By Keli‘i Akina Yesterday was the last day of Hawaii’s 2024 state legislative session, and what a session it was. The best news to come out of it was that our lawmakers passed a major income tax-relief bill, HB2404, which Gov. Josh Green is almost certain to sign because it was part of his much-touted “Green […] The post People of Hawaii win big at Capitol appeared first on Hawaii Reporter ..read more

News has been piling up about many of the bills that made it through this year’s legislative session.  We will be discussing some of those in the weeks ahead.  But this week we will be focusing on some of those bills that almost made it to the end but fell off just before the finish […] The post The Also-Rans appeared first on Hawaii Reporter ..read more

Redding has been a long time innovator when it comes to reloading technology. Likewise, I’ve been a long-time fan and when a Henry lever action rifle (chambered in .44 Magnum) came into my life, I needed to start loading for it. My next step was to acquire a set of Redding’s new NxGEN Carbide dies. […] The post Redding’s New NxGEN Carbide Dies set the standard appeared first on Hawaii Reporter ..read more

Those of you watching the Legislature probably know that we are now in the home stretch.  Both the House and the Senate have had a chance to consider bills, and this is the stage of the legislative session where differences get worked out between House and Senate versions of bills.  It also has little public […] The post The Home Stretch at the Legislature appeared first on Hawaii Reporter ..read more

By Keli‘i Akina Every once in a while, something happens that makes you proud to have worked so hard for so many years. For me, that something happened yesterday at the Legislature, where at least five bills strongly supported by my colleagues and I at the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii were passed out of conference […] The post 2024 Legislature poised to take big steps toward lower cost of living appeared first on Hawaii Reporter ..read more

By Keli‘i Akina Testimony at this year’s Hawaii State Legislature has made it pretty clear why medical services in Hawaii should be exempted from the state general excise tax. At a recent legislative hearing on a bill that would do just that, dozens of doctors and healthcare advocates explained how the GET makes practicing in […] The post Hawaii is odd state out when it comes to taxing medical services appeared first on Hawaii Reporter ..read more

By Keli‘i Akina We must give credit where it’s due: Hawaii lawmakers seem to be getting serious about solving our healthcare shortages. Problems such as Hawaii’s doctor and nursing shortages existed before the COVID-19 crisis, but facing such a healthcare emergency without enough healthcare workers made it clear that the issue couldn’t be ignored any […] The post Nurse agreement could help heal Hawaii’s healthcare ills appeared first on Hawaii Reporter ..read more

Those of you who like to watch the legislative process unfold have probably wandered through (virtually, perhaps) a number of committee hearings.  Seeing these, you have probably gotten a taste of the power that legislative committee chairs wield.  The more bills that need to go through the committee, the more powerful that committee is.  For […] The post And Now the Big Guns Come Out appeared first on Hawaii Reporter ..read more

For those of you who care about citizen journalism and the free flow of ideas here in Hawaii Nei, you probably should know about ThinkTech Hawaii.  For many years it has been providing a platform for people to broadcast about all sorts of issues important to society and government in Hawaii. My first appearance on […] The post Aloha ThinkTech appeared first on Hawaii Reporter ..read more

There are a couple of measures moving in this year’s Legislature that are important for the many small businesses here that do business in passthrough entities (partnerships or S Corporations, mostly).  So, here’s the problem.  The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2016 put a $10,000 hard cap on individual taxpayer deductions for state and […] The post The PTE (Passthrough Entity) Problem appeared first on Hawaii Reporter ..read more