Kawainui Advisory Council

Aloha kakou,

Senate Bill 3206 to establish a Kawainui Advisory Council is scheduled for a
public decision making in the Ways and Means (WAM) committee on Tuesday,
February 26, 2008 at 10:00 am in Conference Room 211.

Ahahui Malama I ka Lokahi has publicly supported this bill because we
believe that this legislative mandated Kawainui/Kailua Ahupua'a Advisory
Council will be more effective in putting into immediate action oriented
projects to conserve and restore the long neglected Kawainui Marsh
ecological and cultural restoration projects that have languished for the
past 30 years. It will consist of a 11 membership council that will enable
both community NGOs partnering with governmental agencies that will have the
State legislative, administrative and DLNR powers and appropriations to make
things happen for the welfare of the common good in the Kailua Ahupua'a. The
Kawainui Advisory Council will work closely with a larger and inclusive
Ho'olaulima ia Kawainui Coalition group on matters and issues that pertain
to the resource management and educational programs of the Kawainui/Hamakua
Wetlands and related waterways of the Kailua Ahupua'a watershed.

I urge your continued support and even writing letters of testimony and
being at the hearings for SB 3206.


Here are links to assist you:
· Senate Bill 3206, Senate Draft 1, Relating To Kawai Nui Marsh:
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2008/bills/SB3206_SD1_.pdf;
· WAM Hearing Notice ­ As stated on the notice, for this
decision-making, only written comments will be accepted; no oral testimony
will be accepted:
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2008/hearingnotices/WAM_02-26-08_.htm;
and

· Email Address to Send Testimony: As indicated in the notice, you
can email your comments 24 hours prior to the hearing to the following email
address, testimony@capitol.hawaii.gov.

LCV Score Card

This link shows what LCV is actively doing as a big group who is one of the few big groups known for having as a major part of their strategy, a voter score card on a few of the actions of the different Federal representatives.


View the C-Span - LCV Press Conference right away.

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=204130-1&tID=5

You can also see the score card at http://www.lcv.org

The Hawaii Conservation Voters plans to produce a similar score card for our legislators at the close of session.

It is interesting the Clinton and Obama each have scores of over 80% while McCain has 0%. He missed every important vote that LCV was tracking.

Alien Species - Imported sand

This weekend there was a 455 foot ship, the CASTLE PEAK from Hong Kong that arrived in Kawaihae. This ship was filled with raw sand from China. This sand was just off loaded in piles from the five giant holds of the ship and placed on the pier of Kawaihae. This is the third shipload of sand brought to Kawaihae. South East Asia is loaded with sea snakes, land snakes, tarantulas, and other organisms, and micro organisms that can severely effect our delicate Hawaiian existence. In the transport from China the ship is like an incubator for snake eggs, bacteria and animals. On the pier at Kawaihae there did not appear to be anybody monitoring if snakes got away, spiders, tarantulas and a myriad of other possible invasive contaminants. In Kohala there is the question of why the corals in Kohala are dying. Could this be a problem. Importation of this sand should be prohibited!!!! Mahalo for your reading this. Please help protect these Islands from invasive species.

Hawaii 2050

When it comes to the environment, the task force wants to boost
energy from renewable resources from the current 5 percent of
all energy use to 20 percent by 2020.

In addition, by promoting recycling and other waste reduction
strategies, the panel wants to divert half the waste from the
landfills statewide by 2020, up from the 31 percent that is
currently diverted.

To bolster the economy, the plan calls for creating more
technology-related jobs, which currently have an average salary
of $47,262. By 2020, the task force wants the innovation sector
to comprise 7 percent of all private-sector jobs.

Agriculture should also see a boost, if the state pushes for
more locally grown food. Today, about 15 percent of food
consumed in Hawai'i is grown in the state. The goal for 2020 is
to increase that to 30 percent of food — including 85 percent of
fruits and vegetables.

A major failure in the plan is its failure to anticipate the
impacts of ocean rise due to climate disruption. All low lying
areas (Waikiki, Moiliili, Mapunapuna, etc.) are at risk of
flooding as oceans rise and water tables are forced upward. The
chances are high that this will occur with in the time frame of
the Hawaii 2050 plan.

