Highlighted actions by the House Republican caucus for the week of February 6-10, 2012...

SB2696 would have abolished the Hawaii Building Code Council and effectively removed the state from active involvement in building design and construction standards....

What happened today was the result of a horrible lawsuit that sought to tell our brave men and women in the military that they don't matter to us.

House Bill 679, introduced by state Representative Ken Ito (D-48) and six other Representatives, is an NRA-supported bill....

Keep in mind that the average income of a Volt buyer is $175,000 per year. That means that middle-class taxpayers are helping the rich buy pricy, politically correct cars.  With his other hand, President Obama is taking from the poor....

Our Annual Report covers service improvements made within our office, the Hawai‘i Fair Share Initiative, the significance of hosting APEC, disaster relief, China trade and travel activities and initial efforts to make Hawai‘i the home for the Obama Presidential Center....

Would you borrow $3.2B and entrust it to Abercrombie, Louie, and Takamine?

The bill seeks to change the Hawaii Revised Statutes, Chapter 343 ....

Mr. Fortuño wants to convert the island's oil-fired plants to cheaper, cleaner natural gas....

Last week, America erupted in protest against one of those actions -- the White House's determination to force all insurance plans to cover, at no charge, contraceptives, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization as part of Obamacare.

The management team at Nicolites announce their delight at the passing of an amended electronic cigarette bill in Hawaii, which will ensure that e-cigs are not taxed similarly to tobacco products yet will not be sold to minors.

The sales tax in Hawaii ... has a base that includes many services, and as such are not strictly comparable to other sales taxes.

For 2011, Hawaiian averaged a 92.8 percent on-time performance ranking #1 in 11 of the 12 months and exceeding the industry average for the year by 13.2 percentage points....

...the damage and loss of documents or information is not nearly as severe as has been reported....

• Senate: FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act
• House: Budget and Accounting Transparency Act
• House: Expedited Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act of 2011
• House: STOCK Act

Hawaiian Airlines has earned the first-ever aviation based carbon credits, having reduced its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by nearly 22,000 metric tons over the past six years using an innovative, eco-friendly engine washing technology developed by Pratt & Whitney.

Retired Fire Chief Donald Chang, the President of the Honolulu Fire Department Retirees Association, announced today that the organization of more than 800 members is endorsing Governor Linda Lingle for Hawaii's open U.S. Senate seat....

The HSTA Board has voted to take these immediate steps in response to what we believe that consensus is....

Nearly 3 out of every 10 workers in Hawaii (29.7%) work for federal, state, or local government.... 

... the six states with the highest percentages — Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Vermont and California — also skew Democratic. In each of these states the percentage of childless women exceeds 55%....

Yesterday, the newest White House chief of staff, Jack Lew, took to the Sunday talk shows to get a head start on promoting President Barack Obama's FY2013 budget....

• DATE: Monday, February 13, 2012
• TIME: 1:15 p.m.
• PLACE: Conference Room 229, State Capitol, 415 South Beretania Street

in order to either scare Togiola to the sidelines or bolster his own popularity, Faleomavaega made his next and even more cynical move: promise citizenship to nationals and national status to aliens....

The court held that "parents have a constitutional right to discipline children...."

the Schools Repairs check-off garnered $66,406 during fiscal year 2011 which was down from the $72,200 it picked up in the previous fiscal year 2010. Designated check-offs for Domestic Violence and Child Abuse dropped from $134,445 in fiscal 2010 to $129,045 for 2011.... 

His problem is with the "prohibitively high cost" of US-built ships and the impact of those costs on freight rates. The high costs of other aspects of a US-flag operation, such as the cost of an over-manned US-citizen crew with all its fringe benefits, get no mention....

• Romney - 39% (2,190 votes)
• Paul - 36% (1,996 votes)
• Santorum - 18% (989 votes)
• Gingrich - 6% (349 votes)
• Other - 1% (61 votes)

UHPA's board acted on the recommendation of its political endorsement committee, who interviewed Case and Mazie Hirono extensively....

...this morning, several bills were passed which would have long-lasting impacts on the integrity and preservation of our environmental resources; the Republican Committee members, Representative Cynthia Thielen and Representative Gil Riviere, were the sole voices in opposition....

On Monday February 13, 2012 the House Transportation Committee will hear House Bill 2277, which includes many of the proposals, previously introduced by Representative Marumoto

After passing through today's hearing, HB2865 will be voted on in a future House Session before it continues to the Committee on Finance.

On Monday, the House Tourism Committee will hear HB 2788 (Relating to Gaming) that grants a twenty-year license for one stand-alone casino in Waikiki (not in a hotel). This problematic bill also establishes the Hawaii Gaming Control Commission.

"The people of Hawaii know we've seen this type of inconsistent, ineffective behavior from Mazie before."

Horizon’s departure has left Guam with a single Westbound common carrier, Matson Navigation Company, which now operates as a true monopoly here....

The legislation was introduced in the Maryland Senate last week, and Governor O’Malley has made it a key legislative priority for 2012.

The NRA thanks all of our members for communicating with the members of the PGM Committee. As a result of your efforts, this bill was deferred by the committee....

Families and businesses have budgets, yet Washington doesn't -- and it hasn't for the last three years.... 

...it appears that Brown successfully lobbied for California to get $6 billion in cash and siphon off a total of $18 billion from the $25 billion mortgage settlement with the five largest U.S. banks....

...with Galileo K-12 Online technology in place and intervention plans implemented, the school saw a 31 percent increase in the percent of fifth grade students passing the statewide assessment in math....

As Budget & Finance Director Kalbert Young testified on February 3, 2012, before the State Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee, the depleted reserved funds led to the downgrading last year of the State’s credit rating....

Attorney General David M. Louie on Thursday formally joined a landmark $25 billion joint federal-state agreement with the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers over foreclosure abuses and fraud....

See the Chamber's ad here ....

When John F. Kennedy was President, just over a quarter of federal spending went to fund programs paying for some 21.7 million Americans to be dependent on Uncle Sam. But as high as that spending and dependence on the federal government was then, it has exploded today, with one in five Americans -- more than 67.3 million -- depending on Washington ....

“I’ve reviewed the Hawaii law, and it’s not much of a compromise. The Hawaii contraceptive mandate has many of the same features as the new federal mandate.”

"...governments have perversely immoral incentives to make sure as many smokers keep smoking as possible, because governments are hooked on cigarette tax revenue...."

To correct the threats to religious liberty and rights of conscience by the Obama administration, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act has been introduced in Congress (H.R. 1179, S. 1467).

On Feb. 6, 2012, the Regents Candidate Advisory Council (RCAC) delivered to Governor Neil Abercrombie's office a list of candidates for the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents ....

All indications are that the Middle East is crumbling, and President Barack Obama's foreign policy is collapsing right along with it. 

Clinton was planning historic reforms during his second term. These were to include private accounts under Social Security and vouchers for Medicare.

Americans who rely on government receive an average $32,748 worth of benefits, surpassing the average American’s disposable personal income of $32,446....