The Sunshine Blog: How Much Is A Governor Worth? A Mayor? A Judge? Civil Beat The Sunshine Blog February 4, 2025 Original Article Political sticker shock: Gov. Josh Green is squirming a bit at the much-publicized proposal floated by the state salary commission a couple weeks ago that would boost his salary by more than 61% over the next six years. He’d be OK with a 35% to 40% pay hike over his current $189,480 annual wage, his chief of staff, Brooke Wilson, told the commission last week. “Just to cut straight to it — and you know at the end of the day you guys are going to decide, OK? — but his feedback was that he felt more comfortable with a 35% to maximum 40% increase over six years for he and the lieutenant governor,” Wilson said. Commissioners noted Green’s current salary is less than what the Honolulu mayor makes, which they suggested is inappropriate given Green’s expansive statewide responsibilities. Mayor Rick Blangiardi got a raise last year that boosted his pay to $217,392. But Wilson told the salary commission that Green doesn’t think he needs to be paid more than the mayor. After all, he has a car, a driver and housing at Washington Place, perks the mayor doesn’t have. Green, according to Wilson, thinks judges should get a “great increase” in their salaries because competition from the private sector is making it more difficult to attract candidates for judicial appointments. Still, the commission seems intent on a pretty hefty ramping up of the pay scales for the governor and other state officials — including legislators — despite plenty of public outrage that has followed since The Blog and others reported that whopping increases were on the table. On Monday commissioners mapped out a tentative schedule for the governor that includes a 32% raise effective July 1, followed by 4% raises for each of the following five years. That still works out to a total of 52%, or nearly 61% over the six years when compounding of the annual raises is taken into account. Bottom line: The governor’s pay would be $304,301 in 2031. That’s actually a year after Green would be termed out of office if he’s reelected in 2026. The commission is charged with recommending pay increases for the next six years for the governor, the lieutenant governor, state department heads and deputies, Hawai’i judges, and the Legislature. Commission members plan to vote on the package of pay raises at their next meeting on Monday. The raises will automatically take effect unless the state House and Senate both vote to reject them in an all-or-nothing deal. The sun is shining brightly so far: Last week was the Legislature’s first full week of committee hearings and The Blog could hardly keep up with all the sunshine bills that went whizzing through, thanks to the snappy pace set by The Sunshine Boys. That’s the title our cartoonist Will Caron recently gave to Judiciary chairs Sen. Karl Rhoads and Rep. David Tarnas. The Blog would add Senate Government Operations chair Angus McKelvey to that crew; he’s pulled quite a few accountability bills to his hearing calendar, too. It’s early yet and of course conference committee is where everything will die, but many of the key reform measures are getting some actual love from lawmakers: more restrictions on contractor and grantee political donations, more money for partial public financing of campaigns, more requirements for lobbyists’ disclosure. Bill packages requested by the state Ethics Commission, Elections Commission and Campaign Spending Commission — including prohibiting contributions to state elected officials while they’re in session and funding for more investigators — are being heard and largely approved, at least by one chamber or the other. Even a couple of constitutional amendments that would ultimately need to go to the ballot for approval by voters are getting a legislative thumb’s up (so far): increasing the mandatory retirement age for judges to 75, fixing an issue with blank votes and overvotes in Hawaiʻi’s elections, and an end run around Citizens United by declaring that in Hawaiʻi free speech shouldn’t necessarily mean huge campaign contributions. Coming up this week, lawmakers are scheduled to take up more bills related to the public financing of campaigns and a serious effort by Rep. Tarnas to curb one aspect of pay-to-play politics by better tracking contractors and grantees who are getting state funding and restricting the money they have been funneling to elected officials. (That’s at 2 p.m. Wednesday in House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.) Lawmakers also seem interested in changing