Union seeks raises for teachers not credited for out-of-state experience during salary repricing Hawaii News Now December 29, 2025 Original Article HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The teachers union is fighting to get pay raises for thousands of public school educators. The Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA) says they were denied the money because the Hawaii State Department of Education (HIDOE) said they didn’t have enough experience here in Hawaii. Before coming to Hawaii, David Reid had nine years of teaching on the continental U.S. The HIDOE had credited six of those years in the classroom, but it was not enough to get him a raise that other teachers with more experience in Hawaii received. “It was very at first confusing and then upsetting because you know no one wants to work really hard to go broke, and teachers all work very hard and our value to the workplace is years of experience and education and to have your value just erased,” Reid said. Reid and two other teachers went to the Hawaii Labor Relations Board after being excluded from the HIDOE’s salary increase in 2022. Known as the compression fix, the repricing boosted pay for 72% of teachers by an average of $6,000. “When they passed out raises, they said I didn’t have 11, because I’d been here five years at that point,” Reid said. The board sided with Reid, saying that the years of experience teaching that he and the other two teachers had on the mainland must be considered in the repricing. The HIDOE appealed the ruling, but a state judge affirmed it last month. “I’ve described it as the most frustrating thing I’ve ever done in my life. So to come out on the other side and be successful feels really good,” Reid said. After the decision, Reid’s pay was increased by $3,700 a year. “Considering the cost of living in Hawaii, that’s not nothing,” Reid said. The ruling came as the islands grapple with an ongoing teacher shortage. Hawaii ranks in the top 10 states with the lowest teacher to state population. There are more than 2,000 other teachers like Reid who were not compensated for non-HIDOE teaching experience. The HSTA is asking the HIDOE to raise their pay as well. “Hopefully this could apply to everybody,” Reid said. The HSTA is still waiting on the official written ruling from the court. We reached out to the department and are waiting to hear back. Copyright 2025 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

Hawaiʻi Senate Ways and Means Committee releases informational briefing schedule Maui Now Maui Now December 28, 2024 Original Article The Hawaiʻi State Senate Committee on Ways and Means released its schedule of informational briefings, to be held Jan. 6-28, 2025. The briefings aim to provide state departments the opportunity to present budget requests to the Committee for the upcoming biennium. “Info briefings are essential in ensuring that legislators are equipped with knowledge and insights necessary to make informed decisions that impact our communities,” said WAM Chair Senator Donovan M. Dela Cruz (Senate District 17, portion of Mililani, Mililani Mauka, portion of Waipiʻo Acres, Launani Valley, Wahiawā, Whitmore Village). “It is important that we share information with each other, especially as we rely on the expertise of those who are at the forefront of critical issues.” A full schedule of the informational briefings can be viewed here: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2025/hearingnotices/HEARING_WAM_2025_SUMMARY_INFO_.HTM All informational briefings can be viewed live on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@HawaiiSenate . No public testimony will be accepted at the briefings.

Bill would ban immigration detention centers on state land Star Advertiser Dan Nakaso February 4, 2025 Original Article Immigration detention centers would be banned on state and county lands, and other bills in the Legislature also would ensure due process for any detainees. The bills have drawn both condemnation and support as Senate and House members consider public testimony. The bills are moving through the state Legislature as federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents continue to enforce President Donald Trump’s promise to sweep up illegal immigrants, many of whom have committed no violent offenses, and deport them. During his presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly said unspecified numbers of illegal immigrants had committed murders and were members of violent drug cartels. Trump also has threatened to eliminate “birthright citizenship” for American-born children of immigrants, a right that’s enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Gov. Josh Green has repeatedly told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that he will not deploy Hawaii National Guard troops to the mainland to assist in rounding up illegal immigrants, especially if it means separating them from their families. House Bill 73 would prohibit the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and Board of Land and Natural Resources from allowing state land to be used for immigration detention facilities while also forbidding state and county agencies from “contracting with the federal government or processing any permit for this purpose.” HB 73 unanimously passed out of the House Committee on Economic Development and Technology. HB 438 and its Senate companion bill, Senate Bill 816, would create a “Due Process in Immigration Proceedings Program