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document.write('<li class="rss-item"><a class="rss-item" href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/01/tom-yamachika-why-is-oha-resisting-the-state-auditor/" target="_self">Tom Yamachika: Why Is OHA Resisting The State Auditor?</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss-date">Sun, 26 Jan 2020 10:01:16 +0000</span><br />');
document.write('On Jan. 8, Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Brandon Kaleiana Lee wrote an op-ed in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser entitled “OHA has right to attorney-client privilege.” In that article, Lee was reacting to State Auditor Les Kondo’s insistence that the OHA trustees turn over unredacted executive session minutes that apparently contain legal advice given by their hired counsel. He contended that “it is clear that such communications are clearly protected as part of the OHA board’s attorney-client privilege as a matter of longstanding U.S. Supreme Court constitutional law,” and turned the matter into an indigenous peoples issue: “Why is it when Native Hawaiians seek the same rights and protections to which everyone else is entitled, they are called protesters, are deemed uncooperative, or are accused of hiding something?” This deserves an answer. The answer starts with Hawaii Revised Statutes section 23-5(a): “The auditor may examine and inspect all accounts, books, records, files, papers, and documents and all financial affairs of every department, office, agency, and political subdivision…” The entrance to OHA’s offices on Nimitz Highway. Trustees cite attorney-client privilege in refusing to release documents to the state auditor.Cory Lum/Civil Beat Section 23-1 defines “departments, offices, and agencies” to mean “all executive departments, boards, commissions, bureaus, offices, agencies, and all independent commissions and other establishments of the state government (excepting the legislature) and all quasi-public institutions and all courts which are supported in whole or in part by, or which handle state or public funds.” So, if you are a department, office, or agency, and you handle public funds, then the auditor gets to see all, and I repeat “all,” accounts, books, records, files, papers, and documents. In other words, if you are handling public money then it’s the auditor’s prerogative to see what is going on with it. Flawed Reasoning The attorney-client privilege protects confidential communications between an attorney and a client and protects against disclosure of those communications to a third party. It doesn’t prohibit disclosure to someone who is not a third party. Suppose I was the store manager of the Paia branch of Tomco, a national retail store chain, and I consulted with an attorney on store business, receiving a memo from her as a result. If Tomco’s San Diego-based regional finance manager wanted to see the memo, he has the right to see it regardless of my wishes, and the attorney-client privilege would not stand in the way. It would be a different story, however, if I hired the attorney myself and did not pay her with Tomco money. The flaw with Trustee Lee’s reasoning is that he has a myopic perception of the “client.” We the people, speaking through the Hawaii Constitution, created OHA (article XII, section 5), the Office of the Auditor (article VII, section 10), and the rest of state government. No government official, not even an elected one like Trustee Lee, has the authority to create a fiefdom unaccountable to the rest of government, or to the people of Hawaii who put that government in place. This is not an indigenous peoples issue. The same result, by the way, applies when public moneys and assets are dropped into a limited liability company owned by the agency. The limited liability company thus created is still a part of government and, as we found out from the courts recently, is subject to our Uniform Information Practices Act and other open records laws. This is not an indigenous peoples issue. The same result would apply to any other agency. Our state constitution says that the auditor will “conduct post-audits of the transactions, accounts, programs and performance of all departments, offices and agencies of the State.” That’s what the auditor is doing. There are consequences for getting in the auditor’s way, and, barring a last-minute attitude adjustment, we will soon find out what they are. The post Tom Yamachika: Why Is OHA Resisting The State Auditor? appeared first on Honolulu Civil Beat.');
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document.write('<li class="rss-item"><a class="rss-item" href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/01/hawaii-medicaid-patients-may-have-fewer-insurance-choices/" target="_self">Hawaii Medicaid Patients May Have Fewer Insurance Choices</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss-date">Sat, 25 Jan 2020 03:54:04 +0000</span><br />');
