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document.write('<li class="rss-item"><a class="rss-item" href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2018/09/new-report-reveals-hawaiis-not-so-booming-economy/" target="_self">New Report Reveals Hawaii’s Not-So-Booming Economy</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss-date">Fri, 21 Sep 2018 12:00:56 +0000</span><br />');
document.write('To anyone living in Honolulu it might seem surprising, but the skyrocketing cost of housing on Oahu has slowed in the first half of this year – to a point where mainland rent increases are far outpacing those of Honolulu. That’s one finding of a new economic forecast released Friday by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization. The counterintuitive shelter statistics underscore the overarching point of the new statewide economic forecast, which is titled “Hawaii’s Growth Down, But Not Out.” The report’s general conclusion is that Hawaii’s economy isn’t the red-hot juggernaut that it might appear based on staggering visitor numbers and an unemployment rate far lower than the nation as a whole. A report by University of Hawaii economists says Hawaii’s skyrocketing housing costs are showing signs of leveling off, an indication that the economy is not as strong as it might seem.Getty Images/iStockphoto “The overall economy is not as strong as some of these statistics we’re seeing on a daily basis would have us think,” said Carl Bonham, a UH professor of economics who serves as UHERO’s executive director. And the tapering rise in housing costs is one sign of this, Bonham said. This isn’t to say it’s cheap to live in Hawaii. The going rate on Craigslist for a tiny studio in Honolulu, for instance, starts around $1,000, while two-bedroom units in town are hard to find for less than $2,000. It’s just that leveling housing costs are at odds with what often happens in a booming economy. Normally, low unemployment – like the 2 percent rate in Hawaii – is associated with high inflation. That’s because if everyone’s working, employers usually have to compete to find good workers – often by paying higher salaries and wages. And when people have more money, the cost of goods and services typically goes up. But that’s not happening locally. Hawaii’s unemployment rate is about half the national rate, which was 3.9 percent in April. But Honolulu’s inflation rate for the first half of 2018, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, was 1.6 percent versus the national average of 2.5 percent. A big reason is slowing housing costs, which make up about 40 percent of household expenditures, Bonham said.   Nationally, housing costs are surging. But Hawaii is different: the cost for a place to live, which rose during the past few years at rates topping 4 percent annually, is now rising more slowly, UHERO’s data shows. The increase for the second quarter of 2018, for instance, was just 1.7 percent, according to UHERO. That was about half the national rate of 3.4 percent. So why are prices leveling off? One reason is a population decline in 2017, Bonham said. “If you look at it, it makes sense,” Bonham said. “We didn’t forecast it, but we didn’t anticipate the population decline in 2017.” Hawaii’s population dropped only a tenth of 1 percent in 2017, which might seem small in a state of 1.4 million people. But Hawaii was one of only three states with such an outmigration, and it happened at a time when there were plenty of jobs in Hawaii. if(\"undefined\"==typeof window.datawrapper)window.datawrapper={};window.datawrapper[\"jCL9t\"]={},window.datawrapper[\"jCL9t\"].embedDeltas={\"100\":848,\"200\":569,\"300\":476,\"400\":442,\"500\":400,\"700\":383,\"800\":383,\"900\":383,\"1000\":366},window.datawrapper[\"jCL9t\"].iframe=document.getElementById(\"datawrapper-chart-jCL9t\"),window.datawrapper[\"jCL9t\"].iframe.style.height=window.datawrapper[\"jCL9t\"].embedDeltas[Math.min(1e3,Math.max(100*Math.floor(window.datawrapper[\"jCL9t\"].iframe.offsetWidth/100),100))]+\"px\",window.addEventListener(\"message\",function(a){if(\"undefined\"!=typeof a.data[\"datawrapper-height\"])for(var b in a.data[\"datawrapper-height\"])if(\"jCL9t\"==b)window.datawrapper[\"jCL9t\"].iframe.style.height=a.data[\"datawrapper-height\"][b]+\"px\"}); Also keeping a lid on inflation is middling income growth, which Bonham said “is not what you’d like to see.” Despite the low unemployment rate, per capita income grew at just 0.5 percent in 2017, Bonham said. “That’s pretty lousy.” Also contributing to the lackluster income growth is a slackening in some industries. The health care sector is driving growth, and the outlook for tourism is strong, UHERO reported. But jobs in the high-paying construction industry have declined, the report said. And Bonham added that relatively lucrative federal government and military jobs have declined. With the