Opening day kicks off with hints of bills to come, daylong protest
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Laura Gray, left, and Elizabeth Riegels showed their opinion as they listened to speakers at the state Capitol courtyard Wednesday at the opening day of the Hawaii state Legislature.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Legislators opened the 2016 session Wednesday at the state Capitol with promises to take on homelessness, legalized gambling and leasehold lands.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
While her father, Rep. Feki Pouha, far left, greeted visitors, Hilinai Pouha spent some time with her grandfather, Joseph Pouha.
Lawmakers launched the 2016 session of the state Legislature on Wednesday with brief speeches and little fanfare while activists staged a daylong rally in the Capitol courtyard to draw attention to issues ranging from pesticides and genetically modified foods to the Thirty Meter Telescope and Hawaiian sovereignty.
Inside the Capitol, House Speaker Joseph Souki offered up some proposals that are certain to be controversial, including a plan to require that all Hawaii doctors accept Medicaid and Medicare patients.
As a packed gallery looked on, Souki also proposed to “reinvent the rules” governing commercial property leases to require that owners of commercial real estate sell those properties to lessees, or the businesses that lease those properties.
Souki said his proposal is similar to Hawaii’s 1967 Land Reform Act, which forced the sale of leasehold residential lands to the owners of single-family homes on those lands.
The House will also “consider” a proposal to establish a state lottery, Souki (D-Waihee-Waiehu, Wailuku) said, but he provided few details. Souki has long been a supporter of legalized gambling here.
Hawaii is one of only two states with no legal form of gambling, and it is unclear whether there is enough support among lawmakers to move a lottery bill forward. Vice Speaker John Mizuno (D-Kamehameha Heights, Kalihi Valley) agreed the House would consider a bill, but said he “would not hold my breath” hoping for it to pass.
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Souki said he expects there will be strong support in the House this year to address homelessness and affordable housing. The bills he plans to propose dealing with Medicaid and Medicare patients and commercial leasehold conversion “may take a little more time, but some things just need to be introduced so that discussion can continue.”
A string of locally owned shops and stores have shut down in recent years because of increasing lease rents, “and it will not stop at anytime soon, driving more and more of them out of business,” Souki said.
“We can level the playing field and change for the better the business landscape across the state if we are willing to reinvent the rules that govern leasehold lands,” he said.
Rep. Gene Ward (R-Kalama Valley, Queen’s Gate, Hawaii Kai) described Souki’s proposal as “the Great Mahele” for commercial real estate, and predicted commercial property owners will fight the proposal “tooth and nail.” The Great Mahele of 1848 was a redistribution of land that permitted foreigners to buy large tracts and alienated many Hawaiians from their ancestral lands.
Ward predicted that even if Souki persuaded lawmakers to pass such a law, small businesses likely would not be able to afford the lands and large mainland companies would snap up the properties.
On the issue of health care, some Hawaii doctors refuse to accept Medicare or Medicaid patients, and Souki said he will introduce a bill to require physicians to see those patients. The measure “will help our kupuna, as well as those who must seek medical care but cannot afford it,” he said.
“This might be a bitter pill for the doctors, but we need to look at that,” he told reporters.
He added, “We cannot continue the way we’re going with people not being treated because they don’t have the income. That is wrong.”
After the opening-day session, Christopher Flanders, executive director of the Hawaii Medical Association, said that kind of law “would be a hard one for us to swallow, frankly.” He said he is not aware of any other state that requires doctors to accept Medicare and Medicaid.
Doctors generally break even on the Medicare patients they see, but lose money on each Medicaid patient they treat, Flanders said. Physicians have come to look at Medicaid patients as “charity work,” he said.
Hawaii already has a doctor shortage in many rural communities, and that kind of a law “would be looked at unfavorably by physicians who are looking to move to Hawaii,” he said.
House Health Chairwoman Della Au Belatti (D-Moiliili, Makiki, Tantalus) said Souki’s proposal “is a good conversation starter,” and said she would hold hearings on Souki’s bill. “We have a challenge with access (to health care), and so we need to look at all ideas on the table,” she said.
While Souki delivered his opening-day remarks, Senate President Ron Kouchi highlighted some of the major areas of concern for the Senate this year, including access to health care in rural areas, homelessness and the closure of Hawaii’s last sugar-cane plantation on Maui.
Kouchi (D-Kauai, Niihau) said specific measures to address these issues would be announced in the coming days as bills are introduced.