in the state Judiciary to provide legal representation to individuals in immigration-related proceedings in immigration court.” HB 457 also would require state and local law enforcement agencies “to notify an individual of their rights when in law enforcement agency custody before any interview with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on certain matters regarding immigration violations.” HB 22 would limit state and county law enforcement agencies’ ability to collaborate with the federal government for immigration purposes. The bill received support from, among others, the office of the Kauai County Prosecuting Attorney, which wrote, “As the smallest of the State’s County law enforcement team, our Office does not have the resources to spare to enforce civil immigration detainers. In addition, we share concerns about due process violations in enforcement of these orders.” House Bill 73, which would prohibit detention centers on state and county land, has been opposed by individuals and a group called Hawaii Island Republican Women. The bill has been referred to the House Economic Development and Technology, Water and Land, and Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs committees. No hearings have been scheduled yet on HB 73. Support for the ban on immigration detention facilities has come from individuals, organizations and agencies such as the state Office of Public Defender; immigration and civil rights groups; Catholic Charities Hawaii; Honolulu Council member Matt Weyer, who represents the North Shore and parts of Central Oahu; Hawaii County Council member Jennifer Kagiwada; and unions like Hawaii’s largest — the Government Employees Association — and Unite Here Local 5 that represents thousands of employees of Filipino descent working in Hawaii’s hotel, food service and health care industries. “Many of our union members are immigrants or children of immigrants, they are the working-class families, friends and neighbors that make up the fabric of our Hawaii communities,” the union wrote in testimony supporting the House bills. “We support HB22 as it clarifies how Hawaii will treat non-judicial warrants. … (There) are legitimate concerns about the constitutionality of civil immigration detainers, as opposed to criminal warrants issued by a judge with probable cause.” But Jamie Detwiler, president of Hawaiian Island Republican Women, wrote in opposition to banning detention centers on state and county land: “If the Federal government provides funding to build Federal detention facilities and procures the land lawfully, a federal detention center should be built. We need to support the efforts of our President Trump and his administration in their pursuit of making America safe again.” Andrew Crossland wrote in his testimony in opposition, “I STRONGLY OPPOSE any Bill in which the State would attempt to defy the deportation efforts of the federal government to enforce our immigration laws. We need to take care of legal citizens and residents in Hawaii first, not illegal aliens who are criminals by definition.” In her testimony, Sharee Orr wrote, “Illegal aliens are illegal. They did not follow immigration process therefore should not be afforded any help by the state to keep them from being returned to where they came. They eventually become burden to the taxpayer.” Noela von Wiegandt opposed HB 73 in her written testimony because “we don’t have enough housing to house the legal citizens who live here and to house our Veterans and homeless. I do not want my tax dollars spent on any facilities to house illegals on our public land. Just deport them and they can apply the legal way to live in the United States.” State Sen. Henry Aquino (D, Pearl City-Waipahu-West Loch) chairs the Senate Labor and Technology Committee and helped introduced SB 816, which would create the “Due Process in Immigration Proceedings Program.” Aquino wrote in a text to the Honolulu Star- Advertiser that he introduced it “in response to growing concerns from the immigration community and civil rights groups specifically.” “Currently there’s very few resources that help folks navigate the complex legal processes surrounding immigration-related actions,” Aquino said. Tuia‘ana Scanlan — president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 665 union, which represents entertainment workers — cited the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans and the first generation of Japanese immigrants following the Japanese navy’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. In the anti-Japanese hysteria that followed, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, one of America’s most progressive Democratic presidents, issued an executive order requiring the U.S. military to round up and force both Japanese- and U.S.-born Japanese Americans into internment camps across the U.S. West, including a much smaller one on Oahu called Honouliuli. Congress eventually apologized and paid surviving internees $20,000 each, for a total of $1.6 billion. Honouliuli has since been designated a National Historic Site. “If history teaches us anything, it is that racially motivated support for the construction of detention centers is wrong,” Scanlan wrote in support of HB 73. “We need only remind ourselves of the Japanese internment camps. … It is a slippery slope to allow for the creation of internment camps. It is a deplorable mechanism used to rob contributing members of society of their possessions and their dignity.”

