Political

Look Who’s Talking — Or Not — At Hawaiʻi’s Legislature For some lawmakers, quietly is the most effective way to legislate. Others feel the public should hear exactly where they stand.

September 25, 2025 0

https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/09/look-whos-talking-or-not-at-hawai%ca%bbis-legislature/

Pay-To-Play: Hawaiʻi CEO Pressured Staff To Make Political Gifts Court documents in an ongoing felony case reveal new details about how employees were reimbursed for making campaign donations.

September 24, 2025 0

https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/09/pay-to-play-hawaii-ceo-pressured-staff-to-make-political-gifts/

Are Hawaiʻi Lawmakers Just Rubber-Stamping Bills Every Session? A new research tool shows the vast majority of bills pass out of the Legislature with no opposition.

September 21, 2025 0

https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/09/are-hawai%ca%bbi-lawmakers-just-rubber-stamping-bills-every-session/

Suit Challenges How Legislators Turn Blank Bills Into Mid-Session Surprises League of Women Voters targets the use of short-form measures that start out as empty shells.

September 7, 2025 0

https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/09/suit-challenges-how-legislators-turn-blank-bills-into-mid-session-surprises/

Clock is ticking on how to spend new green fees

September 3, 2025 0

https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2025/09/03/hawaii-news/clock-is-ticking-on-how-to-spend-new-green-fees/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_news

Elections Commission Panel Calls For A Shakeup In How Hawaiʻi Votes The subcommittee wants to end all-mail elections and fire Elections Chief Scott Nago, but it’s unclear whether it has the votes to do either.

August 28, 2025 0

https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/08/elections-commission-panel-calls-for-a-shakeup-in-how-hawai%ca%bbi-votes/

Two Members Quit Just Before Elections Panel To Meet On Disputed Vote Count One of the departed commissioners was the lead author of an investigation that determined complaints about the Kauaʻi election were valid.

August 26, 2025 0

https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/08/two-members-quit-just-before-elections-panel-to-meet-on-disputed-vote-count/

How Did State Count More Kauaʻi Ballots Than County Said It Delivered? We analyze discrepancies in Kauaʻi’s 2024 general election vote count, which the Elections Commission says were a big deal and the Elections Office says were not.

August 24, 2025 0

How Did State Count More Kauaʻi Ballots Than County Said It Delivered? We analyze discrepancies in Kauaʻi’s 2024 general election...

Data Dive: Campaign Donations Plummeted During Legislative Session Lobbyists are still the top donors, but they no longer can give lawmakers money while they’re in session.

August 11, 2025 0

https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/08/data-dive-campaign-donations-plummeted-during-legislative-session/

Reducing Access To Voting Is Not The Way To Deal With Ballot Problems We need more polling places and drop boxes, not fewer.

August 10, 2025 0

https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/08/reducing-access-to-voting-is-not-the-way-to-deal-with-ballot-problems/

Data Dive: Buying Lei Is A Cost Of Doing Politics In Hawaiʻi Here’s a look at how much City Council members spend on the colorful and often fragrant garlands.

August 4, 2025 0

https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/08/data-dive-buying-lei-cost-of-politics-in-hawaii/

Hawaiʻi Elections Officials Tackle Big Island Ballot Discrepancies After finding major discrepancies in how many Kauaʻi ballots were cast, a state commission is looking at the Big Island numbers.

August 3, 2025 0

https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/08/hawai%ca%bbi-elections-officials-tackle-big-island-ballot-discrepancies/

Gov. Josh Green raises possibility of 2028 run for president

August 2, 2025 0

https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2025/08/02/hawaii-news/gov-josh-green-raises-possibility-of-2028-run-for-president/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_news

Rule by Decree: Is Hawaii’s Democracy Broken?

July 31, 2025 0

Is Hawaii’s democracy broken? Here is one day of ‘emergency’ proclamations from Hawaii Governor Josh Green -- all dated July...

GOVERNOR GREEN ELECTED TO LEADERSHIP ROLES BY GOVERNORS ASSOCIATIONS TO ELEVATE HAWAI‘I’S VOICE ON BIPARTISAN PRIORITIES

July 29, 2025 0

GOVERNOR GREEN ELECTED TO LEADERSHIP ROLES BY GOVERNORS ASSOCIATIONS TO ELEVATE HAWAI‘I’S VOICE ON BIPARTISAN PRIORITIES HONOLULU – Governor Josh...

Investigation Finds Vote Discrepancies In 2024 Kauaʻi Election A state Elections Commission subcommittee found evidence that the state counted hundreds more ballots than were cast on Kauaʻi.

July 22, 2025 0

https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/07/investigation-finds-vote-discrepancies-in-2024-kaua%ca%bbi-election/

Hawaiʻi Public Defender Urges Governor To Bar Cops From Working With ICE Call to issue an executive order echoes legislation that failed this year but raises questions about autonomy of local law enforcement.

July 21, 2025 0

https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/07/hawaii-public-defender-urges-governor-bar-cops-working-ice/

No Confidence: We Need To Force Legislative Leaders To Clean Up Their Own Houses One thing the public can do is petition leadership to investigate the $35,000 given by the FBI to a lawmaker during a federal corruption investigation.

