Dr. Green goes to Washington: Hawaiʻi Gov. Josh Green has become the leading voice — at least for the moment — opposing the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Our very own Dr. Gov. Green was all over Washington, D.C., this week, lobbying senators and telling anyone who would listen about the time in 2019 when he led a medical mission to Samoa to fight a raging measles outbreak only to find Kennedy and his anti-vax campaign had gotten there first.

The country had experienced a drop in vaccination rates before the outbreak, driven in part by fear after the death of two infants in 2018 who had received a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine that had been improperly prepared.

But Kennedy has also been blamed for exacerbating the problem.

In 2019, just months before an emergency was declared, he traveled to Samoa and met with prominent anti-vaccination activists on the island. And then during the height of the outbreak, when children were dying, he sent a letter to the prime minister questioning whether it was the MMR vaccine itself that had caused the public health crisis.

By the time the outbreak had run its course, thousands of people were sickened and 83 died, many of them children.

Green, who is passionate and articulate about the problems that come when people refuse to get vaccinated, had an op-ed published in The New York Times this week and was featured in a Washington Post story and on cable media including CNN and Fox News. And he was trending on social sites.

“I have no personal animus toward Mr. Kennedy on a lot of his policies,” Green told Civil Beat’s Washington correspondent Nick Grube, who caught him as he was sitting on a plane waiting to take off back to Hawaiʻi. “I just have an absolute objection to having the secretary of Health and Human Services be against vaccines, and he is. He can say what he wants to try to mitigate the damage, but everyone knows about his vaccine skepticism.”

Green met with nearly a dozen senators from both sides of the aisle, including Democrats Dick Durbin of Illinois and Ron Wyden of Oregon. He was reluctant to name anyone else, he told Grube, because they were worried about political fallout.

And besides, Green told Grube, he was really there on official state business like checking on federal cash that could and should be headed our way and other things of interest to Hawai‘i.

While in town he worked with two different advocacy groups, 3.14 Action and Protect Our Care, to push his message and coordinate meetings with lawmakers. Already 3.14 Action has featured the governor in one of its advertisements opposing Kennedy.

Green, who The Blog has heard would really like to be the country’s health secretary himself one day, told Grube he anticipates returning to D.C. in the future to crusade against Kennedy, including testifying before Congress if the opportunity allows. He’ll even talk to Donald Trump.

Check, please: Wednesday is Opening Day of the 2025 Hawaiʻi Legislature, so that can only mean one thing: state legislators will rush to hold campaign fundraisers before the opening gavel falls because they’re prohibited by state law from holding organized fundraisers during session.

The Blog is referring specifically to Sens. Lynn DeCoite and Jarrett Keohokalole, who asked for donations at Capitol Modern Tuesday night. It’s conveniently located right across Richards Street from the Hawaiʻi State Capitol.

On Wednesday night Sens. Chris Lee, Donovan Dela Cruz, Henry Aquino and Troy Hashimoto passed their hats at Bishop Museum.

Aquino, DeCoite and Keohokalole are planning ahead — they’re not up for reelection until 2028.

House bills proposing to end the acceptance of all campaign contributions during legislative sessions (not just at organized fundraisers) passed that chamber unanimously in the 2023 session but were not heard by the Senate.

Civil Beat opinion writers are closely following efforts to bring more transparency and accountability to state and local government — at the Legislature, the county level and in the media. Help us by sending ideas and anecdotes to sunshine@civilbeat.org.

The mysterious making of the rules: The rulebook dictating how Hawaiʻi lawmakers conduct the public’s business is a big deal. The Blog has long contended that many of the most urgently needed legislative reforms could be accomplished with simple rule changes.

With the start of a new biennium Wednesday, new rules must be adopted. Actually there are two rulebooks, one for the House and another for the Senate. And how they approach the task says a lot about the differences between the two chambers.

The House formed a four-member Advisory Committee on Rules and Procedures that has been reaching out to representatives for their suggestions regarding the rules.

The Senate, meh, not so much. Here’s how Senate Judiciary Chair Karl Rhoads puts it:

“I think the Senate tends to be a little more, what’s the word I’m looking for? You’re a senator. If you have a problem with something, you need to raise it. We’re not necessarily going to go look for you to solicit your concerns.”

Rhoads says he’s heard nothing about possible new Senate rules in the lead-up to the new session.

Which, come to think of it, is not so different from what the House is doing. Its advisory committee is meeting in private, much to the consternation of reform advocates like Gary Hooser.