UH study on quality of life cites housing, health care as stressors Star Advertiser Nina Wu December 11, 2024 Original Article A new dashboard launched by the University of Hawaii at Manoa offers insights into the pressing social, economic and health issues affecting state residents. The dashboard Opens in a new tab , which went live Tuesday, offers data from a survey of more than 8,000 adult residents conducted earlier this year. It offers snapshots of how residents from a broad range of demographics felt about their neighborhood, workplace, housing, mental and physical health and other factors affecting quality of life. It also delves into how prepared residents are for natural disasters, and their significant sources of stress, which appear to stem mostly from the high cost of housing and living. “The 2024 Hawaii Quality of Life and Well-Being Dashboard is more than a collection of statistics — it’s a call to action,” said lead researcher Jack Barile in a news release. “By making this information publicly available, we hope to inspire collaborative efforts to tackle the challenges facing our state.” While the dashboard shows many residents are feeling economic strain and stress, he noted, it also shows Hawaii’s communities are strong and resilient. Barile, also a professor of psychology and director of UH Manoa’s Social Science Research Institute, said results also highlight the unique needs and strengths of different communities, such as those with lower incomes and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander residents. The survey results can guide policymakers, community leaders and employers toward targeted actions that can improve well-being across the state, he said. Among the dashboard’s key findings: >> Economic stress. Most significant stressors for residents include the economy (73%), personal finances (73%) and housing costs (64%), particularly for households with incomes below $50,000. >> Moving from Hawaii. Among those surveyed, 40% considered moving out of the state in the past year due to high living costs. The rate is even higher, at 47%, among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities. >> Health disparities. Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander residents experience notably higher levels of stress and unhealthy days compared with white and Asian residents. Residents also cited challenges to accessing affordable health care, with 19% reporting medical debt over $500. >> Community strength. Despite hardships, 67% of residents said they feel safe in their neighborhoods, with a similar percentage reporting that neighbors are willing to help each other. >> Positive workplaces. 83% of employees felt respected by their employers, while 78% felt their contributions are valued. Employees looking to change jobs cited flexible work schedules, paid family leave and telework options as priorities. >> Disaster preparedness. Only 12% of respondents said they were well or very well prepared if there was a disaster in their community. In February, Hawaii became a trauma-informed state upon Gov. Josh Green’s signing of an executive order directing all state departments to collaborate with the Office of Wellness and Resilience to integrate principles of safety, transparency and peer support into workplaces and services. The UH College of Social Sciences launched the dashboard in partnership with the governor’s Office of Wellness and Resilience, which is funding the project. The surveys, to be conducted regularly, are the first step toward helping Hawaii become a trauma-informed state. The hope is that the data informs policy initiatives that address Hawaii’s unique challenges, said Barile, such as addressing barriers to affordable housing, as well as improving access to health care with a focus on NHPI communities, and the need for better disaster preparedness. “The data in this report shows that we must continue to increase the economic opportunities for our residents, so they can remain in Hawaii,” said state Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz in a statement. “Diversifying our economy in the areas of creative industries, agriculture, and technology must be paired with investments in workforce development so our residents can fill the good-paying jobs here in the state.” Significant sources of stress >> Overall: The economy (73%), money (73%), housing costs (64%). >> Medical debt: Over 81% owe $500 or less. >> Access to health care: 12% said there was a time they needed to see a doctor but could not afford it; 20% said they delayed medical care due to the cost. >> Economic stability: 44% are worried about not having enough income to pay normal monthly bills; in the previous seven days, 10% reported sometimes not having enough to eat. >> Moving: When asked whether they had plans to move out of state, 40% responded yes. Of those who said yes, 65% said cost of living is lower elsewhere, 41% cited economic concerns, as reasons. Source: Hawaii Quality of Life and Well-Being Dashboard. Find the dashboard at health-study.com Opens in a new tab .

Nearly $5 million dredging project completed at Hilo small boat harbor Star Advertiser Michael Brestovansky December 6, 2024 Original Article Boaters are in deep water at last after a months-long dredging project at Wailoa Small Boat Harbor in Hilo wrapped up last week. The harbor, one of East Hawaii’s last functioning boat launches after the Pohoiki Boat Ramp in Puna was cut off during the 2018 Kilauea eruption, has not been dredged for more than seven years and sediment had accumulated at the harbor mouth. Boats repeatedly went aground attempting to pass the mouth of the Wailoa River, and boaters quickly learned the harbor only was usable at the highest tides. The state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation began a project to dredge the river in July, using $3.2 million in capital improvement funds. That work ended on Nov. 27, the DLNR announced Tuesday, although construction equipment including a barge will remain on site until Saturday. The total cost of the project swelled to $4.8 million, according to a DLNR news release, but the cost overrun was covered through DOBOR’s Boating Special Fund, which is replenished from statewide harbor and boating facility use fees. “We appreciate the public’s patience, understanding and advocacy as DOBOR navigated the permitting and funding hurdles to get this project completed before the end of the year,” DOBOR Administrator Meghan Statts said in a statement. ”We also appreciate the Legislature for recognizing the importance of this project and providing funding.” “It’s definitely better, it’s deeper,” said boater Antoine Debarge on Tuesday, mooring his boat directly across the river mouth from Suisan Fish Market. “This was completely dry land here a few months ago.” Hilo Sen. Lorraine Inouye, who advocated for the initial $3.2 million allocation, said she was happy East Hawaii boaters can finally safely access the ocean again from the harbor, but lamented that the problem persisted for years. “When I became District 1 senator in 2022, that was already a problem, and we embarked on making sure it got fixed,” Inouye said. “I’m happy we were able to do this, but the boaters had to deal with it for so long.” Inouye said she will continue to monitor conditions at the the harbor and will listen to boaters’ concerns to identify other potential issues that need to be addressed. She added she is working on a project to determine the accumulation rates of sediment at the harbor so future dredging operations are more timely. Inouye went on to say that she will try to make additional funds available for additional maintenance projects at the harbor during the 2025 legislative session, which begins in January.