mainland’s economy continuing to thrive and Hawaii’s cost of living and relatively low wages making life a struggle, Bonham said people without family ties might continue to be lured away from the islands. “The job opportunities elsewhere are really good, and the cost of living differences are substantial,” he said. Thoughts on this or any other story? Write a Letter to the Editor. Send to news@civilbeat.org and put Letter in the subject line. 200 words max. You need to use your name and city and include a contact phone for verification purposes. And you can comment directly on this story by scrolling down a little further. We are enabling comments on some stories in the spirit of having a robust community conversation. The post New Report Reveals Hawaii’s Not-So-Booming Economy 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/2018/09/loss-of-mainland-market-for-marlin-is-one-more-sign-dan-inouye-is-gone/" target="_self">Loss Of Mainland Market For Marlin Is One More Sign Dan Inouye Is Gone</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss-date">Fri, 21 Sep 2018 10:01:58 +0000</span><br />');
document.write('WASHINGTON — With the swipe of his pen, President Donald Trump nixed a remnant of the late U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye’s legacy. On Aug. 2, Trump signed a bill that had easily passed both chambers of Congress to eliminate a Hawaii-friendly exemption in the Billfish Conservation Act of 2012. That 2012 measure, which was signed into law by then-President Barack Obama with bipartisan support, effectively made it illegal to import or sell billfish such as marlin or spearfish in the mainland U.S. Swordfish was not considered under that legislation. The only state with an exemption was Hawaii — thanks to Inouye, a powerful ally of Hawaii’s commercial fishing industry. Other Pacific insular areas, including Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa, were also allowed to sell billfish on the mainland. With Inouye out of the picture, so is that exemption. Hawaii’s longline fleet benefited most when U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye was alive.Nathan Eagle/Civil Beat More than 550,000 pounds of American-caught billfish landed in Pacific islands have been marketed to the mainland U.S. each year, according to the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, also known as Wespac. The estimated value of that haul last year, the council estimated, was about $830,000 dockside and $2.5 million when considering the wholesale and retail markets. Hawaii will retain some special status, however, in that fishermen can still catch and sell billfish in the islands, something no other state can do. Smoked marlin can still be sold in Hawaii, but it can’t be exported to the mainland.Sophie Cocke/Civil Beat While Wespac opposed the elimination of the exemption for the islands to sell billfish to the mainland, it was popular elsewhere. “We’ve done a huge favor for the worldwide population of billfish,” said Jeff Angers, president of the Center for Sportsfishing Policy in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. “Now it’s crystal clear that our focus is on conserving billfish. Period.” Angers was involved in negotiations over the original Billfish Conservation Act in 2012. Identical versions of this year’s bill were introduced by U.S. Rep. Darren Soto and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, two Florida Democrats who sought to close what sportfishing advocates such as Angers saw as a conservation gap. When Congress passed the original act, Angers said, the purpose was to close off U.S. markets to foreign-caught billfish as a means to drive down demand. Global stocks were declining, particularly in the Atlantic, and the U.S. was the largest importer of billfish. Smaller populations meant fewer fish not just for eating but for recreational fishermen as well. Marlin and other billfish are prized in the sporting community. Angers said Inouye was apprehensive about an all-out ban on commercial sales of billfish, in part because it was a traditional and cultural fishery in Hawaii. He was also getting pressure from Wespac, which advocates for longliners. Jeff Angers, seen here with a blackfin tuna, advocates for the rights of recreational fishermen across the U.S.Submitted Angers said conservation advocates showed a lot of deference to Inouye, who had been in the Senate since 1963 and was one of its most powerful members. “We learned a lot from Senator Inouye about the cultural traditions of the state of Hawaii,” Angers said. “I believe advocates for the bill were happy to accommodate his wishes.” Still, there was concern that Pacific billfish weren’t being managed in a sustainable way. Poachers, too, were a problem. Because of the loophole, Atlantic billfish could be marketed as coming from Hawaii. Jason Schratwieser, conservation director for the