The former senator writes in his own blog that current House rule No. 20 requires that the committee’s meetings be conducted openly:

“Every meeting of a committee of the House … held for the purpose of making decisions on matters referred to the committee shall be open to the public.”

But House Judiciary Chair David Tarnas points out that this House advisory committee is just that — advisory.

“They’re not making decisions,” Tarnas says. “They’re recommending and they’re advisory. The decision-making itself is when we vote on it.”

That will presumably occur soon after the Legislature convenes. That’s when we’ll know if either chamber is serious about limiting the power of conference chairs, preventing the money committees from controlling non-fiscal matters, eliminating anonymous bill introductions and so forth.

Hope springs eternal: And speaking of being serious about reform, a hui of good governance groups gathered at the Capitol Thursday to launch what they called “Good Government Lobby Day.” The goal of the Hawai‘i Alliance for Progressive Action, Our Hawai‘i, Common Cause and Clean Elections Coalition is to advocate for government reforms that will strengthen transparency, accountability and fairness in the legislative process.

“Welcome to your House of Representatives,” Rep. Della Au Belatti said as she welcomed some two dozen folks to Conference Room 325. She said she had not seen such a level of reform activity in her 20 years in the Legislature, adding that a revived Good Government Caucus at the Legislature is already working on bills.

Rep. Della Au Belatti at the Good Governance Lobby Day meeting at the Capitol Tuesday. (David Croxford/Civil Beat/2024)

Rep. Kim Coco Iwamoto said the new energy for reform began in 2022 when two lawmakers were arrested for and later convicted on bribery charges. There had been a culture, she said, that allowed Ty Cullen and J. Kalani English to get away with corruption. But there’s a lot of new blood in the Leg today.

The groups, which spent half of the day meeting with other lawmakers, are pushing for a range of reforms including making public testimony on bills available early, doing away with anonymous bill introductions, taking non-financial bills out of money committees, enacting term limits and establishing full public financing of campaigns.

Women of the house: One-third (or 32.43%) of the total number of state legislators in the 50 states and territories in 2025 are women, a slight increase from just a few years ago.

The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada are at or above the 50% mark of women state legislators, the highest representation nationwide.

How does Hawaiʻi do? Compared to many other states and territories, pretty good at 40.8%. Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia, for example, each have legislatures with less than 20% women members.

The Hawaiʻi House of Representatives now has its first-ever female speaker, Nadine Nakamura. Two women have led the state Senate, Colleen Hanabusa and Donna Kim.

A new Hawai‘i County Council was seated and got to work in December 2024 with a few new faces at the table, including one who represents Kohala.

Opening day of the 2025 session of the Hawai‘i Legislature is next week on Jan. 15.

Waimea Community Association invites residents of the Kohala and Hāmākua communities to come learn about the priorities of their elected local and state government officials directly from them during its next town meeting.

The meeting is from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the Jerry Nelson Conference Room of the W.M. Keck Observatory headquarters, located at 65-1120 Māmalahoa Highway, in Waimea.

State Sen. Tim Richards, who represents Senate District 4 (North Hilo, Hāmākua, Kohala, Waimea, Waikoloa, North Kona), and state Rep. David Tarnas, who represents House District 8 (Hāwī, Hala‘ula, Waimea, Makahalau, Waiki‘i, Waikōloa, Kawaihae, Māhukona), will speak about policy issues and priorities, their committee assignments and how the community can participate in the state legislative process.

Two members of the Hawai’i County Council are presenting as well — Hāmākua Councilwoman Heather Kimball and newly elected Kohala Councilman James Hustace.

Hustace will speak in person. Kimball, chairwoman of the Hawai‘i State Association of Counties, will attend via Zoom from Washington, D.C., where she is participating in briefings with presidential and congressional leadership.

There will be time for questions and answers.

Community members are urged to submit questions prior to the meeting by email at waimeacommunityassociation@gmail.com.

Questions can also be shared in person or on chat by those watching the livestream on Waimea Community Association’s Facebook page and will be be addressed as time permits.

The spotlighted nonprofit organization for January will be Hawai‘i County 4-H Equine Council represented by Kohala educator and horsewoman Fern White.

Also participating in the meeting will be South Kohala police Capt. Roy Valera and Community Policing Officer Justin Cabanting with an update about public safety news and events.

Community members can attend in person or watch the meeting livestream on the Waimea Community Association Facebook page or YouTube channel.

A recording of the meeting also will be available on Facebook and YouTube for later viewing.

2025 Waimea Community Association leadership

Waimea Community Association recently elected new leadership for 2025.

Former vice president Mary Beth Laychak was elected president and former president Nancy Carr Smith was selected as vice president.