document.write('In an unprecedented move, the Hawaii Department of Human Services is downsizing the number of Medicaid insurance company contracts it will offer. The consolidation move is intended to relieve the burden of billing processes for many insurance plans, according to the department. But it will also limit the number of insurance plan choices Medicaid patients will have, especially on neighbor islands. Documents from the State Procurement Office show DHS plans to enter negotiations with four insurance companies for contracts totaling $17 billion that span from this year to 2029. The Hawaii Medical Service Association and United HealthCare Insurance Company appear to be the big winners, having received the largest contracts from DHS to continue business statewide. Contracts have yet to be finalized and depend on negotiations. Two other providers were selected to offer Medicaid insurance plans for Oahu residents only: AlohaCare and Ohana Health Plan, also known as WellCare Health Insurance of Arizona. The Hawaii Med-QUEST division will work with fewer insurance plans to provide coverage starting in July. Med-QUEST Administrator Judy Mohr Peterson appeared at a recent legislative briefing.Cory Lum/Civil Beat Medicaid is a federal and state health insurance program that assists with health care costs for people with limited incomes and resources. Med-QUEST is the division that oversees the program in Hawaii. DHS officials declined to be interviewed. They offered a press release that expressed some of the rationale behind the decision. “We understand that this represents a change in how Med-QUEST has operated in recent years and we do not take it lightly,” the release states. “We have spent the last three years speaking to people on each island, and one thing we heard again and again was that having a lot of health plans was confusing to our beneficiaries and burdensome to doctors and other providers.” AlohaCare, a Hawaii-based nonprofit health insurance company that specializes in Medicaid plans for patients on all islands, will now be restricted to working solely with Oahu patients. AlohaCare has contracted with Med-QUEST since 1994. Kaiser Permanente used to contract with Med-QUEST but it was disqualified from bidding for a contract this round because the state’s request for proposals required that the insurer have Medicaid patients statewide. Kaiser has commercial and Medicare patients on all islands, but Medicaid patients only on Maui and Oahu. That’s why it entered an affiliation with AlohaCare, Kaiser Spokeswoman Laura Lott said Friday. Lott said Kaiser Permanente was disappointed that AlohaCare was not selected for an all-island contract. “AlohaCare was the submitter of the bid and we would be subcontracted for Kaiser Permanente members,” Lott said. “AlohaCare is nonprofit and mission driven just like us and really dedicated to serving the Medicaid population. “We are currently working with AlohaCare and other community stakeholders to determine how all Kaiser Permanente QUEST members on Maui can continue to receive care from Kaiser Permanente,” she added. AlohaCare also released a statement late Friday, saying that it plans to continue to work with Kaiser to serve all of its members. “We are surprised and concerned that AlohaCare was not selected for an all-island contract,” AlohaCare officials said. “An important priority for both AlohaCare and Kaiser Permanente is to work with Med-QUEST to ensure there is no disruption in access to care for Kaiser Permanente’s members and our AlohaCare members on the neighbor islands.” Ohana Health Plan will also have to restrict its insurance coverage to Oahu residents only. DHS officials maintained that there would be no interruption to patient coverage and that they have a transition plan for individuals who are currently covered by Medicaid insurers such as Kaiser or AlohaCare. The department did not specify what the transition would look like. The department has yet to provide details on its transition plan. “Med-QUEST has created a timeline to accommodate the member transition process,” the department said. “Additionally, every member affected by the change will have an opportunity in the future to enroll in a participating plan available on their island of residence. Over the coming months, Med-QUEST will communicate to all members confirming when the transition time will begin.” The post Hawaii Medicaid Patients May Have Fewer Insurance Choices appeared first on Honolulu Civil Beat.');
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document.write('<li class="rss-item"><a class="rss-item" href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/01/judge-aclu-title-ix-suit-cannot-proceed-as-class-action/" target="_self">Judge: ACLU Title IX Suit Cannot Proceed As Class Action</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss-date">Sat, 25 Jan 2020 03:35:08 +0000</span><br />');