International Game Fish Association, said the intent of the Billfish Conservation Act was not to remove a foreign market and replace it with a domestic one. But that’s exactly what happened, he said, when Inouye was able to push through the exemption that allowed Hawaii and other Pacific territories to catch and land billfish commercially to sell on the mainland. “He was obviously a very powerful figure,” Schratwieser said. “Going into this our focus was on the big problem of the U.S. being the biggest importer of billfish.” ‘That Power Has Waned’ Inouye’s relationship with Hawaii’s commercial fishing industry was well-established. The senator, who died in December 2012, advocated on behalf of the Hawaii Longline Association, Wespac and other interests. Rick Gaffney is a former Wespac council member and the current head of the Hawaii Fishing and Boating Association. He said Inouye was a conduit for the commercial fishing industry, which had his ear. “Inouye had a very close relationship with Wespac and the Hawaii Longline Association,” Gaffney said. “When Inouye was in office at his peak they were extraordinarily powerful. Since he’s left office that power has waned.” Dan Inouye loomed large over Hawaii politics. But he was also a force in Washington.©PF Bentley/Civil Beat The 2018 billfish legislation is a good example. Wespac’s executive director, Kitty Simonds, opposed the legislation and urged the Trump administration to sink it. Wespac issued a press release saying “America’s seafood consumers may soon be deprived of sustainably harvested domestic marlin products.” According to the press release, Hawaii Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa wrote an “additional views” memo about the 2018 legislation along with federal representatives from Guam and American Samoa, saying it would “negatively impact the livelihoods of the fishermen” in their districts. “We support needed conservation efforts in the Atlantic, but do not believe that Pacific fisheries need to be targeted in order to achieve these goals,” they wrote. The bill passed in the House on a voice vote, meaning any opposition was not recorded. But before the vote was taken, U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, a Republican from Utah, said the bill had the support of “everybody and their third cousin.” Eric Kingma, who works for Wespac in international fisheries and enforcement, said the billfish act and the prohibition on sales has always been more of an “Atlantic issue.” Marlin has basically been a bycatch for Hawaii commercial fishermen, but a lucrative one.NOAA He said billfish in the Pacific, with the exception of the striped marlin, seem to be doing OK. “It’s really unfortunate this is not going to save any billfish and you’re not going to get any conservation benefit out of it,” Kingma said. Meanwhile, fishermen and small business owners who package and sell their products, such as smoked marlin and jerky, will be harmed, he said. “This is not just about the longliners,” Kingma said. “This conservation act trickles down to the average troller and the weekend warrior who has a marine license to sell the marlin that he caught with his son.” He said the supporters of the legislation are special interests within the recreational fishing community. There’s a long history of tension between sports and commercial fishermen. “In this fight they seem to have persuaded Congress and the president,” Kingma said. Kitty Simonds is the executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and a fierce advocate for Hawaii commercial fishermen.Cory Lum/Civil Beat Gaffney described Hawaii’s commercial billfish haul, when compared to its main targets of tuna and swordfish, as “gravy.” It’s rare longliners would specifically go after billfish unless they needed to fill their holds on the way back home. Instead, most of the billfish come aboard as bycatch, which is then sold off at port. But, he added, the amount of lost income for fishermen isn’t something to be shrugged off. “That $800,000 spread out over 120 vessels may make the difference between making it and not making it,” Gaffney said. “The longline fleet is not that profitable.” Hawaii Still Getting Special Treatment U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, who was appointed to Inouye’s seat after his death and now occupies the same office as Inouye at the Hart Senate building in Washington, has been keeping a close eye on the billfish legislation. But unlike Inouye, Schatz said he does not believe the commercial benefits of selling billfish outside of Hawaii outweigh the conservation concerns. Under the new legislation, fishermen will still be able to catch billfish and sell it within Hawaii borders. The same is true for other Pacific islands. Schatz said that’s why he’s OK with the exemption being eliminated. U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said he believes