July 20, 2025 0

https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/07/no-confidence-we-need-to-force-legislative-leaders-to-clean-up-their-own-houses/

The Sunshine Blog: Taxpayers Keep Paying For Disgraced City Officials Short takes, outtakes, our takes and other stuff you should know about public information, government accountability and ethical leadership in Hawai‘i.

June 29, 2025 2

https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/06/the-sunshine-blog-taxpayers-keep-paying-for-disgraced-city-officials/

Hawaiʻi Senator Didn’t Disclose Possible Conflict Of Interest Before Voting Donovan Dela Cruz voted four times in favor of passing a bill designed to protect māmaki tea, even though he owns a māmaki tea business. No other senators declared conflicts either.

June 22, 2025 0

https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/06/hawai%ca%bbi-senator-didnt-disclose-possible-conflict-of-interest-before-voting/

Political

Look Who’s Talking — Or Not — At Hawaiʻi’s Legislature For some lawmakers, quietly is the most effective way to legislate. Others feel the public should hear exactly where they stand.

Pay-To-Play: Hawaiʻi CEO Pressured Staff To Make Political Gifts Court documents in an ongoing felony case reveal new details about how employees were reimbursed for making campaign donations.

Are Hawaiʻi Lawmakers Just Rubber-Stamping Bills Every Session? A new research tool shows the vast majority of bills pass out of the Legislature with no opposition.

Suit Challenges How Legislators Turn Blank Bills Into Mid-Session Surprises League of Women Voters targets the use of short-form measures that start out as empty shells.

Clock is ticking on how to spend new green fees

Elections Commission Panel Calls For A Shakeup In How Hawaiʻi Votes The subcommittee wants to end all-mail elections and fire Elections Chief Scott Nago, but it’s unclear whether it has the votes to do either.

Two Members Quit Just Before Elections Panel To Meet On Disputed Vote Count One of the departed commissioners was the lead author of an investigation that determined complaints about the Kauaʻi election were valid.

How Did State Count More Kauaʻi Ballots Than County Said It Delivered? We analyze discrepancies in Kauaʻi’s 2024 general election vote count, which the Elections Commission says were a big deal and the Elections Office says were not.

Data Dive: Campaign Donations Plummeted During Legislative Session Lobbyists are still the top donors, but they no longer can give lawmakers money while they’re in session.

Reducing Access To Voting Is Not The Way To Deal With Ballot Problems We need more polling places and drop boxes, not fewer.

Data Dive: Buying Lei Is A Cost Of Doing Politics In Hawaiʻi Here’s a look at how much City Council members spend on the colorful and often fragrant garlands.

Hawaiʻi Elections Officials Tackle Big Island Ballot Discrepancies After finding major discrepancies in how many Kauaʻi ballots were cast, a state commission is looking at the Big Island numbers.

Gov. Josh Green raises possibility of 2028 run for president

Rule by Decree: Is Hawaii’s Democracy Broken?

GOVERNOR GREEN ELECTED TO LEADERSHIP ROLES BY GOVERNORS ASSOCIATIONS TO ELEVATE HAWAI‘I’S VOICE ON BIPARTISAN PRIORITIES

Investigation Finds Vote Discrepancies In 2024 Kauaʻi Election A state Elections Commission subcommittee found evidence that the state counted hundreds more ballots than were cast on Kauaʻi.

Hawaiʻi Public Defender Urges Governor To Bar Cops From Working With ICE Call to issue an executive order echoes legislation that failed this year but raises questions about autonomy of local law enforcement.

No Confidence: We Need To Force Legislative Leaders To Clean Up Their Own Houses One thing the public can do is petition leadership to investigate the $35,000 given by the FBI to a lawmaker during a federal corruption investigation.

The Sunshine Blog: Taxpayers Keep Paying For Disgraced City Officials Short takes, outtakes, our takes and other stuff you should know about public information, government accountability and ethical leadership in Hawai‘i.

Hawaiʻi Senator Didn’t Disclose Possible Conflict Of Interest Before Voting Donovan Dela Cruz voted four times in favor of passing a bill designed to protect māmaki tea, even though he owns a māmaki tea business. No other senators declared conflicts either.

HVO/USGS Volcanic Activity Notice

Earthquake Informational Meeting Set for July 16

GOVERNOR GREEN SIGNS LEGISLATION TO SUPPORT KŪPUNA CARE AND STRENGTHEN AI PROTECTIONS

Kohala Obituary 7/7/2026

Police Officer Rents Out Entire Movie Theater So More Than 100 Kids Can Experience Their First Trip to the Movies

Up To 5 Billion Gallons Of Water Wasted By The Navy Since Red Hill Crisis The Navy passed on an opportunity to divert filtered water from Red Hill to a useful purpose.

Hilo hosts illustrious races for penultimate regatta

BLNR moves to settle $45,000 fine against men who took 4,000 opihi

DOH AUTHORIZES REOPENING OF BLACK ROCK PIZZA

Two Men Arrested and Charged in Connection with Attempted Murder Investigation

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