While many who consider environmentalists to be a bunch of tree huggers believe we are anti-business we recognize that we must have a healthy economy in order to afford to take care of the place we live. The balance we strike today between the needs of people and the ability of nature to provide those needs will determin the quality of the future we leave our kids.

Water Quality Conference

The Hawai'i Association of Conservation Districts is pleased to announce our annual Water Quality Conference:

2008 Hawai'i Water Quality Conference - Protecting Resources Throughout The Islands
Monday, March 24 to Tuesday, March 25, 2008
at the Honolulu Country Club

This conference is an chance for agencies, researchers and community members to share ideas and facilitate discussions geared toward improving the health of our waterbodies. Our 2008 conference will feature watershed restoration efforts, current research on resource management, and reports on recent TMDL projects, as well as updates from Hawai'i's sixteen Soil & Water Conservation Districts.

Registration information, including the conference schedule and prices, are posted on our new website: http://www.hacdhawaii.org/. Deadline to pre-register is March 17, 2008.

The conference is open to the public, so feel free to pass along this email to anyone that may be interested in attending.

Questions? Please contact Michelle Watson (michelle.watson@hi.nacdnet.net) or Corrin Cunningham (corrin.cunningham@hi.nacdnet.net) by email or call our office at 483-8600 ext. 120.

Hawaii Superdelegates

If you are confused about Superdelegates join the club. The best article I've seen on Hawaii Superdelegates is at http://starbulletin.com/2008/02/13/news/story12.html

hawaii2050

The Hawaii2050 final plan is now available at:
http://www.hawaii2050.org/

Democratic Caucus 2/19/08

Democratic Caucus 2/19/08

To find out where to vote go to:

http://www.hawaiidemocrats.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=371&Itemid=92

You have to know your District. If you don't go to:

http://www4.honolulu.gov/vote/

To paricipate you will have to join the Democratic Party. That
is a problem for me because I cannot support the entire
Democratic Ticket. However, I'm not going to let them
disinfranchise me simply because I cannot support every
Democratic candidate on the ticket.

This is the most important vote I will make in my life.

SB3225=HB3330 AQUARIUM FISH BILL

Aloha,
The first of two important fishing bills limiting the rapacious
harvesting of Hawaii's exotic reef fish by international aquarium
collectors will be heard before the Senate Water & Land Committee,
Senator Clayton Hee, Chair on Monday, 2:30, Room 414 Supporters of
this important bill will hold a press conference (below) at 12:30 at
the Queen Lili`uokalani statue. Representatives of the Maui County
Mayor Charmaine Tavares' office, Hawaii Audubon, KAHEA, the Marine
Conservation Biology Institute, the Big Island Invasive Species
Committee and others will participate. The media release text follows.

If at all possible, please consider submitting testimony and attending.
READ SB 3225 hearing notice at: www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2008/
hearingnotices/WTL-TIA-ENE-JDL-IGM_02-11-08_.htm
READ HB3330 at: www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2008/bills/HB3330_.htm
READ SB3225 at: www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2008/bills/SB3225_.htm

SAMPLE ADDRESSING FOR TESTIMONY
Committee on Water & Land
Senator Clayton Hee, Chair
Senator Russell S. Kokubun, Vice Chair
Testimony for 2:30 p.m. Monday, February 11, 2008
Conference Room 414

Aloha Chair Hee, Vice Chair Kokubun, and Honorable Committee Members,

My name is Jane Doe and my testimony is in support of SB 3225. [YOUR
BRIEF REASONS HERE].

Sincerely,
Jane Doe
808-xxx-xxxx

HOW TO TRANSMIT TESTIMONY
In person: 1 copy to the committee clerk, Room 228, State Capitol.

By fax: Testimony (less than 5 pages), to the Senate Sergeant-At-Arms
Office at 586-6659 or 1-800-586-6659 (toll free for neighbor
islands), at least 24 hours prior to the hearing.

By Email: Testimony may be emailed (less than 5 pages) to the
Legislature's Public Access Room at testimony@capitol.hawaii.gov.
Indicate which committee the testimony is being submitted and the
date and time of the hearing. Email sent to individual offices or any
other Senate office will not be accepted.


MEDIA RELEASE (text)

CONTACT: JOAN LLOYD - 808-269-0102 - joanl@snorkelbob.com

AQUARIUM FISH BILL WOULD LIMIT RAPACIOUS COMMERCIAL EXTRACTIONS
Hawaii's Reefs Are Being Picked Clean of Fragile "Ornamental" Fish By
International Dealers

OAHU, HAWAI`I: JANUARY 8, 2008 — Supporters of two aquarium bills,
Senate Bill 3225 and House Bill 3330, will hold a press conference at
the State Capitol on Monday, February 11 at 12:30 at the Queen
Lili`uokalani statue. The bill will be heard before the Senate Water
& Land Committee on Monday, 2:30, room 414. The two bills propose
bag limits for aquarium collectors of 20 "ornamental" fish per day
per person, with five Yellow Tangs Yellow_Tang> maximum in the mix. Rocky & Jerry Kaluhiwa of the
Ko'olaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club will be at the press conference to
take questions on their views regarding aquarium collection in
Kane'ohe Bay. Representatives of the Maui County Mayor Charmaine
Tavares' office, Hawaii Audubon, KAHEA, the Marine Conservation
Biology Institute and the Big Island Invasive Species Committee and
others will also participate.

Robert Wintner, Executive Director of the Snorkel Bob Foundation
said, "Our reef fish are being poached in record numbers with
millions being exported and sold annually to European, Australian,
and U.S. mainland collectors." Supporters will show that massive
extraction for commercial gain and the resulting barren reefs are an
affront to the Hawaiian way.

The aquarium industry reports a catch of $1-2 million, though the
estimated poached catch may push gross revenue to $20 million.
Wintner noted, "That's serious money for this small group of people.
Water-based tourism generates 500 times that amount for thousands of
people working in the engine that drives Hawaii's economy. Aquarium
collecting leaves many of our fragile reefs picked clean and our reef
systems should not be considered ‘fisheries'". Wintner also said the
bill lists certain species as "no-take", because they are known to
starve to death in captivity. Still, they are being taken. "This
industry has never been regulated in its catch and we are now being
asked why Puffers should
not be taken" Wintner said. "A Puffer on a reef may be enjoyed by
hundreds or thousands of tourists — or that Puffer may be captured
and shipped out for a sad, short life and a dollar. A dollar. You
want to talk science, or plain common sense?"

"One source of opposition to this fish bill is an aquarium
collector's chat room in Utah. Wholesale clients were urged to clog
the email & phone lines of Hawai`i legislators by a wholesale
distributor of wild reef fish and ‘responsibly collected wild
corals'. This distributor is in Utah. If you go to coralplanet.com
you'll be asked for your personal information for referral to a
reseller. If you want to be a reseller, you'll be told: ‘We currently
have more customers than we can handle.'" "Obviously, we're not here
to safeguard the economy of Utah — or of France or Australia,"
Wintner said. "We're here for Hawai`i. A few weeks ago, we saw a gala
event on O`ahu, hailing the International Year of the Reef. Because
we love and cherish our living reefs, we must begin to defend our
reefs from exploitation. We recognize our reefs with Aloha, as the
place where life began."

Read HB3330 at: www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2008/bills/HB3330_.htm
Read SB3225 at: www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2008/bills/SB3225_.htm
-###-

SB 2404 Relating to Invasive Species

Aloha, all. Please submit testimony in support of SB 2404 Relating to Invasive Species if you can.

The bill is being heard by the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment, Senator Ron Menor, Chair, Tuesday, February 12, 2008 2:45 pm Room 414

SB 2404 requires that 50% of the inspection, quarantine, and eradication service fees and charges collected be allocated to DLNR for the invasive species committees

SB 2404 also raises the fee for inspection, quarantine, and eradication of invasive species contained in any marine or air commercial container shipment from $1 to $10 per 20-foot equivalent unit per container or other appropriate unit per container

Bill: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2008/Bills/SB2404_.htm

Hearing notice: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2008/hearingnotices/ENE-TSG_02-12-08_.htm

Email testimony to: testimony@capitol.hawaii.gov

Sample testimony:

