Dash of Calabash

Lingle-Aiona Initiatives 2008, recently published in the Honolulu Advertiser are available on-line using this link. This post relates to education, one of 14 initiative areas contained in the document. Some initiatives are recycled or continued from prior years. Stay tuned to see how the bills/initiatives progress.

Education - GOV-04(08)/HB3118/SB3040 amending the state constitution to allow for county voters to decide whether or not to establish local school boards, starting with a pilot program on one or more neighbor islands; GOV-01(08) HB3116/SB3038 gives the Charter School Review Panel the authority to removes statutory cap on number of charter schools, requires charter school funding in state budget, and increases authority of the panel, allows the governor to appoint members to the same panel, and adds a member with a finance background to the panel.

The Honolulu Advertiser published only excerpts of Sen. Colleen Hanabusa’s address to the Legislature on opening day, but the full text is available online using this link.

Is sustainability your main issue as well? Let her know. senhanabusa@capitol.hawaii.gov

The Economist reports that Berlin is having a hard time enforcing its smoking ban, as many people are rebelling against the law.

Berlin may have introduced a smoking ban at the beginning of January, but one month on, many cafés and bars had begun handing out the ashtrays again. The ban has proved unpopular with rebellious Berliners, with one angry smoker punching a waiter who tried to usher him outside. Although anyone found lighting up indoors may be fined up to €100 ($150), police will not be enforcing the rule until July. During this six-month grace period, the authorities are letting bar- and café-owners decide for themselves whether to allow smoking. Some bars have styled themselves as “smoking clubs”, though this will have no legal power to protect anyone, come July.

Seems Germans can disobey orders after all!

Lingle-Aiona Initiatives 2008, recently published in the Honolulu Advertiser are available on-line using this link. This post relates to healthcare, one of 14 initiative areas contained in the document. Some initiatives are recycled or continued from prior years. Stay tuned to see how the bills/initiatives progress.

Healthcare - CCA-23(08)/HB3102/SB3024 caps various limits for malpractice awards; GOV-13(08)/HB3123/SB3045 to reduce the number of instance where a certificate of need (CON) is required to begin or end offering medical services, change location of services or construct any type of medical facility, requiring public hearings and to giving greater weigh to county councils’ decisions in these matters.

The Honolulu Advertiser published only excerpts of Rep. Lynn Finnegan’s address to the Legislature on opening day, but the full text is available online using this link.

Do her priorities agree with yours?

Let her know - repfinnegan@capitol.hawaii.gov

From the Associated Press:

The widespread use of ethanol from corn could result in nearly twice the greenhouse gas emissions as the gasoline it would replace because of expected land-use changes, researchers concluded Thursday. The study challenges the rush to biofuels as a response to global warming.

The researchers said that past studies showing the benefits of ethanol in combating climate change have not taken into account almost certain changes in land use worldwide if ethanol from corn — and in the future from other feedstocks such as switchgrass — become a prized commodity.

“Using good cropland to expand biofuels will probably exacerbate global warming,” concludes the study published in Science magazine.

Read more here.

Lingle-Aiona Initiatives 2008, recently published in the Honolulu Advertiser are available on-line using this link. This post relates to increasing affordable housing opportunities, one of 14 initiative areas contained in the document. Some initiatives are recycled or continued from prior years. Stay tuned to see how the bills/initiatives progress.

Increasing affordable housing opportunities - AGS-01(08)/HB3035/SB2957 allowing for state projects to begin with having the full amount of capital cost funding on hand at the beginning of the project; BED-08(08)/HB3060/SB2982 allowing the Hawaii Community Development Authority to resell fee simple interest in reserved housing units; BED-01(08)/HB3057/SB2979 permanently requiring 50

5 of the conveyance tax go to Rental Housing Trust Fund to build more affordable rental units; Extend $7.5 million annual tax credit expiring 5/31/09 to 5/31/10. Still pending - bill to authorize $100 million in additional revenue bonds for Hula Mae Multi-Family program (new and rehab affordable rentals)

In case you missed it, Sam Slom’s detailed list of wants for small business in Hawaii was reported in the Honolulu Advertiser on opening day of the legislature, 1/16/08, p C6

Click here to read the article

The Honolulu Advertiser, 1/18/08 p C7 reported 5.244 megawatts of wind power generation installed in 2007, accounting for 30% of all new electricity-generating capacity. Note that this was done at a tax credit cost of a 2 cents per kilowatt hour of energy produced (around $100K), which lowered the development costs to the same level as coal-fired plants.

At this time the tax credit has not been extended past the end of 2008, but it seems likely it will be.

Currently wind power represents just less than 1% of all power generated in the United States according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Read the article by clicking here

Lingle-Aiona Initiatives 2008, recently published in the Honolulu Advertiser are available on-line using this link. This post relates to protecting our keiki and kapuna, one of 14 initiative areas contained in the document. Some initiatives are recycled or continued from prior years. Stay tuned to see how the bills/initiatives progress.

Protecting our keiki and kapuna - covers adoption (HMS-15(08)/HB3131/SB3053 allowing foster children reasonable visitation with siblings before and after adoption/legal guardianship; HMS-19(08)/HB3134/SB3056 requiring follow-up visit by professional child care welfare staff for children reported abused or neglected, adding 2,500 visits annually; HMS-22(08)/HB3126/SB3058 allowing for “hanai” custody of children; and HMS-24(08)/HB3137/SB3059 allowing Office of Youth Service investigative authority to comply with DOJ memorandum of agreement concerning conditions at Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility.