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This is Cooper. He tried to politely decline the blowout, but apparently it's a nonnegotiable part of his spa package....

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<title>Daily Smile: Sunday, May 10, 2026</title>

This is Cooper. He tried to politely decline the blowout, but apparently it's a nonnegotiable part of his spa package...

Daily Smile: Sunday, May 10, 2026

 This is Cooper. He tried to politely decline the blowout, but apparently it&#039;s a nonnegotiable part of his spa package....

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

Major bills impacting interisland shipping, immigration enforcement and more have made it to the governor’s desk in the final days of the 2026 legislative session.

The Senate and House finally closed out the legislative session Friday by voting dozens more bills through final reading hours before the final deadline.

Joining the more than 100 measures already awaiting Gov. Josh Green’s decision are:

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"No pay, no permit"}]

 allows the counties to revoke or deny a building permit application if a contractor involved in that permit is found to have violated labor laws.

Any contractor found to have violated state laws relating to wages, benefits, work hours or employment status can have their permits pulled, under the bill. Contractors are therefore required to disclose information regarding employee wages, benefits, hours and employment status to the county.

Upon pulling a permit, the county must then inform the property owner within five business days and offer the owner a chance to select a replacement contractor, and process the replacement contractor’s application within another five business days.

The measure received significant support from unions — in particular the Pacific Resource Partnership, a partnership between the Hawai‘i Regional Council of Carpenters and hundreds of other contractors — which praised the measure’s potential to prevent bad actors from undercutting local labor.

The Carpenters Union referenced a contentious construction project in Waikīkī: the renovation of the former Maile Sky Court, a $25 million project that was plagued with labor violations such as unpaid back wages and overtime and failing to provide prepaid health care to employees.

“Similar situations occur across the state, and when violations are allowed to continue, it sends a message that cutting corners is tolerated while law abiding contractors are put at a disadvantage,” read a letter by the Carpenters Union.

However, the bill also drew some opposition, significantly from the Maui Chamber of Commerce, which found the bill redundant to existing laws and worried that it will take even longer than it already does to get permits granted.

Only four lawmakers voted against the measure Wednesday: Representatives Elle Cochran, Joe Gedeon, Elijah Pierick and Garner Shimizu, all Republicans, voted against it.

[{"type":"text","text":"The measure will take effect immediately should Green sign it."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rate increases for Young Brothers OK’d"}]

Interisland shippers — which effectively means Young Brothers LLC — would have automatic cost adjustments applied by the Public Utilities Commission annually under 

While Young Brothers currently requires PUC approval for any rate changes, SB 2694 streamlines the process, allowing the PUC to develop a “water carrier inflationary cost index automatic adjustment mechanism” to be applied to transport companies’ fees.

While the automatic adjustments would be limited to no more than 5% each year, they would be applied almost every year from this July through 2033.

Several major organizations — including multiple county chambers of commerce, the Maui Brewing Co., ABC Stores, and the Hawai‘i Farm Bureau — have opposed the measure on the grounds that it cuts out a public process for applying additional transportation fees that impact residents throughout the state.

 a 25.75% rate increase for Young Brothers that took effect in January.

Fifteen representatives voted against the bill Wednesday, including Diamond Garcia, Sue Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Nicole Lowen, Cochran, Gedeon, Pierick and Shimizu. No senators voted against it.

If signed by Green, the first automatic cost adjustment would be imposed July 1.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Some anti-ICE bills survived, many didn’t"}]

 to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement Activity in the state, three have made it to the end.

, which prohibits law enforcement agencies in the state from entering into an agreement that allows state or county law enforcement to assist in immigration enforcement.

Local officers would be prohibited from inquiring about a person’s citizenship, providing a person’s citizenship information to federal immigration authorities, allowing ICE to interview individuals while in police custody, and more. There are exceptions — cops could ask about a person’s immigration status during a criminal investigation, ICE could interview a person in custody if the person consents or if permitted by a court order — but the measure largely delineates immigration inquiries as outside the duties of local law enforcement.

, meanwhile, requires state and county police agencies to inform people in their custody of their rights before any interview with ICE and requires all records of such an interview be maintained as public records.

 requires state and county agencies to establish policies concerning “protected community locations” where immigration enforcement is not authorized. Under the bill, by next year, all agencies that operate such locations must have developed policies identifying those locations, establishing procedures for how police warrants are verified, and training staff for how to assist people in those locations.

All three bills received votes in opposition largely from each chamber’s Republican contingent, including representatives Garcia, Lauren Matsumoto, Chris Muraoka and David Alcos, and senators Brenton Awa, Kurt Fevella and Samantha DeCorte. However, House Democrat Sam Kong also voted against all three measures.

HB 1870 would take effect Jan. 1, 2027, if signed by Green. The other two would take effect immediately.

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State capitol 022725

<title>Young Brothers rate hikes, anti-ICE bills cross finish line</title>

The 2026 legislative session finally ended Friday, with more bills passing at the eleventh hour.

Young Brothers rate hikes, anti-ICE bills cross finish line

Kam Napier Headshot

A. Kam Napier

After last minute amendments on Wednesday that delayed a vote, 

 goes before the full Legislature on Friday, May 8. I've 

 on the topic based on the language of the bill and the things legislators have said in defense of it. Here is a straight interview with one of its champions, bill co-sponsor Hawai‘i state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, lightly edited for readability and to cut out general chit chat.

I've reached out as well to House Rep. Scot Matayoshi, who took a leading role in that chamber in advancing the bill, and state Sen. Karl Rhoads, who introduced it in the first place.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What about the bill is important to you?"}]

I fundamentally don't like the premise of the Citizens United [U.S. Supreme Court] decision. I mean, there's a long justification for it in the decision and in a long line of cases around it. But I just disagree with the premise, and I think we have the people on our side. I mean, this thing has polled for 16 years pretty consistently at 80% opposition, and that's across parties.

For sure, there are Republicans who don't like [Citizens United] ... 

Like, 75% of Republicans. So just fundamentally, corporations are people for a lot of, I think, functional reasons, but this is one of the areas where passing those human rights over to entities that do not exist in reality are problematic, and so that's why there's been a big fight about it for a long time.

One of the things that stood out for me in the bill is the exception for my own industry. How would you defend making a distinction between a corporate-owned newspaper endorsing a candidate and some other kind of corporation endorsing or opposing a candidate?

The press is specifically enumerated in the Constitution. The freedom for corporations to be granted specific rights is not. Corporations are not specifically identified in the way the press is. That's probably an arguable position.

Locally, there's been allusions in testimony, like [Rep. Della Au] Belatti's [House floor] speech, for example, to dark money being spent in Hawai‘i. Are there specific examples that come to mind for you of dark money, like, who spent it? How much did they spend? What were they trying to do in Hawai‘i?

Not off the top of my head. Super PACs are not prohibited in this bill, because we can't prohibit the existing rights of Super PACs. The objective here is to make sure that there's transparency in who is funding the super PACs, so if this bill passes, you can't create a shell corporation to hide your money. We really are only talking about individually wealthy people. You can still donate unlimited amounts of money into a Super PAC. We cannot stop that, but what we can do is create transparency. 

How did you and the Center for American Progress get together on this?

It's [Sen.] Karl Rhoad's bill. They [CAP], pitched this to legislators before the session. I get pitched all kinds of bills, from all sorts of corners. I get conservative bill pitches every year and so on. But this one caught my eye. I introduced a different [bill with] the same objective [but a] different concept, and then we deferred my bill because it just wasn't as clean as Karl's version, which I co-sponsored anyway, and then because this is fundamentally a proposed change to the corporate charter, HRS 414, this [made it a bill under the purview] of the commerce committee, and so I'm the lead negotiator on it, and worked out most of the language and negotiated the final form with [state Re. Scot] Matayoshi, my counterpart on the House side.

As I watched the different conference votes, it looked like maybe you and Matayoshi had some disagreements over what should be in and what should be out.

I wouldn't characterize it as disagreement. We had different concerns about the how the substantive provisions would be treated and implemented, and in the conference process, we were trying to work through how to address those concerns in clear and concise language in the bill, which can get really complicated. Even the Center for American Progress — like, Tom [

, CAP senior fellow, democracy and government] has got this legal theory, and then we have to fit this legal theory into the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes and it's not always a clean fit. And so, we were trying to figure out how to make it work. Eventually we came to an agreement. But, we had to do a floor amendment to come to a final, final agreement, and then the effective date of the measure is delayed out [to January 1, 2027] because we're trying to just make sure this is the cleanest possible version of this concept as it relates to Hawai‘i law.

One of the ironies is that in Montana, this [legal concept] is being introduced via ballot initiative [by CAP], and yet it seems like the whole idea here is to try to prevent outside groups and money from interfering with ballot initiatives. But that's, I mean, that's Montana, that's not Hawai‘i. You don't have to opine on that.

It's like moving targets, right? I introduced a ballot initiative bill this year after opposing it for a long time, but I changed my mind on it. And we can't get [legislation] perfect. It's not supposed to be perfect anyway. I think democracy is fundamentally messy and for good reason. 

Has our congressional delegation taken an interest in this? Are they in communication with you one way or the other on it?

No. I can't say whether they've taken interest. I think all of them have probably spoken out. Well, I don't know about [Rep. Ed] Case, but I know for sure [Sen. Mazie] Hirono and [Sen. Brian] Schatz have made statements about how they don't like Citizens United. I assume [Rep.] Jill [Tokuda] is right there. And then, they could take action at the federal level and the most common proposal across the country to reverse Citizens United is a federal constitutional amendment. But that's gone nowhere for the last 16 years. And so, when Tom and the Center for American Progress proposed amending the corporate charter, and I went in and looked at it, it makes sense. It follows a more general theme that I've been pursuing in the last year, which is the assertion of states' rights, which I never thought, ever, I would be as aggressively pursuing. In my view, we have a really aggressive consolidation of federal power, and so the states should assert their authority in ways that benefit the public. Maybe we disagree on that. 