Progress Report: Lawmakers Fund More Housing, Not Special Treatment for Locals Honolulu Civil Beat Jeremy Hay May 9, 2025 Original Article In 2021, Nolan Hong and his wife were trying to buy their first home on Oʻahu. They kept getting outbid with cash offers above the asking price. “It became clear that many of the buyers we were competing against were not in the same boat as us — a local family simply trying to put down roots,” the couple wrote in legislative testimony supporting the Kama’aina Homes Program bill. It was one of two bills proposed in this year’s legislative session that aimed to address the housing crisis by setting aside certain properties for residents. But lawmakers couldn’t hash out their differences, and both bills died. Instead, the Legislature passed bills meant to boost the supply of housing overall. While those bills could address the shortage behind rising home prices, they are likely to take longer — in some cases, years — to have an impact. Although advocates were disappointed by the failure of the Kama’aina Homes bill, they said the session shows that the state is making progress to increase the housing supply and bring down costs. “We’ve had a chronic housing crisis here in Hawai‘i for decades, and so we’re not going to solve it with a simple cure-all,” said Perry Arrasmith, director of policy at Housing Hawaiʻi’s Future, a group that advocates for workforce housing. “Our housing shortage is 1,001 different pieces of a constantly shifting puzzle.” Progress Report A weeklong series looking at some of the state’s most pressing issues and what lawmakers are doing to address them. Environment: Bolder Action Needed To Protect Hawaiʻi’s Environment Native Hawaiians: Help With Housing Continues To Elude The Hawaiian Community Invasive Species: Hawaiʻi Primes Itself To Battle Biosecurity Threats Education: Hawaiʻi’s Working Families Need More Support Fireworks: Hawaiʻi Fireworks Reforms Put Enforcement Onus On Police Insurance: Will Reforms Stabilize Hawaiʻi Condo Insurance Costs? Progress Report: Neighbor Islands Need More State Support On The Job Front Progress Report: A Series Of Child Abuse Deaths Failed To Spur Major Reform No Homes Reserved For Locals The bill that Hong and his wife, Jamie Yamagata, testified in favor of would have funded county programs that give homeowners or homebuyers grants in exchange for agreeing to deed restrictions that limit ownership to people who work in Hawaiʻi. A similar bill would have allocated funds so counties could provide grants to homeowners to construct accessory dwelling units — separate living quarters on the property — in exchange for deed restrictions. The bills were based on a program in the ski town of Vail, Colorado. Since 2018, about 1,000 homes have been taken off the market in Vail for people who don’t live or work there, according to the text of one bill. Advocates said the bills’ failures set back efforts to offer immediate help to residents in a state where the median single-family home price is now just over $1 million , more than half of renters pay upwards of 30% of their income in rent , and a quarter of homebuyers in the last quarter of 2024 lived elsewhere . “We missed a huge opportunity to give counties power to say, you know what, we’re going to give residents money so that right now, when they sell it or when they rent out that property, we can 100% guarantee it’s going to another resident,” said Arjuna Heim, director of housing policy at Hawaiʻi Appleseed, a social justice policy research and advocacy organization. State Sen. Stanley Chang, chair of the Senate Housing Committee, said he supports deed restrictions in theory but believes giving grants to a small number of people is an inefficient use of taxpayer money. He argued that low-interest loans would be better because as they’re paid off, that money can be used to assist others. Chang said lawmakers negotiated the terms of both bills but couldn’t get to yes before the session ended. “We got closer and closer to common ground,” he said. “We just ran out of time.” $200 Million To Lend To Developers Lawmakers appropriated $200 million to a program offering low-interest loans to developers to build affordable rental housing. That’s on top of $300 million provided three years ago. More than 2,000 below-market-value units built with the assistance of the 2022 allocation are expected to come on line this year. The fund has $186 million available for other projects, said Gordon Pang, a spokesperson with the state’s Housing Finance & Development Corporation. Under another bill that passed and that advocates lauded, the fund would also be used to encourage higher density development in neighborhoods around transit stations , like those for Honolulu’s Skyline rail system. Under the bill, counties that want the state to fund mixed-income rental housing in those neighborhoods would have to meet density standards established in the bill. It requires those projects to be approved by planning officials based on objective standards rather than by elected officials. The Legislature has not yet funded that program, said Rep. Luke Evslin, chair of the House Housing Committee, but he said he hopes it will next year. “Now we have the definition of transit-supportive density in statute, and we should over time be tying more and more funding sources to that definition,” Evslin said. Housing advocates acknowledged the impacts of the high-density development program won’t be felt for some time, but they said the bill lays the foundation to pursue such housing in urban areas. “It’s a very forward-thinking bill,” Arrasmith said. Speeding Up Project Approvals Lawmakers also passed bills that aim to break up bureaucratic logjams blamed for holding up projects. Several bills tackle delays at the state’s Historic Preservation Division, which reviews development proposals to determine their impact on historic and cultural properties. The division serves a critical purpose in a state with thousands of Native Hawaiian historic and sacred sites threatened by tourism and development. But housing advocates and developers say those reviews can slow construction because under state law, any structure older than 50 years is potentially historic. A study by the libertarian group Grassroot Institute of Hawaiʻi found that the Historic