Newswatch
Kau prison protesters
By Gregg K. Kakesako
enliven hearing
Star-BulletinPAHALA, Hawaii -- About three dozen vocal protestors greeted Senate Judiciary Committee members today with banners protesting construction of a 2,300-bed medium-security prison in Kau. A homemade banner proclaiming "No Prison in Kau" was posted at the entrance to Kau High and Pahala Elementary School, where the committee held a special hearing on the issue.
Senate Judiciary Co-Chairmen Matt Matsunaga (D, Waialae-Palolo), and Avery Chumbley (D, East-Maui, North Kauai) and Rep. Whitney Anderson (R, Kailua-Waimanalo) saw it when they arrived at the school this morning.
Another banner read, "Prison Families Will Bring Hard Drugs, Gangs, Crime, AIDS, TB."
Legislators had moved the hearing from the Pahala Community Center to more spacious accommodations at the school, but even so more than 300 people overflowed the cafeteria.
Mel Deperalta, a 42-year-old cook from Naalehu, questioned who will get the promised jobs a prison is supposed to bring.
"No one here is qualified for these jobs. Whoever makes these decisions don't live here."
State Public Safety Director Keith Kaneshiro, who accompanied Gov. Ben Cayetano on a site inspection trip Thursday, said Cayetano did not indicate any preference after visiting three Kau areas.
"I'm here to listen to the concerns and get guidance from the community," Kaneshiro said before the hearing, adding that he is open to any suggestions.
Layoffs spark citywide insecurity
First she was told she would not have a job beyond June 30. Then she was told there's a chance she might get to keep her job after all.Sally Carvalho's day pretty much summed up the confusion faced by many of the city's 9,100 employees this weekend after Mayor Jeremy Harris announced on Friday that 185 people would be laid off.
An additional 150 jobs will be lost to attrition.
Harris made the announcement following weeks of speculation. The layoffs are projected to shave the city's $75 million budget shortfall by between $9 million and $10 million, the mayor said.
He assured Oahu residents that they will not feel major effects from the layoffs.
But for many city employees, even those who would seem to be safe, there is uncertainty because of "bumping rights."
A number of city employees probably are studying the issue in their collective-bargaining contracts this weekend. The city has never had such a large number of layoffs.
Bumping rights allow a person in a position that's been eliminated to be considered for a similar city job provided it has the same qualifications. All things being equal, a person with more years of service would get the nod over someone who's spent less time with the city.
City implementing new property tax plan
Individual homeowners will need to figure out for themselves whether they will be paying more or less property tax under Mayor Jeremy Harris' new tax plan.Harris, during a news conference Friday, said the reworking will be revenue neutral to the city.
Both home and apartment owners will be paying, as categories, 0.5 percent less in property taxes despite an increase in rates. That's because of declining valuations in both classifications.
But that doesn't mean homeowners necessarily will be paying the same amount in the new fiscal year.
Budget Director Malcolm Tom said he does not know if the average Oahu homeowner will wind up paying more or less under the plan.
"I can't say whether more will have increases or decreases," Tom said.
"It depends on the individual assessment of their home."
Both Tom and Harris said individual property owners should calculate the figures for themselves based on assessments they received in December.
Revenue council warns leaders to act
It's unlikely that the state Council on Revenues will lower its forecast for state revenue growth as many legislators and isle business leaders had feared.But members of the panel, including its chairman, said the state's elected leaders must take decisive action to boost Hawaii's slumping economy.
Summarizing his colleagues' assessment, council Chairman Michael Sklarz told legislators at a workshop session said they seem to agree that the state's economy is now only "marginally worse."
Sklarz gave this harsh judgment on how lawmakers have tended to the state's fiscal health: "For the last five years, we can all agree that our leaders and the Legislature clearly ducked this whole issue of a deteriorating economy. They clearly wanted to pretend it wasn't there.
"I think that just the fact that in the past year there has been a serious dialogue about acknowledging our problems, defining our problems and hopefully laying out some directions to solve our problems is huge."
Previously, the strategy of legislators was avoidance and hope that there would be a cyclical rebound, Sklarz said.
It was "ridiculous" that lawmakers spent so much energy debating same-sex marriage last year when many taxpayers were coping with bankruptcies and foreclosures, he added.
Hawaii same-sex couples applaud Alaska ruling
An Alaska judge has advanced the constitutional case for same-sex marriage with a decision that could bump Hawaii as the first state in line to legalize such unions.Superior Court Judge Peter A. Michalski yesterday ruled that "the personal choice of a life partner is fundamental and that such a choice may include persons of the same sex."
Like Hawaii judges, Michalski gave the state a chance to show a compelling reason why it should continue to ban such unions.
"I couldn't be more pleased," said Dan Foley, attorney for three same-sex couples who sued the state in 1991 for the right to marry.
He said he doubted Alaska could show a compelling reason to ban same-sex marriages, and added that Alaska could be the first state to legalize them unless the Hawaii Supreme Court rules early on an appeal.
Hawaii justices ruled in 1993 that banning same-sex marriages violates the state Constitution's equal protection clause covering gender discrimination. But they also threw the case back to the state to prove a compelling reason to ban them.
The state failed in a 1996 trial but appealed the decision last year to the high court. It is unknown if the ruling will precede a November vote on a proposed constitutional amendment, which asks if the state Legislature should define marriage.
