Financially pressed states might have to return $1.1 billion to Big Tobacco this year, if a review finds the states aren't trying hard enough to keep a 12-year-old legal settlement from hurting the companies too much.

This summer, states and the nation's Big Three tobacco firms will begin arbitrating a dispute over 2003 payments made under the settlement, the companies have disclosed in financial filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sums ranging from $705 million to $1.1 billion for each of the subsequent years also are headed for arbitration.

An uncomfortable Neil Abercrombie receiving Hawaii TEA Party Bumper sticker from HTP President Brett Glass

"Lerner: Col. Wright I just want to make sure again – so you actually were on a different boat and did not witness the attack firsthand."

Wright: That's correct.

On the Failure of Congress to Pass a Budget:

“A perfect representation of the problems we have here on Capitol Hill is the failure of Congress to pass a budget. I mean, that’s one of the most basic things any private business, any family would do to get its fiscal house in order. But here in the United States Congress we have yet to pass a budget and it’s already mid-June. This is irresponsible.”

Washington, DC — Congressman Charles Djou (HI-01) issued the following statement today reacting to the selection of AECOM as the EIS contractor for the Big Wind Project....

"The Honolulu Mayor has used taxpayer dollars to advocate for the reckless rail transit project, he raked in more than $200,000 from donors linked to government contractors in the last six months of 2009, and now he's raising big money from consultants seeking rail contracts.  While he's whacking the rail transit piñata for all the goodies he can get, he's raising property taxes and increasing fees on just about every other service the city provides.  Is this the kind of leadership Hawaii deserves?"

“We must ensure that the connection between the United States and the Philippines remains strong. One of my priorities in Congress is to strengthen our nation’s ties to the Philippines and expand the number of visas that our government issues, particularly to the Philippines,” Djou continued.

But unlike the federal takeover of the banking and health care industry, this time around Obama and his liberal allies are shrewdly avoiding another public fight by moving their education agenda forward without even going through Congress. The administration is supporting a move to implement national education standards, using the $4.35 billion Race to the Top grant program to secure those ends. National standards will give the federal government – not parents – more power over education. Now, instead of petitioning their local schools boards for curriculum changes, parents will have to trek to Washington to lobby D.C. bureaucrats for input in the content taught at their children’s school.

The Executive Committee of the Hawaii Business Roundtable, respectfully recommends the veto of HB444....

June 11 (Bloomberg) -- Seven states will run out of money to pay public pensions by 2020. That hasn’t stopped them from hiring new employees.

The seven are Illinois, Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, Hawaii, Louisiana and Oklahoma....

The pension plans sponsored by states and municipalities will place a substantial burden on state and local public finances in the near future. My recent work has estimated that the present value of already-promised state pension benefits is over $5 trillion when the benefit payments are discounted using Treasury yields, compared to a little over $2 trillion in pension fund assets. Most state constitutions offer special protections to pension benefits that state workers have already earned.

This analysis raises the question of how soon such a situation might lead to an all-out state and municipal fiscal crisis. One important day of reckoning is the day that the state pension funds run out of money. At that point, pension payments to retirees will have to come out of general revenues. This day of reckoning is in fact not as far away as some might imagine. For Illinois, it could be as soon as 2018.  (For Hawaii it is 2020.)

The undersea interisland cable is one component of the Interisland Wind Initiative, which includes the development of wind farms in Maui County, the development of the undersea cable, and the utility infrastructure upgrades that would allow the integration of a renewable energy electrical grid. 

RepCharlesDjou — June 10, 2010 — Congressman Djou gave the following speech from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives discussing the nation's fiscal situation and the need for a budget that puts our nation's fiscal house in order.

The seminar also provided potential investors with detailed information on how Chinese students can enroll in local educational institutions, how to retire in Hawai‘i and buy a place to live, and business opportunities in areas such as medical clinics, golf and tennis facilities, and retailing.

In her remarks, Governor Lingle noted that Hawai‘i can serve as an entry point for the U.S. mainland and is an excellent location for a headquarters operation for Chinese companies because of our language and cultural ties, as well as being a safe place to do business and live.

HONOLULU – Top women leaders from seven nations will gather in Honolulu, Hawai‘i this fall to share their personal and professional stories at the 7^th annual International Women’s Leadership Conference (IWLC).  Hosted by Governor Linda Lingle on Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at the Sheraton Waikīkī Hotel and Resort, the conference will build on the success and growth of the past six years.

Online conference registration is now available at www.hawaiiwomensconference.com.

According to one Dutch newspaper, European firms could complete the oil spill clean up by themselves in just four months, and three months if they work with the United States, which is much faster than the estimated nine months it would take the Obama administration to go it alone. The major stumbling block is a protectionist piece of legislation called the Jones Act which requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried in U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens. But in an emergency this law can be temporarily waived as DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff did after Katrina.

HONOLULU -- The State Commission on Water Resource Management (Commission) issued its final decision and order in the contested case to set interim instream flow standards for four west Maui streams –Waihe‘e, Waiehu, ‘Iao and Waikapu -- known together as “Na Wai ‘Eha.”

Washington- The nation’s chief economist warned yesterday that America’s fiscal path is unsustainable and called for swift action to manage a growing national debt crisis, but Democrat candidate Colleen Hanabusa's Washington friends still refuse to do the necessary work to lead the country back to fiscal stability. While Democrats still refuse to create a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified to the House Budget Committee yesterday that it’s time for Congress to act....