Testimony Submitted to the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment
Hearing: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 2:45 pm Room 414

Supporting SB 2404 Relating to Invasive Species

Aloha. My name is... I support SB 2404 for these reasons. It will raise the inspection fee to help cover what is costs the state and the taxpayers to inspect shipments to prevent invasive species from entering Hawai’i. The bill also establishes a permanent funding source for the Invasive Species Committees on each island, which work with private landowners and government agencies to control invasive species mostly on private land. The Committees do very good work and need permanent adequate funding. The bill also authorizes inspection fees for air shipments. Currently, inspection fees are collected only on marine shipments. Please pass this bill out of committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

SB 2316 MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN A PERIMETER FENCE TO PROTECT THE MAUNA KEA FOREST RESERVE.

SB 2316 MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN A PERIMETER FENCE TO PROTECT THE MAUNA KEA FOREST RESERVE.

The bill is being heard by the Senate Committee on Water and Land, Senator Clayton Hee, Chair, Monday, Feb 11 2:30 pm Room 414.

Please testify in person too if you can. This one’s important. Mahalo nui loa!

Talking Points/Background:

* $5-6 million are needed for the DLNR to build a new Mauna Kea perimeter fence to protect the Mauna Kea Forest Reserve, mämane-naio dry forest, the endangered palila bird’s critical habitat, and unfenced endangered Mauna Kea silverswords higher up the mountain.

* The old forest reserve fence is down in many areas. The federal government is building new sections of fence here and there, but we need state funding to rebuild the remaining sections of the fence and to maintain it.

* Feral sheep and mouflon in large numbers are present in the Mauna Kea Forest Reserve and palila critical habitat, in violation of the palila federal court orders in the 1970s and 1980s. Apparently, herds of goats are back in the forest as well, which hasn’t been the case for many years.

* Public hunters and the state can only do so much to remove the sheep, mouflon, and goats from the forest reserve and critical habitat. As long as miles of fence are down or in disrepair, controlling ungulates will be a constant uphill battle.

* Palila are being released on the mountain, and recovery is possible. But we have to protect the habitat from browsing and grazing ungulates. The palila depends on the mämane-naio forest on Mauna Kea for survival.

Bill: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2008/Bills/SB2316_.htm

Hearing Notice:

http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2008/hearingnotices/WTL-TIA-ENE-JDL-IGM_02-11-08_.htm

Email testimony to: testimony@capitol.hawaii.gov

Ha'iku Valley cultural park

Posted on: Thursday, February 7, 2008
Bills call for Ha'iku Valley cultural park

• Legislature 2008


By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer



The future of Ha'iku Valley, with its Hawaiian and military historical sites, is before the state Legislature this week with lawmakers considering a bill to create a cultural preserve and education center there.

The House Water, Land, Ocean Resources and Hawaiian Affairs Committee voted 8-0 yesterday to advance House Bill 2704. Three Senate committees will discuss the companion Senate Bill 2727 at 2:45 p.m. tomorrow in Conference Room 414.

The bills call for establishing a commission that would set policy for and have oversight of a Ha'iku Valley Cultural Preserve.

The measures have widespread community support, said Rep. Ken Ito, D-48th (Kane'ohe), who heads the Water, Land, Ocean Resources and Hawaiian Affairs Committee.

"This cultural preserve will really enhance Kane'ohe and protect traditional cultural landscapes," Ito said, adding that the area has a high potential for educational purposes. "It's going to be a treasure for the Windward side."

The valley has cultural and historic importance to Native Hawaiians and is renowned for its archaeological sites, according to the bills. But the valley's ownership is split among several entities, which places the resources at high risk.

"Preserving the valley's cultural and historic resources and educating the public about these resources are of paramount importance," the bills say.

Tucked up against the slopes of the Ko'olau Range in Kane'ohe, the site was home to a military radio station from 1942 until 1997 and is known to have taro lo'i, a heiau and burial sites. Native and endangered species are also present.

Recent history there has been tied up in controversy over the Ha'iku Stairs, a 3,922-foot metal stepladder to the top of the Ko'olau Range. The ladder was repaired in 2003 by the city for public use.

Before the city could open it, as many as 200 trespassers a day would reach the area through neighboring properties, clogging streets with parked cars, littering, and arguing with residents.