the commercial fishing industry can sell its excess billfish in state.Nick Grube/Civil Beat “It’s a relatively small fishery — less than $1 million annually — and most of it is incidental or bycatch that they’re making use of in the ahi fleet,” Schatz said. “I think we can consume that amount of billfish locally, and to the extent that our fleet can feed our people I think that’s better policy.” Angers said there might be some conservationists who would argue that all 50 states should take billfish and marlin off the menu. But he’s not one of them. “Frankly, 49 out of 50 is pretty darn good,” Angers said. “You should never let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” Thoughts on this or any other story? Write a Letter to the Editor. Send to news@civilbeat.org and put Letter in the subject line. 200 words max. You need to use your name and city and include a contact phone for verification purposes. Or you can comment directly on this story by scrolling down a little further. We are enabling comments on some stories in the spirit of having a robust community conversation. The post Loss Of Mainland Market For Marlin Is One More Sign Dan Inouye Is Gone 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/2018/09/our-salary-database-now-includes-hundreds-of-hawaii-county-employees/" target="_self">Our Salary Database Now Includes Hundreds Of Hawaii County Employees</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss-date">Fri, 21 Sep 2018 10:01:54 +0000</span><br />');
document.write('Editor’s note: Civil Beat is again updating our popular public employees salary database. It’s still not the full story, as you’ll see below. From pipefitters to electricians, hundreds of Hawaii County employees have been added to Civil Beat’s public employee salary database after an opinion by the state Office of Information Practices that their identities should be disclosed. The workers’ positions and salaries were already in the database, but Hawaii County had refused to release their names. The county based that decision on the fact these 96 job titles pay a specific amount instead of a salary range. Click here to load this Caspio Online Database. “Disclosure of name and the exact salary would constitute clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” the county said in denying Civil Beat’s records request in December. Civil Beat appealed that decision to the Office of Information Practices, which said in an Aug. 31 opinion that, under state law, the county could withhold neither the employees’ names nor their salaries. “The names of the employees filling the 96 positions listed by Requester are mandatorily public … even if the exact salary of a covered employee has been previously disclosed without that person’s name,” the OIP said. The Hawaii County listings include 2,538 employees.Cory Lum/Civil Beat While the county had previously provided the names and specific salaries of a few top employees, for the most part it only identified workers for whom a pay range could be reported rather than a specific salary. And those ranges are sometimes vast. For instance, 24 Hawaii County employees are listed as earning from $69,084 to $127,284. Another 14 employees are listed as earning from $74,724 to $137,652. For hundreds of other employees, the database has read “No name provided.” Until now. Related Flickr: Images_of_Money New Hawaii Salary Database: How Much Do We Pay Our Public Servants? August 14, 2017 Flickr.com Updated Hawaii Salary Database: Doctors And Judges Do Well, Thank You August 31, 2017 Cory Lum/Civil Beat Here’s What We Pay County Workers — Except For Cops January 22, 2018 A total of 2,538 Hawaii County employee positions are listed in the database, along with tens of thousands of other public employees throughout the islands. Civil Beat initially requested the information shortly after the 2018 fiscal year began July 1, 2017. Most counties and state agencies responded in a timely fashion. But even with the addition of the new information from Hawaii County, the database is not complete. That’s because the statewide police union has filed a legal challenge against the Honolulu Police Department to prevent it from releasing the names, ranks and salaries of most officers. City attorneys had determined that police officers’ names — except for those in “deep” undercover capacities — should be released along with their salary information, as is the case under state law for all public employees. The statewide police union is suing to halt the city’s plan for releasing information for Civil Beat’s database.Nathan Eagle/Civil Beat The State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers believes the names of any officer who is or has ever been in any undercover assignment should be protected from disclosure, not just those currently in deep undercover roles. When the city rejected SHOPO’s argument, the union