Preservation Division handled 2,300 projects between 2021 to 2024 and took an average of 94 days to review each one. One bill tightened the state’s definition of a historic structure , adding that it must be eligible for the state’s register of historic places. The bill also excluded certain projects from historic review, including some on existing residential property. Another bill allows the understaffed office to hire outside consultants to conduct reviews . “Obviously there are a lot of things here that need historical review,” said Ted Kefalas, director of strategic campaigns at the Grassroot Institute. But “not everything over 50 years is historical,” he said, and if the preservation division “needs a long time to look at these things, it’s OK to ask for help.” Self-Permitting Bill Weakened Another bill that aims to cut red tape would have allowed architects to sign off on building permits for certain projects themselves if a county doesn’t do so within 60 days. The bill cited a study that found it took Hawaiʻi three times as long to issue building permits than the nationwide average. Justin Tyndall, a University of Hawaiʻi economics professor who co-authored the 2022 study, said the bill had been watered down as it made its way through the Legislature. As introduced, the bill would have required counties to issue a building permit within 60 days if a project met certain conditions. By the time the bill was forwarded to the governor’s desk, it simply said that after 60 days, applicants can apply for an expedited permit that they could sign themselves if certain conditions were met — including that the building is under three stories tall and that the architect is adequately insured and absolves the county of liability. The bill “might result in shorter permitting times, which is probably helpful,” Tyndall said. But it’s “probably not a game changer.” Housing advocates across the ideological spectrum were more hopeful than Tyndall, but they said any impact of the bill would depend on whether counties embrace the process. “It’s a question of whether they play by the spirit of the law or slow-walk it,” Kefalas said. One Honolulu architect whose firm handles multi-family, affordable and workforce housing said he is concerned about the liability that might come with signing permits for the firm’s own projects. “The permitting process is so slow and onerous here, and time is money,” said Grant Chang, a principal at Lowney Architecture. “And something like this could really help. But I think we’re very cautious about it.” Last week, a similar self-certification program developed by the Honolulu City Council was launched, 18 months after it was created. The program’s start was delayed by the same staffing issues that had led to a backlog in building permits, officials said.

Kaua‘i County inauguration swears in many familiar faces, and a newcomer to the council Kauaʻi Now Scott Yunker December 2, 2024 Original Article As the calendar year comes to an end, the latest iteration of Kaua‘i County government formally began Monday with the inauguration of its county council and prosecuting attorney at the Kaua‘i War Memorial Convention Hall in Līhu‘e. Longtime Kaua‘i County councilmember Mel Rapozo was confirmed as chair, and KipuKai Kuali‘i was named as vice chair, in a public hearing prior to the 1 p.m. ceremony. Rapozo promised “to tackle critical issues facing our community with boldness and with resolve.” He identified wastewater and clean water initiatives, homelessness, housing and the county’s ongoing search for a new landfill site as top priorities. “We will work aggressively — and I mean aggressively — to address the needs and challenges that matter most to our residents,” Rapozo said. Rapozo and Kuali‘i will lead a council filled with familiar faces, including Addison Bulosan, Bernard Carvalho, Felicia Cowden and Arryl Kaneshiro, who won reelection to the council in November after terming out in 2022. Fern Holland, who defeated incumbent Ross Kagawa by 108 votes in the November general election, is the sole newcomer to the Kaua‘i County Council. She received applause and cheers on Monday when Rapozo, speaking from the convention hall stage, welcomed her aboard. Kaua‘i County’s prosecuting attorney, Rebecca Like, successfully maintained her position after winning an uncontested primary election in August. Like claimed her office must not only prosecute crimes, but work to prevent them. She vowed “to address the root causes of crime” through continued collaboration with local law enforcement, agencies and community organizations. “Justice is not a privilege for the few, but a right for all,” Like said. “It is the duty of those who hold the scales to ensure fairness, protect the innocent and hold the guilty accountable, regardless of their power or position.” Oaths of office were administered by Judge Randal Valenciano. Jade K. Fountain-Tanigawa and Lyndon M. Yoshioka, who was absent due to illness, were appointed county clerk and deputy county clerk. Pastor Matt Higa of the New Hope Kaua‘i church led the inauguration’s invocation and closing word of prayer, in which he called for unity and respect. “You and I, all of us, we will never see eye to eye on every political issue,” Higa said. “But we must see heart to heart.” Jan TenBruggencate, vice chair of the Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative and member of the Kaua‘i County Charter Review Commission, served as master of ceremonies. Members of the Waimea High School JROTC served as color guard. Kumu Troy Lazaro and Sabra Kauka were present as pū kāne (conch shell blower) and mea ‘oli (chanter). Nalani K. Ka‘auwai Brun performed the U.S. national anthem and the state anthem, “Hawai‘i Pono‘ī.” Officials in attendance Monday also included Kaua‘i Mayor Derek Kawakami, Maui County councilmembers Keani Rawlins-Fernandez and Gabe Johnson, State Senate President Ron Kouchi and state House representatives Dee Morikawa and Luke Evslin. Others present included former county and state government officials, Capt. Brett Stevenson of the Pacific Missile Range Facility, William Arakaki of the Hawai‘i State Board of Education and representatives of Gov. Josh Green, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz and U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda.

