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‘Rebel’ Ed Case urges Jones Act reform
There haven’t been many prominent Hawaii politicians willing to openly criticize the federal maritime law known as the Jones Act. Fortunately, there are a few notable exceptions, and it was my pleasure to interview one of those “rebels” on this week’s episode of my...
‘CWAs’ a recipe for disaster
Around the country, states and municipalities are changing their procurement regulations to allow for more competitive bidding. That’s a best practice that saves money on government projects. Hawaii, however, appears to be moving in the opposite direction. This week,...
Testimony on ‘Community Workforce Agreements’ — Bill 37
This testimony was submitted by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii to the Honolulu City Council Committee on Budget, July 24, 2019. RE: Bill 37 (2019) — RELATING TO COMMUNITY WORKFORCE AGREEMENTS. [1] Aloha, Chair [Joey] Manahan, Vice Chair [Brandon] Elefante and...
Public pension reform will benefit government workers
This is a letter to the editor that was published Monday, Dec. 3, in The Garden Island, which headlined it, “Pension problem needs solving.” Your recent guest column, “Don’t begrudge pensions for public employees,” (TGI, Nov. 27) misrepresented the...
Hawaii union law potentially unconstitutional
Act 007 appears to be in violation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ‘Janus’ decision HONOLULU, Sept. 27, 2018 >> A new Hawaii law governing union membership dues may be unconstitutional, according to attorneys Tony Gill and Jacob Huebert, who...