With close to 700 Hawaiian Commercial &Sugar Co. workers on Maui set to lose their jobs in the coming months, he said leaders need to employ innovative ways to stimulate the economy and find uses for the agricultural land.
He trumpeted the idea of installing a machine that could produce cheap animal feed, biofuels and natural gas for vehicles. The state Agribusiness Development Corp. has been working on the project for several years.
“These are the kinds of things that are important to us as far as looking for the opportunities that we have and not being stymied by what we think are disasters,” he said.
Kouchi said Sen. Jill Tokuda (D-Kailua, Kaneohe) would be introducing a package of bills to address Hawaii’s growing homeless problem. Beyond shelters, he said it was important for lawmakers to focus on long-term solutions, including affordable housing.
“Once we have the shelters and transitional programs, there has to be somewhere for them to go,” he said.
Kouchi, who kept his comments brief, also spoke of the need for civil public discourse around controversial issues as the 2016 legislative session gets underway.
“The function of the democracy is to embrace dissent and minority opinion to ensure that someone who has a different opinion is not afraid to come forward and express those points of view,” he said. “But at the end of the day, the function of the democracy is that the majority must carry the day and move forward.”
Outside the House and Senate chambers, community advocates and protesters complained that lawmakers weren’t hearing their concerns year after year. In a rally dubbed “People Over Profits,” speakers called for the need to regulate Hawaii’s biotech companies, stimulate more local farming, squelch the NextEra deal to purchase Hawaiian Electric Co. and address the growing homeless problem.
“I’ve been coming to this building for five years now,” Molokai activist Walter Ritte, who has been a champion for Hawaiian sovereignty issues and a leader in Hawaii’s anti-GMO movement, told a lively crowd. “These guys need hearing aids.”
The rally, organized by the Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action, Hawaii SEED and Hawaii’s Sierra Club, was full of support for Hawaiian sovereignty with people at one point chanting, “We are not Americans.”
Kat Brady, coordinator of the Community Alliance on Prisons, encouraged the crowd to fight for the cause most important to them this year.
“This building is supposed to be our building,” she said. “This is all about people over profits.”
52 responses to “Opening day kicks off with hints of bills to come, daylong protest”
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Catering to both the rich and poor at the same time is a daunting task.
“We are not Americans.”
Then get out!
I wonder what they would say if Hawaii was “annexed” by another country? “We are not Chinese.”? “We are not Imperialist Japanese.”? “We are not Russian or British.”? (Or insert another major expanding, militarized country from back then.)
Aue no hoʻi. . .he Hawaiʻi au!
Are you referring to Ted Cruze? 🙂
Chevrolet Cruze.
leoscott: Agree!
To address affordable housing, Speaker Joe Souki should have sought to mandate the lowering of real estate sales commissions to 1% from 6%. A 5% savings in Hawaii’s sky high housing costs would go a long way in making housing more affordable for our residents.
Sure, but then good luck finding a realtor. Most of them out there don’t exactly make millions.
So exactly why should doctors be forced to take Medicaid and Medicare patients in order to work? Same consequence, no free market decision making and we will only get the worse doctors who cannot find work in another state. All the good doctors in Hawaii will leave or retire. With only a 1% commission, the number of licensed real estate sales will shrink from over 7,500 to a couple of hundred as well.
So you’re saying follow one bad idea with another?
The industry standard of 6% is not a mandate of law. You can negotiate lower commissions or buy directly from the owner using an attorney.
should use helpusell haha
So a house will only be $950,000 instead of a cool million? Hardly will make a difference. Tell me are you willing to take a 80+% cut in income to help out?
Most residents do not want to be a millionaire with their house. That only increases the property tax.
We already have a DIY ,help you sell your real estate company at one percent.
Or to discourage out of state investors from acquiring our valuable real estate, we should impose on higher fee on non-resident investor sale of real property.
Why? Hawaii’s economy will suffer overnight if we have fee restrictions for the outsiders.
To address affordable housing, Speaker Joe Souki should have sought to mandate the lowering of real estate commissions to 1% from 6%. A 5% savings in Hawaii’s sky high housing costs would go a long way in making housing more affordable for our residents.
HOw ridiculous. You honestly think that by lowing commissions the cost of buying a house will decrease? The only change will be the realtor going broke and the p4ice staying the same. Thecommission does not set the price of the house, the commission is paid atclosing. Also, how dare the state force doctors to take Medicare or Medicaid patients. This is still a freecountry. Lowing commissions and forcing doctors to accept allpatients is not going to address anyproblems thatwe have.
