Ka`u News Briefs March 16, 2011

Illustration shows Hawai`i state government's required funding.

THE PROPOSED 2012 STATE BUDGET from the governor is accompanied by a bold illustration showing how much of the spending is required to pay for unemployment benefits and public employee benefits and such costs as infrastructure maintenance and education. Unemployment insurance alone will cost the state $262 million in special funds for extended benefits to unemployed workers, $54 million for public worker health care and retirement funds, $26.5 million for services for citizens from the Marshall Islands, Republic of Palau and Federal States of Micronesia, bond interest payments of $828,000 and $1 million to pay for dam safety. 

     The governor also wants to restore positions at the state Historic Preservation Division, which will accelerate permitting; rebuild the agricultural inspection system; and restore a procurement office to provide transparency and efficiency in government spending.
     The budget also provides $49.5 million for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families; $22 million for state highways; $14 million for schools to cover transportation, nurse services, textbooks and a fund for communities to use school facilities. Also for education is tuition assistance for Hawai`i National Guard programs and athletics. For energy, the governor wants $5.7 million for the Public Utilities Commission and Consumer Advocate to move forward on a clean energy agenda.

GOV. NEIL ABERCROMBIE said yesterday he was pleased by the ongoing recovery of the visitor industry following the arrival of tsunami waves from Japan last Friday. He toured the King Kamehameha Beach Hotel and saw guests checking in as the cleanup in the tsunami-flooded lobby continued. He witnessed rapid repairs on Ali`i Drive, where the pavement was crumbled near the seawall. The state Department of Transportation announced that the Kona pier will be ready for the shore boats from the 2,000-passenger ship scheduled to come into Kona today. Passenger ships are also coming into Hilo, where visitors disembark and tour the volcano, traveling as far as the black sand beach, and dining at Ka`u and Volcano restaurants.
     The governor flew over the island in a Hawai`i National Guard C-26 prop jet. Meanwhile, the cleanup of the Ka`u and Kona coasts continues, with state and volunteer divers trying to pull everything off the fragile reefs that doesn’t belong there. Volunteers were also drying out the collections of historic papers, maps books and other items that had been stored in the basement of Hulihe`e Palace, which was flooded with four feet of water by tsunami waves.
     Abercrombie said that FEMA will provide aid and the Small Business Administration will provide loans for victims of the tsunami. 

PUC director Mina Morita with Blue Planet Foundation
 executive director Jeff Mikulina after her senate confirmation.
  Mikulina is former director of the Hawai`i Sierra Club.
Photo courtesy of Blue Planet Foundation

MINA MORITA has been confirmed by the state senate and sworn in as the new director of the Public Utilities Commission. A graduate of Kamehameha Schools, she is known for her environmental work at Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, Kaua`i Children’s Discovery Museum, Hanalei Community Association and Environment Hawai`i. She was a Kaua`i planning commissioner and has been a full-time member of the state House of Representatives since 1997. As the new Public Utilities chief she will be involved with the state’s renewable energy initiative and involved in the decisions on which energies are appropriate for Hawai`i. The Public Utilities Commission will be involved in decisions regarding the proposed agreement for Hawaiian Electric Company to purchase biofuel from the proposed refinery near Pahala and biofuels farm between Na`alehu and Pahala. 

SENATE BILL 1347 passed the Senate and is now being considered by the House. It would allow the PUC to approve Hawaiian Electric’s proposal to slightly raise electric bills across the state to help pay for biofuel that would be produced in Ka`u by `Aina Koa Pono, which has promised some 200 permanent jobs here. The bill goes to the finance committee and, if passed, to the full House of Representatives.

POTASSIUM IODIDE should not be ingested by people anticipating radiation fallout to reach here from Japan, the state Department of Health said yesterday in an advisory to the public. The statement said that the damage to nuclear reactors in Japan has led to concerns about radiation exposure in Hawai`i and other parts of the world. Interim Health Director Loretta Fuddy said, “There is no increased risk of harmful levels of radiation exposure in Hawai`i based on our situation to date.” She also warned against taking iodine unnecessarily as some people are allergic, particularly those already allergic to shellfish and people with some skin disorders and thyroid problems. She said that if such an emergency should occur, the health department would provide the potassium iodide to the public.

Brenda Ho

Dr. Robert Irvine

SENATOR GIL KAHELE will meet the public and staff at Ka`u Hospital this Saturday, March 19 at 3 p.m. The meet and greet session follows the East Hawai`i Region of HHSC Board of Directors meeting led by its president, orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Robert Irvine, and vice president Brenda Ho. Ho is also executive director of Hospice of Hilo. The board is holding its meeting in the hospital to show support for the staff and community and their commitment to building the capacity of Ka`u Hospital to meet the health care needs of Ka`u, said the hospital’s administrator Merilyn Harris. She will give a brief presentation to highlight improvements and plans for the local health facility.