Some residents think the city, which has jurisdiction over the stairs, will dismantle the bottom segments of the stairs.

City spokesman Bill Brennan was unable to verify that, but said the city has security at the stairs to keep people from climbing it.

Mahealani Cypher, a member of the Ko'olaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club and the Ko'olau Foundation, said if the stairs are dismantled, neighbors would be less likely to oppose the reserve. A charter school has leased some of the old facilities and a farmer is growing crops there, Cypher said. The community, civic club and the foundation have created a plan calling for a passive park and education center that would offer programs, she said.

The bills are part of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs legislative package and the agency has agreed to work with the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which owns much of the land in the valley, and Kamehameha Schools to secure an access that would be acceptable to neighbors, Cypher said.

"All of those different entities have to come together plus the Legislature has to support it, plus the governor has to agree to cut a couple million out of her North Shore acquisition to allow Kane'ohe to have a little piece of the action," she said. "It's a work in progress."

Residents, Naval Radio Station personnel and community leaders have called for the area's preservation for more than 20 years, said John Flanigan, a member of the Friends of Ha'iku Stairs. The Friends have not taken a stance on the bills but Flanigan said he supports them and so does former Navy radio operator, David Jessup, who has a Web site documenting his stay there at www.davewjessup.smugmug.com. "We're big on the military history and (Cypher's) people are big on the Hawaiian history, when you put those two things together, it's a no-brainer that it ought to be developed into a passive park," Flanigan said.

ban the use of plastic shopping bags

Bills before the city and state that would ban the use of
plastic shopping bags were met with opposition by city
administrators and retail industry advocates yesterday, leading
lawmakers to defer action on the issue.

Full article at:
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080206/NEWS01/802060403/1001/

Federal Budget

WASHINGTON — President Bush yesterday submitted a $3.1 trillion budget for the next fiscal year that reflected his strategy for dealing with a costly war and a troubled economy: substantially boost military expenditures, rein in domestic spending - including for Medicare - and more than double the deficit.

Comment: It is the neo-con strategy is to bankrupt the country so the Federal Government can no longer pay for social programs they oppose. You are seeing their stratedgy pay off with the current cuts in medicare.

The budget proposal is a blue print for depression, inflation and a crashing dollar. How can you have depression and inflation at the same time? Wait and see.

HB2407 Haiku Valley Cultural Center

Monday, February 4, 2008

Testimony supporting HB2704, RELATING TO HA‘IKU VALLEY

To the members of the House Committee on Water, Land, Ocean Resources &
Hawaiian Affairs:

My name is Chris Anderson, and this testimony is sent in strong support
of the long-overdue reopening of Ha‘iku Valley— as a managed cultural
and natural preserve under the stewardship of appropriate government
agencies, and in cooperation with committed nonprofits such as The
Friends of Ha‘iku Stairs, the Ko‘olau Foundation, and the Ko‘olaupoko
Hawaiian Civic Club.

I have lived at the primary “entrance” to Ha‘iku Valley for the last 25
years; my home is across from the gate that was built a few years ago
to prevent access into the Valley (after the Omega Station was
decommissioned). As I write this testimony, that gate, once again, is a
puka-filled, torn-up mess that, at best, merely slows the flow of
people into the Valley. It injures the clumsy ones, who fall off of it
or get snagged on the barbwire, and it diverts the others through
nearby holes, or onto adjacent properties, including my neighbors', who
are understandably frustrated and angry about the situation.

This has gone on for years. The gate has never kept out anyone but the
most timid, and it never will, because it is not permanently staffed or
maintained. Also, it is not 50 feet high, reinforced with concrete,
electrified, and patrolled by packs of starving, vicious guard dogs.
Please believe me when I tell you, that is what it would take, and even
then enterprising hikers, pig hunters and tourists would just find a
way around it. They have for years already, day and night. The desire
to hike the Stairway to Heaven or provide food for their families is
too strong, and it will not go away. I have watched people go in and
out of our Valley for a quarter century now, and there was never a
problem until the Coast Guard base was decommissioned and the Valley
supposedly “closed” to the public.