document.write('A lawsuit seeking to represent all current and potential future female athletes at Hawaii’s largest high school in sex discrimination claims against the state Department of Education cannot move forward as a class action case, a federal judge recently ruled. The Dec. 31 ruling from U.S. District Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi is the first significant development to come out of the Title IX suit since it was filed a little over a year ago. It marks a setback for the ACLU of Hawaii, which filed the case on behalf of the students. The civil rights organization on Jan. 14 petitioned the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for permission to appeal. “The decision is a setback in the sense we cannot currently proceed as a class action, but our current plaintiffs can continue with their individual claims,” said ACLU of Hawaii legal director Mateo Caballero. “We have every expectation that the court erred in its ruling, and that will be addressed on appeal.” Four Campbell High female students filed the suit, but the case sought to represent a class of potentially hundreds of present and future girls interested in participating in the school’s athletic programs.Cory Lum/Civil Beat       The plaintiffs are four female students at Campbell High School who participate in varsity water polo, swimming and soccer. Their December 2018 Title IX lawsuit against the DOE and Oahu Interscholastic Association alleged discrimination on the basis of sex over lack of equal access as student male athletes to locker rooms, practice and competitive facilities, equipment and supplies, coaching resources, travel opportunities and publicity and promotion, among other things. The suit also alleged retaliation by Campbell school administrators after they allegedly threatened to cancel the girls’ water polo program after players complained about the school’s failure to secure a practice pool. The plaintiffs sought to represent a class of all current and future female students at Campbell — a grade 9-12 school whose total female student count in 2017-18 was 1,506 among a total 3,123 — who were or might be deterred from participating in school athletics due to these barriers. In the 2018-19 school year, there were 366 female student athletes at the Ewa school, according to the ACLU. The suit seeks an injunction against the DOE and OIA for a halt to the discriminatory actions and a court order to remedy the Title IX violations. Having this case proceed as a class action would ensure the appropriate approach toward girls and boys athletic programs to address how they’re experiencing access, said Kim Turner, senior staff attorney at Legal Aid At Work, which is co-representing the plaintiffs with the ACLU. “Title IX really requires a program-wide analysis of girls and boys athletics because you can’t see inequity unless you’re comparing one to the other,” she said. “You can’t look at one single girls sport in a vacuum.” In her 26-page ruling, Kobayashi said the plaintiffs failed to satisfy one of four criteria needed to establish class certification — that a class size is so numerous, joining individual members to the suit would be impractical. “The proposed class members are limited to the female student population from a single high school,” Kobayashi wrote. “The proposed class members are geographically tied to one area of Hawaii, and identifiable through school and athletic records.” The judge also disagreed that the plaintiffs’ claim of retaliation was typical of claims of the proposed class, reasoning it was only unique to the girls’ water polo players’ allegation. A hearing on the motion was held in September. At the end of that hearing, Kobayashi requested the ACLU provide additional information on how it calculated the number of female athletes at Campbell who would fall within the class definition. In its petition to appeal, the ACLU argues the district judge applied “a more onerous burden than required by controlling precedent” in her class certification finding and also didn’t consider other important related or unique factors to the case. The brief also argued the judge relied on “dated and out-of-circuit district court cases in inapposite contexts” in reaching her decision. It also notes that courts generally find that proposed class sizes of 40 or more individuals make joining more parties to a lawsuit impractical and that courts routinely certify similarly-sized Title IX high school athletics cases. “A class action would save significant judicial resources by ensuring all Title IX claims from the same school are adjudicated in an efficient and consistent manner,” the petition states. Nanea Kalani, a DOE spokeswoman, said since the case was still in litigation, the DOE could not comment on the ruling. The ACLU’s suit was filed months after the organization sent a demand letter to the DOE after publication of a Civil Beat article in February 2018 exposing the lack of girls’ athletic locker rooms at Campbell High that caused softball players and track and fielders to change into uniform by the school bleachers or run to a Burger King off school grounds to use the restrooms, while male athletes didn’t face the same barriers. The developments triggered a broader Title IX compliance effort within the state DOE, including training for athletic directors and coaches, and a proposed slate of school construction projects calling for girls’ athletic locker rooms, field improvements and renovations at schools across the state. The DOE, which is represented by the state Attorney General’s Office, has two weeks to file a response to the ACLU’s bid to appeal to the 9th Circuit. A decision by that court on whether to grant the petition to appeal could take several months. A ruling on the appeal could take up to a year. Read the district court ruling here: The post Judge: ACLU Title IX Suit Cannot Proceed As Class Action appeared first on Honolulu Civil Beat.');