the law regarding asset forfeiture to make sure authorities only seize property in criminal cases where someone has been actually convicted, and convicted of a felony. Bills making it clear that the public has the right to record law enforcement officers also are moving forward. The House Republican caucus’s Stand Your Ground proposal has yet to be scheduled for a hearing. Bipartisan proposals to ban or restrict cell phone use in schools seem to be going nowhere. The same for bills that would require more voter centers, especially on Oʻahu, to help alleviate long lines for voters who choose to vote in person on Election Day. The Blog could go on and on about some of the other interesting proposals we’re tracking here. But the Legislature’s website is pretty easy to navigate for bills and hearings and it also has easy links to live video streams or recorded hearings. We’ll do our best to keep you updated on the issues we’re following. There’s about a month to go til crossover, when bills must be approved in at least one chamber and they cross over to the other one. Session stretch: A couple of the bills getting some attention this year entertain the notion of putting lawmakers to work year-round — not necessarily every day but spreading the legislative session throughout the year to give policymakers more time to do their jobs in an increasingly complex world. Count Senate Judiciary chair Karl Rhoads as a loyal skeptic on this one. He’s giving some air to Senate President Ron Kouchi’s version of a proposal by House Speaker Nadine Nakamura to create a task force to study how the session could be extended over 12 months (now it’s 60 session days spread over about four months). Senate Bill 1514 gets a hearing Friday at 9:25 a.m. before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Nakamura’s House Bill 1425 is set to go Wednesday at 2 p.m. before the House Legislative Management Committee. “It’s not clear to me that there’s any stomach for extending the session either in the building or amongst voters,” Rhoads told The Blog on Monday. Rhoads made quick work of another proposal for a 12-month Legislature on Friday when he unilaterally deferred Senate Bill 733, which sought to put the question directly to the voters via a constitutional amendment. His Judiciary Committee colleague, Sen. Stanley Chang, was the lead sponsor on that one, along with a few other senators. Chang has frequently pushed for an extended legislative session, and has called the current setup “four months of chaos.” Of course being in charge comes with some privileges. Referring to the Nakamura/Kouchi push for a task force to study the issue, Rhoads said, “since it’s a leadership bill, I think that’s the one that will move if any do.” Gordon Ito out at DCCA: Rumors have been swirling for some time that former House Speaker Scott Saiki is favored by Gov. Josh Green to be Hawaiʻi’s insurance commissioner. In fact, Saiki now has a job at the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Insurance Division, but not the top spot. Yet. On Monday, the agency announced that Gordon Ito is retiring from the insurance division after 31 years including 10 total as commissioner. Jerry Bump, who joined the division in 2008, has been named acting director. Standing up to Trump and Musk: Meanwhile, 5,000 miles away across the continent — and the ocean — Hawaiʻi’s senior senator vowed to place a “blanket hold” on all of Trump’s nominees to the U.S. State Department until the attempt to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development is reversed. Just last week Sen. Brian Schatz was named ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs. And today … there he was on the steps of the agency with a handful of other Democratic senators and reps promising to put up a fight to keep the Trump administration from dismantling a vital lifeline from the U.S. to other countries. “Dismantling USAID is illegal and makes us less safe,” Schatz said. “USAID was created by federal law and is funded by Congress. Donald Trump and Elon Musk can’t just wish it away with a stroke of a pen — they need to pass a law.” Schatz called the Trump-Musk move “brazenly authoritarian” and “a self-inflicted chaos of epic proportions that will have dangerous consequences all around the world.” Over the weekend, staffers from the new Department of Government Efficiency took possession of classified information held by the agency and then refused to allow employees in the building on Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported. A single senator can hold up nominations under the Senate rules.