Before that, when access was properly managed, people arranged with the
Coast Guard for entry, parked up on the base, signed the appropriate
waivers, and enjoyed their visits to the aptly named Stairway to
Heaven, or to the Omega Station itself. Then they left. They didn’t
park on our streets, tramp through our yards, drink water from our
hoses without asking, or leave their rubbish on our sidewalks. This
began to happen only in recent years, after the haphazard attempt was
made to close the valley to the public.

In the 1980s, I hiked the Stairway with brownie scouts, Bermuda-shorted
tourists, and 65-year-old mama-sans. It was not a life-threatening
hazard then, and it is in better shape now, since the $1 million spent
on its repair. All we need to make Ha‘iku Valley a recreational success
again is controlled access, dedicated parking on base, and thoughtful,
long-term management.

I served on the citizens’ visioning committee that collaborated with
Wil Chee Planners back in the 1990s to develop just such a plan. It’s
been sitting in mothballs for a decade now because of the inability of
the City & County and the Dept. of Hawaiian Homelands to reach an
accommodation about exchange or sale of the land. Ever since, our
neighborhoods have paid the price for this governmental gridlock. But
our vision for Ha‘iku Valley was simple: you manage it basically like
you manage Hanauma Bay. Fix it up and maintain it, limit access,
provide security and parking, engage nonprofits to help with on-site
education and community activities, and charge reasonable fees for the
public to get in and use facilities like the Stairway.

Ha‘iku Valley can be the natural, cultural, historical and recreational
resource that we imagined then, and that HB2704 begins to envision now
through establishment of the Ha‘iku Valley Cultural Preserve
Commission. It’s time, finally, to conclude the stalled deliberations
that have left the Valley and our community in limbo for years,
generating frustration and resentment in my neighbors, allowing the
valley to go to seed, and allowing its former military facilities to be
vandalized perhaps beyond repair. It's time, finally, to stop depriving
the public of a unique cultural, recreational and educational resource.

It’s time, finally, to open the Valley again, properly.

I ask respectfully that you support HB2704, and ask your colleagues in
the House and Senate to do so as well.
 

Mahalo,


Chris Anderson

Haiku Valley Cultural Park

The future of Haiku Valley hangs in the balance. The status quo is not likely.

Most of the valley is owned to by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. The Department's mission is to provide home lots for Hawaiians and to generate income for them. It is reasonable to expect that they would develop the floor of the valley for homes and for light industrial purposes.

The Koolaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club has a different vision for the valley. They want to provide a park that will celebrate the rich Hawaiian culture of the valley.

As part of the mitigation plan for disturbance caused by the construction of H3, There are several million dollars available to help create the park.

Two bills, HB 2704 and SB2727, will help implement the park.

Which vision for Haiku Valley, would you prefer? Should it be residential and light industrial development or a cultural park that would provide opportunities for education, recreation, and for the restoration of native ecosystems.

The Committee on Water Land and Hawaiian Affairs will hold a hearing on HB2704 on 02-06-08 at 8:30 am in House conference room 312. Your testimony is vital if a cultural park is to become a reality in Haiku Valley.

Submit testimony to: WLHtestimony@Capitol.hawaii.gov

Lifting of $1,000 Corporate Contribution Limit

You cannot have an honest legislature that works for your interests when members are obligated to big money contributors. Two bills, HB 2455 and SB 3141, lift the cap on Corporate contributions.

THESE BILLS WILL RESULT IN MORE LEGISLATORS BEING OBLIGATED TO BIG MONEY SPECIAL INTERESTS

Kaukanawai
****************

Posted by Voter Owned Hawaii = Kory 457-8622

Sample Email to Lists Re: Lifting of $1,000 Corporate
Contribution Limit

SUBJECT: URGENT ALERT – Oppose Bills That Would Open Floodgates
to Corporate Contributions

*Body of Email*

The Hawaii State legislature is fast-tracking two bills that
would create a thousand-fold increase the amount of money
corporations can contribute to political campaigns. Your help is
urgently needed to stop these bills!

CONTEXT

Corporations can donate to candidates running for political
office in several ways. They can donate to various different
kinds of non-candidate committees, and the board members or
employees of the corporation can also donate individually.