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document.write('<li class="rss-item"><a class="rss-item" href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/01/hart-struggles-to-keep-critical-utility-work-on-schedule/" target="_self">HART Struggles To Keep Critical Utility Work On Schedule</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss-date">Fri, 24 Jan 2020 10:01:56 +0000</span><br />');
document.write('Rail’s remaining utility relocation work through Honolulu’s urban core is now seven months behind schedule, according to official estimates. If it doesn’t speed up, the lag could have a ripple effect that impacts future rail line construction through Kalihi, downtown and Kakaako — potentially causing more delays and driving costs even higher, project officials worry. Some 7% of the complex effort to get the maze of sewer, telephone and voltage lines buried underground and hanging overhead out of rail’s path is done. Project leaders had expected 30% to be finished by now. “We’re not moving quick enough,” Frank Kosich, rail’s director for engineering and construction, told Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board members Thursday at their oversight committee hearing. One of the key factors that’s slowing progress, Kosich and other project leaders said, is that crews remain limited mostly to the night shift along the busy, crowded Dillingham Boulevard and surrounding areas. Dillingham Boulevard remains a daunting challenge for rail officials as they look to relocate utilities ahead of heavy construction there.Cory Lum/Civil Beat HART is eager to get that utility work, which is valued at up to $400 million, going around the clock in two, 10-hour shifts. The sooner that crews with the local firm Nan Inc. can start working during the day, the more likely the agency says it is to have the Dillingham corridor between Middle and Mokauea streets — a stretch that HART has dubbed “1A” — ready by its target date of October 2021 for major rail construction. However, reducing Dillingham to just two lanes is not something that the city’s elected and transportation leaders take lightly. Wes Frysztacki, the city’s transportation services director, said Thursday it will likely have the most severe traffic impacts in Honolulu’s history. Thus, city transportation officials are moving carefully before approving their latest so-called “transportation management plan” to help reduce the traffic problems as best they can as rail work plows along Dillingham. HART can’t secure the permits it needs to work during the day until that plan is done, project officials say. The local agency had a consultant prepare an earlier version of that plan with fewer traffic impacts back in 2014, before the transit project slipped years off its original schedule. Now, it’s hired the Walnut Creek, Calif.-based consultant Fehr & Peers to help develop a new, more intense version, in which Dillingham would be trimmed to two lanes for a little over two years while heavy construction dominates the area. “Yes, it’s been frustrating — but it’s also essential we do this right,” HART Executive Director Andrew Robbins told board members Thursday. Secret Bidders Watching Closely As many as three unidentified groups are vying for the rail project’s last major construction contract, as well as a deal to operate the system during its first 30 years, under a public-private partnership with HART and the city. They’re following the utility relocation progress closely and meeting with HART officials as they continue to assemble their bid prices, Robbins said. HART has also given the bidders target dates on when they can expect to have access to certain stretches of the rail path, and they’re using that to help calculate their bid prices, project officials said. Frysztacki said that the agency he leads, the Department of Transportation Services, wants to ensure that rail’s latest traffic management plan will follow requirements laid out in the project’s environmental impact statement. Specifically, DTS wants to make sure the Honolulu Police Department has enough special-duty personnel to help direct traffic and keep the area safe. It also wants to maintain the existing bus service through Kalihi. HART Executive Director Andrew Robbins on rail’s remaining utility relocation: “It’s been frustrating, but it’s also essential that we do this right.”Cory Lum/Civil Beat “I don’t want to discourage (transit users) while we’re building them something that’s going to serve them extraordinarily well,” Frysztacki said. Further, DTS wants to make sure that the public and residents have access to the area’s businesses, schools, churches and other facilities before it signs off on the plan, he added. Traffic plans aren’t the only outstanding issues for the utility relocations — Kosich and other officials also flagged 15 parcels that have yet to be acquired. Kosich also noted incomplete design work