'Akamai Arrival' takes off: Ag declaration form goes digital KHON2 Jill Kuramoto February 24, 2025 Original Article HONOLULU (KHON2) — Traveling to Hawaiʻi is about to get a high-tech upgrade. A new pilot program aims to ditch the pen and paper currently used to declare plants and animals. For years, travelers to Hawaiʻi have been required to fill out a paper declaration form, listing any live plants or animals they’re bringing to the state, with the goal of protecting the islands’ delicate ecosystem. “These creatures, which are very scary, especially this one, should not be coming into Hawaiʻi,” said Gov. Josh Green while pointing to a tarantula in a tank next to him. Now the paper ag declaration form is getting an overhaul, making fumbling for a pen at 35,000 feet no more. “We all know the best time to let a passenger know what not to bring into the state is before they get on the plane. Not when they’re scurrying through their baggage to look for a pencil and then, oops, I got a ferret. Oops, I brought in live plants,” said Sen. Glenn Wakai, chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs. Beginning March 1, select flights on most domestic airlines that fly to Hawaiʻi will participate in the three month long pilot program. “Akamai Arrival” has the same questions as the paper form and will be accessible on both laptops and smartphones. Travelers will fill out the form electronically before landing. State Department of Agriculture inspectors will review the manifest compared to the number of completed declaration forms and similar to the paper form, the data will be deleted. “It’s going to be helpful for our state, but most importantly, it’s our biosecurity weapon,” Green said. Some passengers, like Cheryl Engle from Michigan, welcome the change. “It was a little bit of a pain, we didn’t have a pen on us. We didn’t have anything to write on,” Engle said. The state says it’s hoping the digital form will also help increase compliance, which currently is around a 60% completion rate. As for the effectiveness of the declaration form in stopping invasive species, the Department of Agriculture says about 75% of all flights coming in have something to declare, but it’s not easy to catch everything sneaking into the islands. “We’re getting those types of animals maybe one or two a year. I would say regulated goods, things that require permits or treatments beforehand, you’re probably getting one per day,” said Jonathan Ho, HDOA Branch Manager. Wakai says he hopes to use the approximately $800,000 saved from going paperless to buy ag sniffing dogs to do more to keep invasive species out of the islands. “Zero. Not one person in 79 years has ever been prosecuted. What does that tell you? It tells you that the ag form is really not keeping bad things out of our community,” Wakai said. For now, the state says they eventually plan to add more languages to the form and the valuable tourism survey will be included. For more information, visit the Akamai Arrival website .

Senate bill would prohibit sales of bundled foreclosed homes at public sale Maui Now Brian Perry March 5, 2025 Original Article A bill relating to the public sale of foreclosed homes in the wake of natural disasters or economic crises passed third reading 25-0 in the Senate and crossed over to the state House of Representatives on Tuesday. A companion bill, House Bill 467 House Draft 1 , was referred to the House Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs Committee, chaired by Rep. David Tarnas of Hawaiʻi Island, but it has not moved on from there. Senate Bill 332 Senate Draft 1 would prohibit sellers of foreclosed homes from bundling properties at a public sale. Instead, each foreclosed home would be sold separately. The legislation specifies that the sale of a foreclosed property is not final until either 15 days after the public sale; or 45 days if an eligible bidder submits a subsequent bill or written notice of intent to submit a subsequent bid. “Natural disasters and other economic crises can often lead homeowners to default on their mortgage payments, resulting in a wave of foreclosures,” the bill’s legislative finding says. “Previous foreclosure crises have resulted in the replacement of owner-occupied homes with investor-owned rentals, prolonged vacancies and unmaintained residential properties. As climate-related crises become more intense and frequent, and as housing cost burdens increase for low- to moderate-income homeowners, the Legislature believes it is necessary to ensure that foreclosed homes are not lost to second homebuyers or residential investors.” A report submitted by Judiciary Committee Chairman Karl Rhoads says that “some investors exploit foreclosure crises to purchase foreclosed properties at the expense of local families. Accordingly, this measure prohibits the bulk sale of foreclosed properties, thereby providing residents with a better chance to submit more competitive offers to purchase a foreclosed property.” Lahaina Strong submitted public testimony in favor of the bill. The bill “addresses the urgent need to protect local