The Hawaii Supreme Court reversed Tuesday a ruling that barred lawyers from helping to establish medical marijuana dispensaries.
A formal opinion issued last month by the Disciplinary Board of the Hawaii Supreme Court concluded that Hawaii lawyers could not “provide legal services to facilitate the establishment and operation of a medical marijuana business,” because selling pot is still considered a federal crime.
After an expedited public comment period to amend the rules following outcry from about two dozen local attorneys, including former Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle and former state Attorney General David Louie, the court changed the rules to say lawyers “may counsel or assist a client regarding conduct expressly permitted by Hawaii law, provided that the lawyer counsels the client about the legal consequences.”
The Legislature passed a bill this year that allows for 16 medical marijuana dispensaries to open in Hawaii on July 15.
Local online tour company flourishing
FareHarbor, a Honolulu-based online tour and activity booking company, said it has booked more than 1 million tours so far in 2015 with more than $150 million in revenue generated for its clients, tour and activity operators.
The 2-year-old company said it processed over $100 million in credit card transaction between January and August, an increase of nearly 733 percent from the same period a year ago. FareHarbor started in 2013 with five employees in Honolulu and 25 tour-operator clients. It did $4 million in tour bookings that year. Now the company has 90 employees, and its service is used by 1,200 tour and activity companies in 50 states and seven countries, the company said in a news release.
EV charging station opening in Kaneohe
Hawaiian Electric Co., in partnership with Bishop Street Commercial LLC, will open an electric-vehicle charging station at Ko‘olau Center in Kaneohe across from the Valley of the Temples.
HECO said, “This fast charger will help eliminate ‘range anxiety’ for EV drivers traveling to and from points from Kaneohe to Kahuku and beyond. With a fast charger, a near-depleted battery can recharge to about 80 percent capacity in 30 minutes, less for smaller recharges.”
HECO said the chargers support CHAdeMO (used by Asian EVs like the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi i-MiEV and Kia Soul EV) and CCS (used by American and European EVs like the BMW i3).
Hawaii tops list of best islands in the U.S.
Maui, Kauai, Oahu and the Big Island, in that order, are the best islands in the United States, according to the annual Conde Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards.
The magazine’s scores for top-ranked Maui and second-ranked Kauai bested that of Palawan in the Philippines, which topped the list of 20 Best Islands in the World.
Honolulu ranked seventh among the 15 Best Big Cities in the U.S. The top five are New York, San Francisco, Chicago, fourth-ranked Boston and fifth-ranked New Orleans.
The Koa Kea Hotel & Resort at Poipu Beach on Kauai ranked 43rd among the 100 Top Hotels and Resorts in the world, and the Montage Kapalua Bay ranked at No. 67. No Hawaii hotels are among the magazine’s top 25 in the U.S. Hawaiian Airlines appears at No. 3 among the top five U.S. airlines, behind Virgin America at No. 1 and JetBlue at No. 2.
ON THE MOVE
Associa Co. has named Richard Emery vice president of government affairs of their firm in Hawaii. He was previously a former president and principal broker of Hawaii First, who recently unified with its sister company Associa Hawaii to become a single entity, which allowed Emery to have a new title and position. Emery has been in Hawaii’s community management industry since 1997.
The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau has named Tom Mullen its new senior vice president and chief operating officer. He was previously a chief administrative officer with the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board. Prior to that, Mullen served multiple positions for 27 years at American Express in Hawaii, including as vice president of sales and account development merchant services, general manager/director for merchant/travel services and manager of business development and strategic planning.
