as a valuable partner, not an opponent, to the broader community....

...This week, an actress did something almost unheard of. She apologized for spreading misinformation about the new tax law....

...I committed myself to doing three things for the sake of the Hawaiian people:  First, ensure a full and independent audit of OHA.  Secondly, guide OHA towards financial sustainability as well as growth.  Third, watch to make sure OHA funds are not misspent but rather used to meet the real needs of Hawaiian people....

...Santa is an enthusiastic devotee of the surveillance state....

...Hawaii's extremely modest creep up the ladder of economic freedom....

...the Jones Act, Federal Regulation, politics in Washington, and other issues that impact Hawaii....

...The pilot program requires the rideshare drivers to pay 7 percent of each fare to the state Airports Division....

...legal marijuana users in the state have been receiving letters from the Honolulu Police Department ordering them to turn in their legally owned firearms....

...We are grateful for your partnership in striving for a Hawaii that leads the world in individual liberty and economic opportunity....

There’s a lot of news out there about the tax bills before the Congress, and nearly all of it is confusing....

...Hawaii’s county governments — and county taxpayers — are about to feel the pinch....

...the state Legislature has discovered a new tactic for meeting its public pension financial obligations: passing the costs on to the counties....

Clearly, OHA owes our beneficiaries a sincere apology and a commitment to change our practices internally....

“The FTA will allow nothing less.” -- Kirk Caldwell

Hawaii’s public pension system has an unfunded liability of $12 billion....

...the Resource Management Committee opted to instead give the grant funds directly to the charter schools, instead of to the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement....

...Michael Lilly , Former Hawaii Attorney General, joins Hawaii Together with Keli'i Akina for a discussion on the history and current state of Racial Harmony in Hawaii.... 

...the state Auditor has already informed OHA of its preliminary findings....

"...we waived regulations, we waived rules, we waived the Jones Act restrictions to free up additional capacity."

The very fact that such waivers are standard in emergencies reveals something that the Jones Act lobby doesn't want people to understand....

...This was my first back to school experience at the Kualapu‘u Public Conversion Charter School on the island of Moloka‘i....

Confucius said to the ruler: So long as when you get richer, the poor get richer....

...the most recent version of the proposed resolution requests an “independent forensic audit” of HART operations and contract awards....

...University of Hawaii college enrollment has plummeted by 15 percent in just six years, from a high of 60,300 students in 2012 to 51,300 as of 2017....

...a 1% increase in health care costs equals a $2 billion increase in unfunded liabilities....

Hawaii lawmakers are finally embracing the call for a “deep dive” audit of the Honolulu rail project, but how they follow through on that embrace could make it all for naught....

...despite the fact that City Auditor Edwin Young told the committee “the red flags were there”....

...Mahalo for helping this idea to catch on....

Texas has no personal income tax....

...Hawaii has no soda tax. But that's not for lack of trying.....

What does it say about the state of governance in Hawaii that endorsing basic standards of fiscal responsibility is a revolutionary act?

Hawaii may be giving millennials the short end of the stick when it comes to the state’s unfunded public pension liabilities....

...rail is like the cousin who is always hitting you up for money....

Dr. Keli’i Akina gave the following speech on June 30th, 2017, at the 2017 Maui County Affordable Housing Summit, hosted by the Maui Chamber of Commerce and Maui County Department of Housing & Human Concerns....

All employers need a few basic freedoms to be productive, among them the freedom to manage their employees....

“Crucial Recommendations for Achieving Fiscal Sustainability”

We hope that the Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General will be moved to mount a comprehensive fiscal and engineering audit of Honolulu rail ....

Beneficiaries are calling for higher levels of transparency and accountability....

...state lawmakers are eager to capture $26 million dollars in tax money every year from short-term vacation rentals....

...it's something we should have done a long time ago....

...Despite multiple attempts to stop or derail it, things keep chugging along. And come July 1, it looks like Maui residents are finally going to start getting the care they deserve....

...the SOQ will allow OHA to engage an auditor or auditing firm to conduct an examination of not only OHA but its subsidiary LLCs, for a period reaching back five years....

...Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai counties are all considering raising the property tax....

...the lack of dissent allows tax-and-spend policies to move smoothly through the Hawaii Legislature...until....

...this audit seeks to identify areas of “waste, abuse and fraud...”

The most recent version of Rich States, Poor States has been released, and once again, Hawaii ends up on the wrong end of that title....

...HB165 (now headed to a Conference Committee) would modernize the existing Sunshine Law by requiring electronic posting of public agency meeting notices and minutes and making board packets available for public inspection....

When Governor Ige first announced his plan to double local food production, people wondered....