Question: In late 2022 the city was talking about retiring the rainbow license plate but said no change would occur in 2023. Have they made a decision about 2024?
Answer: Yes. Hawaii’s distinctive rainbow license plate won’t be replaced after all, at least not for about 15 years, according to Kim Hashiro, director of Honolulu’s Customer Services Department, who discussed this topic Thursday on the city’s OneOahu podcast.
The life span of the popular plate will be extended by issuing rainbow plates starting with the letters Y and A, B, C and D, she said. The A-through-D series was never used on the rainbow plate design, she said. That series was used on license plates that depicted a Hawaiian warrior, which were issued from 1981 through 1990. The rainbow plate was first issued in 1991, starting with the letter E on Oahu.
When the city said the rainbow plate might be retired in 2024, as its current alpha-numeric sequence was running out, reader feedback was swift, with many encouraging the city to get creative to keep the rainbow design going. Many residents like the look of the plate, which features a colorful arc on a white background, with letters and numbers embossed in black, and police have praised the design’s high contrast and visibility.
“What we decided to do in collaboration with all the other counties … is to maximize usage of the rainbow plates. Right now Hawaii County is on the letter Z, and Oahu is on W. We still have some (letters) left, so we are going to use those up. A through D were never issued as rainbow plates. They were actually the warrior plates. They skipped that series (on the rainbow design). So we’re going to utilize Y and then A through D, and we’re estimating that will give us another at least 15 years plus of rainbow plates. … Collectively the counties all agreed that’s what they would prefer to do, so that’s what we’re going to end up doing,” Hashiro said on the podcast.
Q: Is it lawful for a Honolulu business to refuse to accept cash as payment for their goods and/or services?
A: The Federal Reserve’s website says that “there is no federal statute mandating that a private business, a person, or an organization must accept currency or coins as payment for goods or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether to accept cash unless there is a state law that says otherwise.”
We couldn’t find a Hawaii law that says otherwise. We also checked with the Retail Merchants of Hawaii, whose president was unaware of any state or county law that requires Honolulu merchants to accept cash as a form of payment. We did find news stories about some Hawaii businesses declining cash during the pandemic, preferring a “contactless” system that relied on credit or debit cards.
Mahalo
On Wednesday after I had lunch with a friend, my car wouldn’t start in the Waiakamilo Shopping Center parking lot. As I was fumbling on my phone to reach a live person at AAA, two visiting gentlemen from San Francisco who were exiting McDonald’s asked my friend, who was at my car, if she needed assistance. She explained my situation and was going to see whether Firestone could lend us jumper cables. One of the visitors, Joe, walked over with her and was able to use a jumper from the kind Firestone manager, Flo. Mahalo to my friend Roxanne, Joe and his friend and the Firestone manager, Flo, for helping me. My car was up and running and I was home before the estimated wait time for AAA (an hour and a half). Upon arriving home my stepson James drove my car to NAPA and installed a new battery. What was looking to be a horrible afternoon turned into such a blessing. I am grateful for their kindness and swift actions. Aloha ke Akua. — A reader
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