Lowering commissions will certainly allow for more sales. A typical house may sell for 600K, which calculates to 36K commission at 6%. If the rate were at 3%, the seller will save 18K. The archaic 6% commission system, which many agents refuse to negotiate, is slowly being taken over by more modern sub rate companies. Smart sellers should investigate their options of agents carefully when selling. A lower commission will allow for more savings and price negotiation which will benefit both buyers and sellers. The only ones opposed are the selfish realtors.
If people are willing to pay $800K for my house, I’m charging $800K. If more stays in my pocket — that’s fine but I ain’t lowering the price.
The housing in Hawaii is no longer affordable due to a lot of mainland and foreign investors. Kakaako is a big farce when it comes to affordable units. They only allot 10% of units sold as affordable. What local family is able to afford a 1 million dollar unit in Kakaako? These outside investors MUST PAY A HIGHER TAX RATE!!!
The price of housing (and everything) may have something to do with supply and demand. Or, am I the only one that ever took a course in economics?
“Hawaii already has a doctor shortage in many rural communities, and that kind of a law “would be looked at unfavorably by physicians who are looking to move to Hawaii,” he said.”
Good. The last thing we need is more rich people moving here, driving up the price of everything.
Larry, I truly hope you’re being sarcastic.
It was tongue in cheek. 🙂
Move to Russia where everyone is poor and dependant on the government.
No mention of introducing any bills to address the concerns of the public protesting on opening day. For the record the public is starting to loss patience with the government’s lack of addressing anything that really concerns them, ie GMO, homelessness, AC in the schools, sea level rise/ global warming, Hawaiian issues, traffic etc….
Chill out? It’s just an acting. Lights. Camera. Action. Take, one! Cut! Excellent Job, incumbents.
The protesters would have better luck with their agendas if the engaged their representatives directly.
Forcing doctors to accept medicare or medicaid is a tough one. Normally, I’d say this is Hawaii socialism at it’s finest, but access to health care is a big one. What happens if all doctors stop accepting medicare? What would retirees do? Getting your own insurance would run about 500.00 per person per month (when drugs, hospital stays, etc. are factored in). The elderly would be in BIG trouble.
Private medical practice is dying and a mandate like this would just speed up its demise. The agenda is socialized medicine and our legislature is only doing its part. For a peek into our future check out the doctors strike in Great Britain (http://www.bbc.com/news/health-35286343).
I fear you may be right. I have several friends in the medical industry and they all say the same thing.
Let’s face it. Doctors get into the business to help people sure…but also to make a very nice living. Doctor shortages are only going to get worse with proposed bills like this. Tough one.
The doctors who have no student loans will be willing to accept Medicare.
One would hope. Maybe make it less cumbersome for doctors to get reimbursed. From what I hear, the red tape alone are what causes many doctors not to accept medicare or medicaid.
My elderly parent’s doctor only takes patients with Medicare.
Let’s see the brilliance, the absolute genius of Hawaii’s governance in action, the main product of which, if Souki has his way, is a series of totally predictable “Unexpected Consequences”.
Mandate doctors lose money by taking medicaid patients? Result: Guaranteed doctor shortage as MDs leave in droves for friendlier locations.
Mandate property owners sell to lessors: Either a decline in construction of commercial property or economic decline as properties are no longer used for most economically productive purposes, you pick.
It appears that we voters are idiots governed by imbeciles.
Add ,forcing tourist to pay the transit accommodation tax only to be funneled to a pork barrel project that is not conducive to the visitor’s industry.
Stolen money is a lot easier to spend than money you’ve had to work for.
Hard to raise taxes in Hawaii, because we tend to please everyone with a tax break.
These proposals have a snowball’s chance in hell of passing. Forced fee conversion for commercial property?The big landowner (KS) will squash that in seconds. Real Estate Commissions to 1%? Force Dr. to take Medicaid? These are moves for show only folks. Even if they did pass (which they won’t) they won’t hold up in court.
Don’t hold your breath, compromise is more important to these folks than getting things done. “Main ting everybody stay happy”
Yep. Incumbents have that, There is always a tomorrow attitude.
Joe Souki needs to move to China or Russia with his socialistic ideas. I hate listening to him speak on TV, he sounds uneducated. Oh, looking at him even worse…
I rather look at my puppies.
My puppy too
Reminds me of Mr. Magoo.
Perhaps old Joe should read the Constitution some time.
Communism at work. Guess they did win the cold war here.
Proceeds from gambling could fund educational & homeless issues.
Bingo ! I mean lottery