residents from the devastating impacts of a looming foreclosure crisis on Maui,” Lahaina Strong wrote. “With the foreclosure moratorium ending, our community is facing another wave of grief as the economic impacts of the August 8th wildfire continue to unfold. Without intervention, disaster capitalism threatens to exploit this crisis, allowing outside investors to purchase foreclosed properties and profit at the expense of local families.” “By requiring individual property auctions, local residents have a fairer chance to submit competitive offers,” the organization said. “Bundled auctions only benefit investors, shutting out families who want to rebuild and remain in their community.” “When paired with the work of community land trusts, this measure can help create a pool of permanently affordable housing for local residents and generational families in Lahaina,” Lahaina Strong said. On Feb. 21, the Maui County Council approved providing up to $5 million to the Lahaina Community Land Trust . The money would come from the County’s Managed Retreat Revolving Fund to property acquisition by the trust, giving Lahaina landowners who need to sell an option to keep wildfire-impacted lands in resident ownership and resist offers from outside investors. Makana Hicks-Goo, organizer of LIMBY (Locals In My Backyard) Hawaiʻi, also supported the bill, saying it would provide owner-occupants and local nonprofits a sort of “right of refusal,” and substantially increase the prospects for local homeownership at lower prices. Members of the LIMBY group, a hui of concerned kamaʻāina and kānaka working to help develop solutions to our state’s housing crisis, “are concerned that NIMBYism has driven up costs and driven our friends and families out by opposing all development. We are equally concerned that the apparent answer to this, YIMBYism, insists that anything resembling true affordability is impossible so instead they promote building housing that gets bought by overseas investors. We know we won’t solve our housing woes without building more, but we won’t solve them by simply building more.” “The true solution is to create a housing market for locals: one that houses locals first, is tied to local wages, and is managed in trust,” the group said. “The future for kamaʻāina and kānaka will be LIMBY or Las Vegas.” Lahaina native and certified mortgage planning specialist Tera Paleka said she lost her mortgage brokerage business in the Lahaina wildfire and supports the bill as being “crucial in protecting local families from displacement as Maui faces an impending foreclosure crisis.” “Many (Maui residents) are struggling to pay rent while worrying about their future when the foreclosure moratorium lifts,” Paleka said. “Families are being separated because landlords cannot accommodate everyone in smaller condos and homes. This additional emotional and physical stress often leads to substance abuse, domestic violence, and, in some heartbreaking cases, suicide. Hawaiʻi has been grappling with high suicide rates, and the recent events have only exacerbated this crisis.” Even before the 2023 wildfires, local families were struggling to stay afloat, she said. Now, with the foreclosure moratorium ending, wildfire survivors are at risk of losing properties that have been in their families for generations. “The disaster has compounded their grief, financial ruin and collective trauma,” Paleka said. “As someone known as the ‘Local Lender,’ who has financed many of the fire victims’ homes, I am deeply immersed in their struggles. I receive numerous calls, emails and texts filled with questions, tears and frustration from families uncertain about their future. This bill is one of the most critical measures I implore you to enact promptly.” “Without intervention, disaster capitalism will exploit this crisis, pushing local families out while outside investors profit,” she said. The bill was introduced by Senate Housing Committee Chair Stanley Chang, who represents East Honolulu. Central Maui Sen. Troy Hashimoto is vice chair of that committee.

Avian flu prompts state to request pause on interisland transportation of birds Hawaiʻi Public Radio HPR News Staff December 16, 2024 Original Article In response to the detection of the avian flu virus in Hawaiʻi, state agencies are asking the public to hold off on moving poultry and other bird species between islands for the next three months to prevent the spread. The state Department of Agriculture made the request in a news release on Friday. It said the ask for a voluntary pause was a suggestion from Moloka‘i Sen. Lynn DeCoite, who is also a farmer. The virus was first detected in Hawaiʻi last month and had not been detected in the islands prior. It is highly pathogenic and can spread between birds through contact or if birds come into contact with contaminated material. The public can report animal illnesses to the agriculture department by calling 808-483-7100. Though human cases are rare, residents can call the state Department of Health at 808-586-4586 if they develop symptoms after being exposed to sick birds.