Even though corporations can donate indirectly in these ways, in
Hawaii they're also allowed to donate directly to the candidates
themselves. In 1907, the U.S. government banned these types of
direct donations from corporations.

Beginning in 2006, Hawaii limited those direct corporate
donations to $1,000.

Now, there are two pieces of legislation moving in the House and
in the Senate that would lift that $1,000 cap and allow
corporations to give anywhere from $2,000 to $6,000 to as many
candidates as they see fit.

WE STOPPED SIMILAR LEGISLATION IN 2006 AND WE CAN DO IT AGAIN!

Here's how you can help

1. Send in Testimony – below are instructions and talking points

A. Write a quick testimony and file it away to use again. You
can begin your testimony simply by saying something like "I'm
testifying against HB 2455 (or SB 3141), which would lift a
$1,000 cap on corporate donations …" Remember, your testimony
doesn't need to be long, quantity is more important than
quality. Below are some talking points to write your own
testimony, or you can use the sample testimony.

SAMPLE TESTIMONY:

I'm writing in opposition to HB 2455. It's embarrassing that
we're lifting a $1,000 cap on corporate donations when event the
federal government banned these types of contributions in 1907,
101 years ago. Hawaii should be the leader in areas of
government ethics, sustainability, and other important subject
matters. This bill takes us in the wrong direction. It does not
perpetuate anything that is right or just.

Sincerely, ___________

TALKING POINTS (if you want to add to your own testimony)

I. Even the federal government banned direct corporate donation
all the way back in 1907. It's embarrassing that we even allow
them to give money at all. To lift the $1,000 cap would take us
backwards, not forwards.

II. The $1,000 cap on corporate donations is a proven way to
limit corporate interests, and make allows candidates choose
more grassroots style fundraising methods. Between 2004 – 2005,
Governor Lingle raised almost 1 million dollars, but in 2006,
with the $1,000 cap in place, that number dropped to only
$100,000, which is significant as well because 2006 was an
election year, when the fundraising amounts are usually higher.

III. According to a 2005 AARP survey, 86% of Hawaii's residents
of voting age "think campaign contributions moderately or
greatly influence policies supported by elected officials."
Given this fact, we should be working to limit corporate money
and encourage citizen participation. The current $1,000 cap does
both. If candidates can't go to corporations for money, they'll
resort to fundraising from their constituents instead. This is a
positive trend.

B. Email Your Testimony. Send the same email twice, and put a
different subject line in each email. One email is for the House
bill (SB 2455), and one email is for the Senate bill (SB 3141).
Your testimony does not need to be long. The most important
thing is to get something in. The more testimonies we have the
better!

1. Send on email to TO: JUDtestimony@capitol.hawaii.gov (not
case sensitive), and reps@captiol.hawaii.gov

SUBJECT: Opposition of HB 2455

CONTENT: (Cut and Paste your testimony into the body of your
email)

2. Send another email to TO: testimony@capitol.hawaii.gov , and
sens@capitol.hawaii.gov

SUBJECT: Opposition of SB 3141

CONTENT: (Cut and Paste your testimony into the body of your
email)

2. The second thing you can do is call Rep Say and Sen Hanabusa
and ask them to oppose these bills

Rep Calvin Say – 586-6100 Sen Colleen Hanabusa – 586-7793

3. The third thing you can do is write a Letter –to-the-Editor
of the newspaper

A. Use the talking points or just use your testimony to write a
quick letter to the editor. You can begin your letter with
something like "Dear editor, I'm writing to voice my opposition
to house bill 2455 and senate bill 3141. These bills would lift
a $1,000 cap on corporate contributions to candidates running
for office …" or something like that.

B. Send your letters to

1. Honolulu Star Bulletin a. letters@starbulletin.com b. Use
Online Form http://starbulletin.com/forms/letterform.html

2. Honolulu Advertiser a. letters@honoluluadvertiser.com b.
Online Form: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/form/op/letter

C. If you want to, follow up your letter with a phone call to
ask if they'll print it.

IV. Forward this email to your friends!!

Public Campaign Financing

The question is how do you get legislators who truely represent the public when they have to raise big money from special interests. One solution is provide public funding for candidates running for office.