for the relocations. “I need them to do better,” he said of the global firm AECOM, which is handling rail’s utility relocation designs. “Doesn’t mean they’re performing poorly — we’ve changed some things and given some guidance late but, you know, we need them to step up a little bit more.” Robbins said HART is considering bringing in another contractor in addition to Nan Inc. to help do the $400 million relocation work in order to expedite things. HART also spent much of its planning efforts last year on how to avoid relocating a 42-inch water line that runs along Dillingham. The water main serves Honolulu’s urban core and one of the state’s main economic drivers in Waikiki, Robbins said. The good news is they’ll now avoid relocating that line — but the time spent figuring that out helped lead to the schedule crunch that HART now faces, according to Robbins. In September, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell pressed rail agency board members to “make sure you’re on HART’s ass” to keep the relocation work moving in a timely fashion. Caldwell and other city leaders, including Kalihi-area Councilman Joey Manahan, were alarmed at how little planning had been done to that point for the major disruption awaiting the community. “This is so critical” with major rail construction expected to start along parts of Dillingham in 2021, HART board member Glenn Nohara said Thursday. “We need everybody’s efforts … in pulling this off.” The post HART Struggles To Keep Critical Utility Work On Schedule appeared first on Honolulu Civil Beat.');
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document.write('<li class="rss-item"><a class="rss-item" href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/01/lawsuit-guards-had-suicidal-inmate-cuffed-let-him-bleed-to-death/" target="_self">Lawsuit: Guards Had Suicidal Inmate Cuffed, Let Him Bleed To Death</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss-date">Fri, 24 Jan 2020 10:01:45 +0000</span><br />');
document.write('The daughter of an inmate who died at a Hawaii island prison is suing the state Department of Public Safety, saying the guards let him bleed to death instead of calling for help in time. Cheyenne Chong filed suit in 1st Circuit Court on behalf of her father, Wesley Chong, who died while in custody in 2017 at the Kulani Correctional Facility, a minimum security prison in Hilo. The complaint alleges that correctional officers found Chong, who was serving a life sentence for manslaughter, “bleeding profusely” in a bathroom with lengthwise cuts on both forearms on June 15, 2017. But instead of calling emergency services right away, the guards ordered another inmate to drag him out of the bathroom and handcuff him, said Gina Szeto-Wong, one of the attorneys representing the daughter. “They didn’t render any medical aid,” she said. “Instead they just waited and they just put him into solitary confinement, where he later died.” Inmate Wesley Chong died at Kulani Correctional Facility in Hilo in 2017.Hawaii Department of Public Safety The inmate who was ordered to cuff Wesley Chong tried to wrap strips of clothing around his forearms to stop the bleeding, but the guards ordered him to stop, the complaint also said. Only after a significant amount of time had passed did the guards call for an ambulance, Szeto-Wong said. By then, Chong had been taken to a segregated housing unit and was dead by the time a prison official arrived to perform CPR. Public safety spokeswoman Toni Schwartz said the department has not yet been served with the lawsuit and would not comment on pending litigation. The press release on the day of Wesley Chong’s death offered few details. It said that at about 2:45 a.m. prison staff responded to distress calls in one of the dorms and that staff began administering aid. A staff member called 911, according to the news release, and another performed CPR until emergency personnel arrived to take over at 3:36 a.m. Chong was pronounced dead at 3:43 a.m. “Foul play has been ruled out by responding law enforcement entities,” the news release also said. Szeto-Wong says the staff was negligent on many levels. “I think one of the more egregious things is that the family members were not told the specific circumstances,” she said. “They were kept in the dark until the inmate who said he was forced to cuff the deceased came forward and spoke out.” Further, the attorney said the inmate who tried to help faced retaliation after he filed a grievance regarding the incident. A correctional officer told him he would be transferred to Halawa Correctional Facility on Oahu, a medium security prison, if he continued to complain, the complaint alleged. “Obviously, for the family, they want justice,” the attorney said. But deaths inside prison walls in Hawaii aren’t being handled properly in general, she said. “We don’t think that it’s an incident that’s isolated at DPS,” she added. Szeto-Wong said the public safety department should evaluate how it handles inmate deaths and injuries. The post Lawsuit: Guards Had Suicidal Inmate Cuffed, Let Him Bleed To Death appeared first on Honolulu Civil Beat.');
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