Senators convene working group to address water use By Sophie Cocke
Sens. Kai Kahele and Jarrett Keohokalole will begin overseeing monthly meetings with officials from the Department of Land and Natural...
Political
Gabbard sunscreen measures could help bolster efforts to project Hawaii’s coral reefs
KAILUA-KONA — Two Hawaii politicians are taking the issue of reef safe sunscreens national. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, 2020 Democratic presidential...
Public weighs in on state DOT’s proposed road usage charge demonstration project
State Department of Transportation officials had their last informational meeting on a road usage charge demonstration project Thursday evening in...
State House capital improvements list includes nearly $250M for Hawaii County projects ($13.7m impact Kohala)
The state House of Representatives passed its list of proposed capital improvement projects for the next two fiscal years, including...
Council scraps plan for behind-the-scenes budget panel after getting state’s opinion
The County Council dropped its plan to work on the budget out of public view, after the state Office of...
Proposal to levy surcharge on electric vehicle owners passes Hawaii Legislature By Nina Wu
Hawaii legislators have approved a bill this session that would charge owners of electric and alternative fuel vehicles an additional...
Hawaii senators target robocalls
At least three bills have been introduced in the U.S. Senate to hopefully stem the tide of robocalls and increase...
Hotels urge Ige to veto vacation rental taxation bill By Allison Schaefers
The American Hotel & Lodging Association along with heads of more than 10 Hawaii hotel companies are urging Gov. David...
Kim’s proposed $583.9M budget is up 12.7%
If Mayor Harry Kim has his way, more police will patrol the island, transfer stations won’t be closed on so...
Lawmakers wrap up 2019 legislative session By AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press
HONOLULU — State lawmakers wrapped up their 2019 legislative session Thursday after several months of work at the state Capitol...
Officer misconduct bill stalls in conference committee
A measure that would have disclosed the names of officers discharged or suspended from a county police department died quietly...
Mail-in voting bill OK’d
A bill that would require all statewide elections to be conducted by mail beginning with the 2020 primary is headed...
Kim’s final budget plan includes fraction of additional positions sought by department chiefs
If department heads had their way, there would be 51 new positions added to the county workforce on top of...
State Senate narrowly passes vacation rental tax bill
HONOLULU — The state Senate on Tuesday narrowly passed a bill that would require websites such as Airbnb to collect...
Lawmakers again fail to agree on measures for Banyan Drive redevelopment
Redevelopment of Banyan Drive will have to wait until next year once again after the failure of three bills earlier...
Charter Commission says no to amendment that would abolish minimum tax
Some owners of vast Hamakua land holdings don’t pay much more in annual property taxes than an owner of a...
Lawmakers give preliminary OK to corrections reform measure By Sophie Cocke
Hawaii’s jails and prisons are poised to come under the oversight of an independent commission with powers to conduct investigations,...
State Senate might allow vacation rental platforms to collect taxes By Kevin Dayton
In the face of intense lobbying by the hotel industry, the state Senate signaled Thursday night it might once again...
Charter Commission rejects special election
Citing the cost and prospect of a low turnout, the Charter Commission on Thursday rejected the idea of a special...
Cardiac funding bill stalls
A bill that would further fund Hilo Medical Center’s interventional cardiac program has stalled in the final stages of the...