Mary Beth Laychak was recently elected president of Waimea Community Association. (Photo Courtesy: Waimea Community Association)

Other officers for the new year include newly elected secretary Makela Bruno and re-elected treasurer Victor Tom.

Board members are Patti Cook, David Greenwell, Lani Olsen-Chong, Riley Smith, Ryan Ushijima and Chris Wong.

Email Waimea Community Association President Mary Beth Laychak at waimeacommunityassociation@gmail.com or click here for additional information about the upcoming town meeting or the association.

A report submitted to the Hawaiʻi Legislature Friday concludes that illegal fireworks are being smuggled into the state by sea and air on a year-round and possibly daily basis.

It’s sustained by a flourishing and well-established black market that local law enforcement has found difficult to disrupt and dismantle.

The report from the state’s Illegal Fireworks Task Force urges the Legislature to consider creating a full-time criminal investigation unit within the Department of Law Enforcement to confront the problem on a permanent basis.

“Only a full-time approach can bring the necessary cultural changes to confront the fireworks problem at-large in Hawaii,” the report states.

The Salt Lake area viewed after midnight from a Honolulu Airport parking structure showed only a small portion of the many aerial fireworks ignited this New Year’s Eve. (David Croxford/Civil Beat/2025)

While specific funding, staffing and equipment for the unit are not suggested in the report, it also recommends a new firearms and explosives laboratory — estimated to cost $2 million — within the law enforcement agency. Hawaiʻi has only one forensic lab, housed in the Honolulu Police Department.

Sen. Karl Rhoads, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, welcomed the recommendation for a new criminal unit.

“I think it’s the only really viable idea because, as they point out, there’s a lot of similarities between narcotics and fireworks,” Rhoads said. “And they’ve been using the narcotics investigators to investigate fireworks cases. That’s great in the short term, but it’s not going to work in the long term.”

An ‘Alluring Attraction’ To Make Money Illegally

The task force’s work was ordered by lawmakers in 2023, long before the massive fireworks explosion on New Year’s Eve in a Salt Lake neighborhood on Oʻahu. As of Monday, four people have been reported dead and around two dozen injured from that explosion, while another person was killed in a separate fireworks-related incident on Oʻahu.

Now, leaders including Hawaiʻi’s governor, Honolulu’s mayor and several state senators and representatives are stepping up their demands for action.

In addition to the Department of Law Enforcement, agencies taking part in the task force include the Honolulu Police Department, the Department of the Attorney General, the Department of Public Safety, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Customs and Border Control.

Their recommendations are likely to be considered by the Legislature, which convenes Jan. 15.

The Illegal Fireworks Task Force, which will conclude its work in June unless the Legislature extends its mission, was required to submit a final report this month. It previously reported that 227,000 pounds of illegal fireworks have been seized.

The Friday report says that two people have pleaded no contest to felony indictments and 20 others were issued misdemeanor citations. The report says there are ongoing criminal investigations, so public discussion of tactics, techniques and procedures “would frustrate legitimate government interests.”

The report, though only eight pages long, offers several insights into why the illegal enterprise is so popular. It calls the marketplace “an alluring attraction” for those looking to make money illegally.

Street sources, according to the report, say that the return on investment for those who smuggle illegal fireworks into Hawaii is at a rate of 5 to 1. That means that if a typical smuggling organization purchases a shipping container of fireworks for $200,000 at wholesale, that same container has a street value of about $1 million once it arrives in the islands.

‘Kingpins, Conspirators’ Run Illicit Networks

During the 2023 holiday season the task force found that street prices for illegal fireworks were already “astronomically high.” The Department of Law Enforcement said prices had been expected to be higher during the 2024 holiday season because there was “heat” from law enforcement and risk of loss of investment due to bulk seizures.

In short, the task force aims “to price offenders out of the marketplace,” leading to reduced demand.

But it will take long-term, comprehensive investigations to not only seize prohibited explosive material but also to find and prosecute the people running the illicit networks — “kingpins, conspirators, and their associated criminal finances and assets.”

To do that, a new crime unit is necessary because the task force is only part time. While claiming success from its work, the task force concept in the long term “is not sustainable” the report states.

It does not call for increased penalties for possession of contraband. Nor does it accomplish two of its primary purposes: to develop a comprehensive strategic plan to stop illegal fireworks, and to ensure the safety and security of airports, harbors and other facilities from explosive discharges.

The first goal requires more work, the report states, which will begin “in earnest” this year. And, while the task force says it has increased awareness and surveillance at Hawaii’s ports of entry and mail distribution systems, “a sustained full-time effort” is needed.