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“Hawaii Together”

Institute for Justice urges Hawaii to remove laws holding back workers

Hawaii has the most burdensome occupational licensing laws in the country, according to a public interest law firm based in Arlington, Virginia. Jessica Poitras, an attorney with the Institute for Justice, explained on this week’s episode of “Hawaii Together” that not only does Hawaii license more jobs than most states,

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Why Hawaii zoning laws should be abolished

Hawaii’s zoning laws prevent growth, are socially divisive, contribute to Hawaii’s high home prices and ought to be abolished, according to Nolan Gray, a former city planner in New York and research director for an housing advocacy group called California YIMBY. Gray was the featured guest on the Nov. 22,

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How ‘sandboxes’ could help Hawaii prosper

Some say Hawaii needs more sandboxes — and not just the kind you played in as a kid.  Rees Empey, director of state government affairs at the Libertas Institute, based in Lehi, Utah, says just as childrens’ sandboxes foster imagination, so do “regulatory sandboxes” encourage innovation and job growth, by

Read More →

Short-term rental ban faces strong challenge based on property rights

Opponents of Honolulu’s newly enacted ban on short-term rentals of less than 90 days, except in resort areas, have won their first legal battle in defense of property rights. Attorney Gregory Kugle talked about his courtroom win on the Oct. 25, 2022, episode of ThinkTech Hawaii’s “Hawaii Together” program with

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The ‘mailbox conspiracy’ and what it says about corruption in Hawaii

Hawaii doesn’t have any more or less corruption than any other part of the country, but it does lack whistleblowers and introspection, which makes combating corruption so difficult, according to retired federal public defender Alexander Silvert. Silvert represented a man falsely accused of felony theft of a mailbox by former

Read More →

‘People times freedom’ hailed as formula for wealth and progress

We often hear that the world’s natural resources are running out, humans are in danger and our margin of error to save the planet is getting thin. But Grassroot Scholar Gale Pooley has an intriguing message to share of hope and infinite prosperity.   Pooley is an associate professor of business

Read More →

How the Jones Act affects Puerto Rico; ‘the uncanny parallels’ with Hawaii

Hawaii and Puerto Rico share many similarities. Among those is the devastating effect on island economies of the Jones Act, which prohibits international vessels from carrying cargo between U.S. ports. “There are some uncanny parallels between Puerto Rico and Hawaii,” Grassroot Institute President and CEO Keli‘i Akina said during the

Read More →

Hawaii County official upbeat about island’s housing future

Homebuilding on Hawaii island entails many challenges, but the county’s planning director is upbeat about the future. “From a Hawaii County perspective, we’re solving [the problems] as fast as we can,” said Zendo Kern, who was appointed to the planning director job nearly two years ago. “When we first came

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New water bureaucracy bad news for Maui housing

Maui’s water bureaucracy just got a lot more bureaucratic, and that could cause significant delays in homebuilding on the island. The state Commission on Water Resource Management, the state agency that administers the State Water Code, in June designated West Maui as a surface water and groundwater management area after

Read More →

Institute for Justice urges Hawaii to remove laws holding back workers

Hawaii has the most burdensome occupational licensing laws in the country, according to a public interest law firm based in Arlington, Virginia. Jessica Poitras, an attorney with the Institute for Justice, explained on this week’s episode of “Hawaii Together” that not only does Hawaii license more jobs than most states,

Read More →

Why Hawaii zoning laws should be abolished

Hawaii’s zoning laws prevent growth, are socially divisive, contribute to Hawaii’s high home prices and ought to be abolished, according to Nolan Gray, a former city planner in New York and research director for an housing advocacy group called California YIMBY. Gray was the featured guest on the Nov. 22,

Read More →

How ‘sandboxes’ could help Hawaii prosper

Some say Hawaii needs more sandboxes — and not just the kind you played in as a kid.  Rees Empey, director of state government affairs at the Libertas Institute, based in Lehi, Utah, says just as childrens’ sandboxes foster imagination, so do “regulatory sandboxes” encourage innovation and job growth, by

Read More →

Short-term rental ban faces strong challenge based on property rights

Opponents of Honolulu’s newly enacted ban on short-term rentals of less than 90 days, except in resort areas, have won their first legal battle in defense of property rights. Attorney Gregory Kugle talked about his courtroom win on the Oct. 25, 2022, episode of ThinkTech Hawaii’s “Hawaii Together” program with

Read More →

The ‘mailbox conspiracy’ and what it says about corruption in Hawaii

Hawaii doesn’t have any more or less corruption than any other part of the country, but it does lack whistleblowers and introspection, which makes combating corruption so difficult, according to retired federal public defender Alexander Silvert. Silvert represented a man falsely accused of felony theft of a mailbox by former

Read More →

‘People times freedom’ hailed as formula for wealth and progress

We often hear that the world’s natural resources are running out, humans are in danger and our margin of error to save the planet is getting thin. But Grassroot Scholar Gale Pooley has an intriguing message to share of hope and infinite prosperity.   Pooley is an associate professor of business

Read More →

How the Jones Act affects Puerto Rico; ‘the uncanny parallels’ with Hawaii

Hawaii and Puerto Rico share many similarities. Among those is the devastating effect on island economies of the Jones Act, which prohibits international vessels from carrying cargo between U.S. ports. “There are some uncanny parallels between Puerto Rico and Hawaii,” Grassroot Institute President and CEO Keli‘i Akina said during the

Read More →

Hawaii County official upbeat about island’s housing future

Homebuilding on Hawaii island entails many challenges, but the county’s planning director is upbeat about the future. “From a Hawaii County perspective, we’re solving [the problems] as fast as we can,” said Zendo Kern, who was appointed to the planning director job nearly two years ago. “When we first came

Read More →

New water bureaucracy bad news for Maui housing

Maui’s water bureaucracy just got a lot more bureaucratic, and that could cause significant delays in homebuilding on the island. The state Commission on Water Resource Management, the state agency that administers the State Water Code, in June designated West Maui as a surface water and groundwater management area after

Read More →