filed suit to block the release. Civil Beat intervened in the case on the side of the city, and a hearing was held before Circuit Court Judge Virginia Crandall in May. Crandall has not yet issued a ruling. Thoughts on this or any other story? Write a Letter to the Editor. Send to news@civilbeat.org and put Letter in the subject line. 200 words max. You need to use your name and city and include a contact phone for verification purposes. Or you can comment directly on this story by scrolling down a little further. We are enabling comments on some stories in the spirit of robust community conversation. The post Our Salary Database Now Includes Hundreds Of Hawaii County Employees 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/2018/09/new-twist-in-possible-hate-crime-case-gives-family-new-hope/" target="_self">New Twist In Possible Hate Crime Case Gives Family New Hope</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss-date">Fri, 21 Sep 2018 10:01:16 +0000</span><br />');
document.write('The FBI has stepped into the investigation of a possible hate crime that left a Kaiser High School graduate unconscious and critically bleeding along a California railroad in May, his family says.  Aaron Salazar’s grandfather in Hawaii Kai, Michael Mathieu, said an agent from the FBI’s Sacramento field office collected a DNA sample from Salazar on Sept. 10 — four days after Civil Beat published a story detailing the Salazar family’s doubts about the investigation led by Amtrak police. On May 15, Salazar was an overnight passenger on Amtrak’s California Zephyr when he went missing from the train as it approached the station in Truckee, California. Police later found him foaming at the mouth and bleeding from the head in a remote area along the tracks with no vehicle or pedestrian access. Investigators for the Amtrak Police Department say Salazar, who is gay, hurled himself out of the moving train in an attempted suicide. Aaron Salazar on Friday, Aug. 31. He is recovering from injuries sustained while traveling on an Amtrak train to Portland at a rehab hospital in Colorado.Contributed by the Salazar family A spokeswoman for the FBI’s Sacramento field office declined to confirm or deny whether the FBI was investigating. But Mathieu said the family was told that Aaron’s DNA sample will be examined at the FBI crime lab in Quantico, Virginia. Mathieu said it’s his understanding that the DNA simple would be used to help in an analysis of Salazar’s clothing to see if an attacker may have been present. “Aaron is making progress in his recovery and we’re so stoked,” Mathieu said. “We can’t wait to find out the DNA results.” Salazar’s family members say they haven’t been given any evidence to support Amtrak’s theory that Salazar jumped from the train — a scenario that’s inconceivable to them. Salazar himself can’t remember, at least not yet, what happened to him and family members are reluctant to push him to talk about it while he’s working toward regaining mobility and brain function. The Portland State University student, who was born in Colorado but grew up in East Oahu’s Kalama Valley, is now recovering at a Colorado rehab facility. A spokeswoman for the Amtrak Police Department said earlier this month that the investigation remains open, pending any new information or the opportunity to interview Salazar. Related Contributed by the Salazar family Suicide Attempt Or Hate Crime? A Family Searches For An Elusive Truth September 6, 2018 “After an extensive investigation by the Amtrak Police Department, in coordination with other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, there is no indication of criminal activity at this time,” she said. The department would not answer Civil Beat’s specific questions about the investigation and wouldn’t make available an investigator for an interview. But Salazar’s family and friends say the buoyant 22-year-old would never intentionally hurt himself. They’ve even reached out to Hawaii’s congressional delegation, which prompted all four elected officials to send a letter to Amtrak insisting on a thorough investigation into what could be a hate crime. The FBI’s new interest in Salazar’s case has only strengthened their position that Salazar was the victim of a brutal beating. “We’re more confident than ever that Aaron didn’t try to kill himself,” Mathieu said. “Aaron has asked his sister, ‘What happened to me?’ and she told him Amtrak’s version and he replied. ‘I wouldn’t do that.’” Thoughts on this or any other story? Write a Letter to the Editor. Send to news@civilbeat.org and put Letter in the subject line. 200 words max. You need to use your name and city and include a contact phone for verification purposes. And you can comment directly on this story by scrolling down a little further. We are enabling comments on some stories in the spirit of having a robust community conversation. The post New Twist In Possible Hate Crime Case Gives Family New Hope 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/2018/09/want-term-limits-a-con-con-is-your-only-hope/" target="_self">Want Term Limits? A Con Con Is Your Only Hope</a><br />');
