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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...
Free speech beats ‘free rider’
In a month that has seen several controversial Supreme Court decisions, the Justices may have saved the biggest one for last. On Wednesday, the Court handed down its decision in Janus v. AFSCME, which challenged the constitutionality of requiring government employees...
Abolishing mandatory fees could help unions
Will Hawaii’s public unions lose power if their membership dues become voluntary under a pending Supreme Court ruling in the case known as Janus v. AFSCME? Probably not, according to panelists at an event I moderated last week for the Federalist Society of Hawaii...
Hawaii unions need not fear Janus case
Government employee unions are such a fact of life in Hawaii that it’s difficult to imagine our state without them. They hold immense political power and have shaped our laws (and liabilities) in numerous ways. The question now is whether a case being heard by...
Maui hospitals point the way
After years of hemorrhaging millions of Hawaii taxpayer dollars, the three state-run hospitals in Maui County have been turned over to a public-private partnership that now is improving the quality of the medical services at those facilities while reducing their...