Senators urge PGA officials to find home for The Sentry in Hawaiʻi Maui Now September 21, 2025 Original Article The Hawaiʻi State Senate is urging PGA officials to find a home for The Sentry in Hawaiʻi after last week’s announcement that the tournament would not hold the event at the Plantation Course at Kapalua in 2026. The decision comes after 27 years on Maui and was attributed to “ongoing drought conditions, water conservation requirements, agronomic conditions and logistical challenges.” Senators note that high-profile events like The Sentry bring up to 3,000 visitors into West Maui who fuel regional economic development by using hotels and vendors. The cancellation is projected to cost Maui roughly $50 million in lost annual economic impact if not replaced with another course in Maui County, according to lawmakers. “This is a real setback for Maui. Our small businesses, workers, and nonprofits depend on the spending and charitable support tied to this tournament,” said Sen. Troy N. Hashimoto (D – 5, Wailuku, Kahului, Waihe‘e, Waikapu Mauka, Wai‘ehu), Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Housing. “Maui is still recovering from the devastating effects of the 2023 wildfires and losing The Sentry prolongs recovery for Maui residents and local small businesses.” Sens. Donovan Dela Cruz and Troy Hashimoto sent a letter urging PGA Tour and Sentry officials to identify an alternative venue for the tournament either on Maui or elsewhere in Hawaiʻi and are working to meet with officials to discuss future options. These events also support regenerative tourism by spreading benefits to local communities while protecting Hawai‘i’s natural and cultural resources. “With visitor arrivals declining, hotel occupancy down, and our film industry stagnating, we cannot afford to let sports tourism trend in the same direction,” said Sen. Donovan M. Dela Cruz (D – 17, Portion of Mililani, Mililani Mauka, portion of Waipi‘o Acres, Launani Valley, Wahiawā, Whitmore Village), Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. “High-spending visitors drawn to major sports events like The Sentry bring in revenue far beyond the event itself—hotels fill up, restaurants are busy, local vendors thrive.”

REMINDER: Community invited to wildfire preparedness and mitigation town hall Kauai Now October 15, 2025 Original Article Kauaʻi’s delegation of state lawmakers and other Hawaiʻi and local officials are hosting a Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation Town Hall from 5:30 to 7 p.m. today. The town hall will be conducted at Kauaʻi Philippine Cultural Center AND FEATURE: Hawaiʻi Senate President Ronald Kouchi. Hawaiʻi Speaker of the House Nadine Nakamura. Hawaiʻi House Majority Leader Dee Morikawa. Hawaiʻi House Committee on Housing Chairman Luke Evslin. Hawaiʻi Wildfire Management Organization Co-Executive Director Elizabeth Pickett. Hawaiʻi State Fire Marshal Dorothy Booth. Kauaʻi Emergency Management Agency Administrator Elton Ushio. Kauaʻi Fire Department Chief Michael Gibson. Garden Island residents are invited to join the discussion, during which OFFICIALS WILL TALK ABOUT: New state legislation and funding. Insights from the deadly 2023 wildfire in Lahaina, Maui, and the July 2024 Kaumakani wildfire that burned more than 1.5 square miles of land on Kauaʻi. Steps residents and landowners can take together to strengthen Kauaʻi’s resilience. The evening will feature a presentation followed by a question-and-answer session with the expert panel. Kauaʻi Philippine Cultural Center is located at 4475-F Nūhou St. in Līhuʻe. The town hall is in partnership with Hawaiʻi Wildfire Management Organization, Office of the State Fire Marshal, Kauaʻi Emergency Management Agency and Kauaʻi Fire Department.