document.write('<span class="rss-date">Fri, 21 Sep 2018 10:01:07 +0000</span><br />');
document.write('Hawaii has arguably the least competitive state legislative elections among the 50 U.S. states. At its Aug. 11 primary, 96.2 percent of elected state legislators seeking re-election won. No incumbent is expected to lose in the Nov. 6 general election. Another measure of competitiveness is the number of seats in a legislature held by a single party. In Hawaii, it’s 93.4 percent, the highest percentage in the United States. In the state Senate, one party holds 100 percent of the seats. When the monetary advantage of winning candidates is factored in, Hawaii also comes out at the bottom. According to the National Institute on Money in Politics, 100 percent of Hawaii candidates with both an incumbency and monetary advantage won in the last general election — the worst among the 50 states. Lawmakers at work late in the 2016 legislative sessions. It is rare for incumbents to lose office, as Sen. Brickwood Galuteria, at right, did in the 2018 primary.Cory Lum/Civil Beat In the 2018 primary, all three challengers who beat incumbents were backed by the Hawaii State Teachers Association, one of Hawaii’s most powerful trade associations. One was HSTA’s secretary-treasurer, one of HSTA’s top four positions; another had been deputy director of Hawaii’s Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Term limits for state legislators would reduce the excessive level of legislative entrenchment. To be sure, term limits are a second-best solution to this problem. In an ideal world, tackling the many contributing factors to incumbent entrenchment, including legislative redistricting, ethics, transparency, campaign finance, voting rules and ballot access, would be a better solution. But the public rightfully trusts the term limits solution because, although imperfect, they know this solution cannot be rigged to favor incumbents. In Hawaii, as in other states, legislative terms limits are highly popular. A Civil Beat poll found 68 percent support among all respondents and 81 percent support among respondents expressing support or opposition. No Initiative In Hawaii A state constitutional amendment is necessary to enact term limits. But the state Legislature will never place such an amendment on the ballot because it’s not in its institutional self-interest to do so. In contrast, it has acceded to popular opinion on term limits for the governor, lieutenant governor, county mayors and county councilors in part because such term limits don’t directly limit its own power. Other states have circumvented state legislature opposition via the constitutional initiative. Although Hawaii lacks that legislative bypass mechanism, it does have the alternative: the periodic state constitutional convention referendum. That’s why a convention is Hawaii’s only hope to pass legislative term limits. What is costly to special interests may be beneficial to the people of Hawaii. Throughout most of American history, the average term of a state legislator was relatively short. In a world where legislators were predominantly citizen-legislators rather than career-legislators, legislators couldn’t expect to earn a living, let alone make a career, out of serving in office, and voluntary legislator turnover was high, term limits weren’t needed. Despite having an arsenal of arguments to oppose term limits, groups opposing term limits will mostly avoid directly attacking such a popular democratic reform. Instead, they will attack the state constitutional convention as a needless, costly, and risky democratic reform mechanism. But what is costly to special interests may be beneficial to the people of Hawaii. Special interests’ organizing and financing the convention opposition in the shadows may be the best reason for the people to support a convention. Hawaii’s framers gave the people the gift of the periodic state constitutional convention referendum so the people could bypass the Legislature on democratic reform problems like legislative term limits. We should accept their gift gratefully. Thoughts on this or any other story? Write a Letter to the Editor. Send to news@civilbeat.org and put Letter in the subject line. 200 words max. You need to use your name and city and include a contact phone for verification purposes. And you can comment directly on this story by scrolling down a little further. We are enabling comments on some stories in the spirit of having a robust community conversation. The post Want Term Limits? A Con Con Is Your Only Hope appeared first on Honolulu Civil Beat.');
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