Like so much in politics, the issue of publicly financed campaigns may finally come down to money.

Supporters of publicly financed elections are looking to the Big Island, hoping County Council members there and the county's lobbyist will lead the effort at the state Legislature this year to establish a system of publicly financed elections for that island's nine council races.

The Big Island council last month became the first elected body in Hawai'i to volunteer to try out the proposed new system, a step that could lead to Hawai'i's first fully publicly funded campaigns there in 2010.

The plan is to provide enough public funding to each qualifying council candidate to run a credible campaign without accepting any campaign contributions from special interests. To qualify for public funding, each candidate would have to collect a signature and a $5 donation from 200 registered voters.

The plan has some popular appeal, but Campaign Spending Commission Executive Director Barbara Wong offers some sobering cost calculations: If 50 candidates qualify for public funding in the council primary election, the primary alone would cost about $1 million.

How many people would want to run if they can use someone elses money rather than their own? How do you limit whose campaign will pay for to only viable candidates. One way would require a larger contribution from more registered voters.

Don't dismiss public campaign financing as just another impractical and expensive idea.

Public Campaign Financing may be the only way we will be able to get the big money lobbiests out of government and bring our government back to the people.

The question truely is money. How much are we willing to pay to have our government leaders accountable to us rather than to Big Business?

Beach Access

In what may have been the biggest beach-access rally ever held on O'ahu, hundreds of people mobilized yesterday around the island with placards, shakas and pleas for passing motorists to support public access to the ocean.

There was a whole lot of honking, especially in Kailua, where locked gates have sprung up in recent years preventing beach access.

Is the future of beach access in Hawaii the same as we see on the mainland where beach access to public beaches is blocked by gated communities and walled beach homes? Add to this the effects of beach erosion resulting from rising oceans and we may be looking at a future where the only access to the water is a swimming pool or a boat.

Beach Access Hawaii is trying to assure that the general public can continue to get to the their beaches.

HB2833 - HB78

The two bills would allow classification of Class D & E AG zoned land to Rural. Recognizing that D&E lands are primarily pasture and "pasture" lands include some of the best remnant native species outside of conservation districts, I see this as a very bad bill. What is your take?
Let us know what you think. To participate, you need to be a member so email bsager42@gmail.com for an invitation. Its free.

Water Use in Hawaii

WAILUKU, Maui — Steve Holaday, the former manager of Maui's last sugar plantation, testified at Thursday's session of the Na Wai Eha contested case that more is involved than allocated water from four West Maui watersheds, The Maui News reported.

"My fear is that no matter what happens here, it's going to be the triggering event for what happens to use in East Maui, and the triggering event for the rest of the state. This is the tip of the iceberg," he said.

The result, Holaday said, could be the collapse of agriculture throughout the Islands.

This came on direct examination by Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. attorney David Schulmeister, who was trying to show the effects on the 36,000-acre sugar plantation if water from the four streams in West Maui known as Na Wai Eha are redirected away from sugar.

At the end of 90 minutes, Schulmeister asked Holaday, "Is there anything else you would like to tell Dr. (Lawrence) Miike?," the hearings officer.

"Not without getting tears in my eyes," Holaday said.

HC&S draws as much as 30 million gallons a day from Na Wai Eha — the Waihe'e, Waiehu, 'Iao and Waikapu streams. It gets as much as 300 million gallons a day from the East Maui Irrigation system, which taps watersheds from Ha'iku to Nahiku under permits from the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

Hui O Na Wai Eha and Maui Tomorrow Foundation have petitioned the state Commission on Water Resource Management to set permanent instream flow standards for the Na Wai Eha streams that would reduce the amount now diverted to the plantation irrigation systems.

Hearings on 2/6

AGR 8:30 Rm 325
HB2501 and HB2516 re biosecurity
HB2517 Prohibiting Sale of invasive species

JDL 9am Rm 016
Bills related to Campaign spending and reapportionment
SB2579, 2630, 2777 3140 3141

FIN 1:30 Rm 308
HB 2907 Ferile Pig Control

WTL 2:45 Rm 414
HB 2525 Providing access to Haena Beach Park
HB3206 Sets up Kawainui Marsh Advisory Council