Hawaiʻi Makes History As First State To Charge Tourists To Save Environment Civil Beat Marcel Honoré May 27, 2025 Original Article Hawaiʻi has officially become the first U.S. state to enact a so-called “green fee” — a charge added onto hotel room stays and other short-term visits to help protect the local environment and address the growing impacts of climate change. Gov. Josh Green signed the fee into law Tuesday after years of unsuccessfully urging the Legislature to pass it. Set to take effect next year, the fee could raise around $100 million annually, state officials estimate, a portion of which will go toward Hawaiʻi’s response to future disasters similar to the 2023 Lahaina wildfire. “Hawaiʻi’s doing what other states and other nations are going to have to do … there will be no way to deal with these crises without some forward-thinking mechanism,” Green said moments before signing the bill. “I hope that the world is watching,” he added, “because having something that is a balance between industry and environment is going to be the way to go forward to protect your people, to protect your states, to protect your economy.” Specifically, the revenue will come from a .75% increase on the tax Hawaiʻi visitors pay on their nightly hotel and short-term stays. The uptick raises the state’s transient accommodations tax, or TAT, to 11%. Visitors already pay an additional 3% TAT on their stays to the counties. That will translate to visitors paying about $3 extra, Green said, on a $400 room stay. Overall, the move aims to make Hawaiʻi’s reefs, beaches, trails, mountains and other unique yet vulnerable environments more resilient to heavier storms, more severe droughts and other challenges linked to the changing climate. It also seeks to avoid making locals pay the entire price of that damage. Green and other supporters say the fee on hotel stays, cruise ship cabins and short-term rentals is justified because of the link between the nearly 10 million visitors who fly to Hawaiʻi each year and the island state’s climate change and environmental issues. Jerry Gibson, Hawaiʻi Hotel Alliance president “We need the money to restore those beaches, to reconstruct them, to take care of invasive plants that are around our hotels…” The fee proposal has previously gotten plenty of pushback from some local short-term rental owners and the hotel industry, who worry visitors will choose to go elsewhere if fees on their Hawaiʻi stays climb too high. On Tuesday, however, key members of the local hotel industry attended the bill’s signing ceremony in a strong show of support. While they’re still worried about a drop in visits, they said the need to restore Hawaiʻi’s eroding beaches and remove invasive species has grown more urgent to keep those visitors coming. “We need the money to restore those beaches, to reconstruct them, to take care of invasive plants that are around our hotels and around residences,” Hawaiʻi Hotel Alliance President Jerry Gibson said. “So we went from one end of the spectrum, you know, almost to the other.” After extended talks with Green, Outrigger Hotels and Resorts President Jeff Wagoner said local industry leaders felt assured enough that the tax charged to their visitors would go to those projects. Now Comes The Heavy Lifting While state leaders and conservation groups have general ideas about where to deploy the green fee, exactly how the money will be spent — and which local groups and agencies it will benefit — hasn’t been set. Green said Tuesday a process to review and select projects should start in the fall ahead of the first fee collections in January. The Legislature will also have a say in where the money goes. That’s because in an unusual move the fee will be routed to the state’s general fund instead of a special fund . Green downplayed concerns Tuesday that the arrangement could lead some green fee dollars to be spent on other purposes. “We will actually sit around together and come up with a list of what to spend,” he said. State agency heads and the state’s new fire marshall will have a say, he added, in where the dollars go. The need for a dedicated source of climate and conservation revenue has received strong support from numerous local conservation organizations. A coalition of those groups, Care For ʻĀina Now, presented a study earlier this year showing an annual conservation funding gap of at least $560 million for Hawaiʻi. That gap could be as large as $1.69 billion based on the worst-case scenario, according to the study. Some of the annual green fee collections, Green has said, can further be leveraged to float bonds that might cover larger and more expensive projects in the hundreds of millions of dollars. A New Strategy After the fee proposal failed to pass last year, Green assembled a “Climate Advisory Team” in part to lobby lawmakers to get it approved. That team, called the “CAT” for short, interviewed more than 60 individuals from state and county agencies, nonprofits, businesses, and industries to better understand Hawaiʻi’s vulnerabilities to storms and other climate-related events, said Chris Benjamin, the group’s chair. “Our goal was not about slowing climate change — even though that’s a very important goal,” Benjamin said Tuesday. “Our goal was to try to acknowledge that Hawaiʻi is vulnerable and try to find ways to make us less vulnerable.” Prior ideas for collecting the green fee included charging visitors an arrival fee when they land at the airport or charging them a park-usage fee they could pay through their cell phones. However, lawmakers questioned how those proposals would work and be enforced, and opponents questioned whether they were even legal. Chris Benjamin, chair, state Climate Advisory Team “Our goal was not about slowing climate change — even though that’s a very important goal.” Other prior proposals included using interest generated from the state’s rainy-day fund or collecting a one-time fee for visitors to access scenic hikes, visit popular beaches, check into hotels, rent cars or participate in other tourism-related activities. This year, the Legislature found that increasing the TAT would be the simplest way to go — and that approach managed to make Hawaiʻi the first state in the nation to approve a green fee. It emulates similar green fees passed on the national level by Palau, New Zealand and other visitor-popular destinations. Civil Beat’s coverage of climate change is supported by The Healy Foundation, Marisla Fund of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation. CORRECTION: A previous version of this story included an incorrect figure for the new total TAT.

State leaders prepare for SNAP benefit loss KHON2 Nathan Shinagawa October 28, 2025 Original Article HONOLULU (KHON2) — With the federal government shutdown seemingly entering its second month, more than 160,000 Hawaii residents who depend on SNAP benefits will soon see that suspended. What to know about SNAP benefits during the government shutdown “If SNAP households have a balance from October or a prior month, they can still access that balance of SNAP benefits on their card and still use it,” said Scott Morishige of the Department of Human Services Benefit and Employment Services. “It’s just that the ongoing November SNAP benefit that would normally come on the third and fifth of the month will not be paid out, as long as the federal government shutdown continues.” “We are looking at a longer shutdown than expected,” said Senator Joy San Buenaventura. “Hopefully, we are aware that more people are going hungry.” As families approach the first month without the funds, state leaders are actively looking to help ease the suffering as much as possible. “The plan is to scrape together whatever available funds we have in state government to try and feed people,” said Senator Jarrett Keohokalole on what the plan was to help those who depend on SNAP. “The number of people who are not going to have access to their monthly food budget is about six times the size of our local food bank’s capacity, so it’s very disturbing.” “We’re providing $2 million to the Hawaii Food Bank to allow them to address increasing demand,” said Morishige. “In addition, we also have identified federal funds to start up the Hawaii Relief Program, which Governor Green will share more about tomorrow.” Hawaii is one of over two dozen states that are suing the USDA on its decision to withhold contingency money on SNAP benefits, arguing that the federal government has a legal obligation to maintain funding for food stamps. “The whole thing is very frustrating, when there’s $5 billion in contingency money at the federal level that the Trump administration is basically just holding hostage,” said Senator Keohokalole. “I am disappointed that the federal administration isn’t far more proactive,” said Senator Buenaventura. “Like our governor mediates between the Senate and the House in order to push budgetary items that is necessary for the public good, the president also has the power as a mediator to ensure that the shutdown ends by mediating any conflicts. And that does not look like it’s happening.” With no end in sight for the federal government shutdown, state senate members are encouraging that the information about some of these impacts needs to be shared with the public before it’s too late. Hawaiʻi among coalition of 26 states defending SNAP benefits in lawsuit “People consume information in lots of different ways, so it’s important for us to get the message out to as many people as possible in as many languages as possible on as many platforms as possible,” said Senator Keohokalole. “When you can’t eat, then there’s nothing else more important or critical. When your kids can’t eat, you’re in an emergency situation, you’re in a crisis, and so we should be treating it that way,” he added. Resources on Food Information SNAP Outreach Providers Different providers contracted with the DHS statewide to conduct outreach to households eligible for SNAP benefits, and providing assistance with referrals to community food resources. Aloha United Way 2-1-1 SNAP outreach provider which maintains a database to provide referrals to community food resources. Hawai’i Foodbank Service to O’ahu and Kauai’i O’ahu: 808-836-3600 Kauai’i: 808-482-2224 Hawaii Island Food Basket Food bank resource for Hawaii Island 808-933-6030 Maui Food Bank Food bank resource for Maui 808-243-9500 Additional information and updates can be found here on the DHS website.

Students honored for voter registrations The Garden Island Dennis Fujimoto August 14, 2025 Original Article LIHUE — Six high school students and a Department of Education Complex Area resource teacher were honored for their efforts that increased the list of registered voters by more than 300 voters. Indivisible Kauai, a group dedicated to fighting for democracy, joined Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami and Senate President Ron Kouchi in congratulating and recognizing the students from Island School, Kspaa, and Waimea high schools, as well as resource teacher Darlene Muraoka from the Complex Area office. “These students have shown that civic engagement starts early,” Kawakami said. “They’ve set an example for the whole community.” Waimea High School, with support from social studies teacher Lisa Davalos-Wade, registered 135 voters through the efforts of Bystin Nagamine, Stanley Kimmel, and Naia Lewis. Khloe Graves, who is on track to be a middle blocker for the Kapaa High School girls volleyball team, worked with Muraoka to register 106 voters, the most of the student registrars. Island School, with the support of High School and College Counselor Renate McMullen, saw the team effort of sisters Violet and Ruby Swartz register 77 students during a May 5 drive. Muraoka said voters can register when they are 16 years old. They cannot vote until they turn 18. Muraoka, a key organizer for the recent Back to School Bash, where 2,500 backpacks of school supplies were distributed, was assigned to the initiative to select student leaders, arrange training, and ensure campus rules were followed during the voter registration drives. Indivisible Kauai member Mary Lu Kelley said, “Building on this success, additional student-led registration drives are planned for the Fall 2025 and the Spring 2026. We hope to get participation from the Hawaii Technology Academy and Kauai High School, joining the current roster of Waimea, Kapaa, and Island School.” The voter registration initiative started in the summer of 2024 when Kauai voter registrar Bevin Parker-Evans and Kelley met with then-DOE Complex Area Superintendent Daniel Hamada to discuss increasing civic engagement in high schools. The Kauai Indivisible ladies proposed student-led voter registration events supported by training and materials from “The Civics Center,” a national nonprofit dedicated to empowering youth participation in democracy.