Is there anything I haven't asked you about that that you would want Aloha State Daily readers to know?

For me, corporations and other entities that are chartered in the state of Hawai‘i [such as] limited partnerships, nonprofits, all that, all the corporate entities derived in Chapter 414, of the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes, are granted really significant privileges that individuals are not afforded by taking the forms that are allowed under the law. They're granted significant tax privileges that individuals are not entitled to, and they're granted limited liability that protects their founders and investors and individuals are not afforded those privileges. In order to be afforded those privileges, they need to follow the rules as established in the corporate charter. Most people just think that's submitting your Articles of Incorporation and paying the fee every year and all that. But 414 establishes pretty clearly that you've got to follow the law in Hawai‘i, and then you are granted these privileges. Human beings are different. Human beings have natural rights. God given rights. I just fundamentally disagree with the Supreme Court saying, 'Oh, the fundamental rights you as a human being have, they flow to the corporation.' You can't access any of the privileges that the corporations get unless you follow the dictates of the corporate charter. If we, as a state, elect to limit any of those powers or privileges that are granted from state law, then the individuals behind the corporation don't lose rights. That's not a thing. They still have their individual rights to speak, to spend as much as they want, to participate in elections. I just don't understand how you can have an entity that is created by state law and given powers under state law at the same time have naturally inherent rights that are God given, inalienable.

This bill, just for clarification, it's specifically about — I've seen the word electioneering, so we're talking about spending that is meant to influence the outcome of an election, either [for or against a candidate] or some initiative that's up in an election, on a ballot, is that right? It's constrained to that?

I think it's the same standard as 501(C)3s under the IRS code, which, ironically, the federal government restricts 501(C)3s from electioneering.

Would those same corporations still be allowed to spend money on lobbying; on proposing legislation. Like, for example, CAP has drafted, I think, significant parts of this legislation, as it's appearing in multiple states. So, lobbying, drafting legislation, any other form of interaction with legislators through the political process — that all still can happen, even if this passes, right?

Yeah, this bill doesn't touch that. But that's an interesting point. It's a really interesting point, you know? And then that's part of the process, right? This is eliciting all kinds of fair questions, and it's not like the passage of one bill means the end of the issue. 

It's a continuum. I'm sure that if this bill passes and it withstands what's likely to be an inevitable legal challenge, then we'll probably get asked those exact questions next year, probably by the right and the left, and they're fair questions.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Senator Jarrett Keohokalole Photo2

<title>Q&A with state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole on SB2471</title>

It's down to the wire on this intensely scrutinized bill as it goes up for a final vote on Friday. ASD got time with one of the champions of this attempt by Hawai‘i to circumvent the Citizens United U.S. Supreme Court decision, to ask about the intentions behind it.

Q&A with state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole on SB2471

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

 is iconic. On any given weekend, you’ll probably see crowds waiting outside the Kaimukī-based eatery.

But now there’s reason to visit the café in the evening — the eatery officially launched its dinner menu, available from 5 to 9 p.m. Fridays to Mondays.

“The idea is that they’re familiar, but they’re things you just won’t get at other restaurants,” says chef Lee Anne Wong, of the dishes on the dinner menu. She says that dinner service has always been in the works.

The menu features a variety of seasonally inspired, locally sourced dishes. In fact, at the bottom of the menu, you can see the various farms and local purveyors the eatery partnered with, ranging from Eggs Hawai

i, Ho Farms and Mari’s Garden to Maui Gold Pineapple, Sun Noodle and Sweet Land Farm.

“We are inspired every day by the beautiful and unique agricultural system that surrounds us here in Hawai

i,” says executive chef Ben Rosicky. “The menu is a reflection of our passion for fostering a relationship between the customer and local farmers. We hope to accomplish this by presenting our guests with creative and innovative preparations of local ingredients. The menu is designed to be creative and unique, yet approachable.”

We start with ‘ahi tataki in Koji glaze, fennel oil, oranges and fresh fennel. The dish is refreshing due to its bright flavors, and the ‘ahi is extremely tender.

“I truly believe that every dish on the menu will deliver in big and harmonious flavors,” Rosicky says. “I am really excited to promote Mari’s Gardens' cara cara oranges in our seasonal ‘ahi tataki with koji glaze and local fennel.”

Poisson cru is a raw fish salad that usually comprises tuna marinated in coconut milk and lime juice. This version features kanpachi with coconut, lime, corn nuts and — wait for it — pineapple shave ice on the bottom. It’s completely unexpected, but it works — and this dish ends up being one of our favorites of the evening.

Wong says that whenever she cooks for events across the country, people respond well to shave ice; the shave ice component is inspired by halo halo.

“I take pineapple for granted because I live on Maui,” she says. “When people who live in a landlocked state taste a Maui Gold pineapple, it’s like a revelation.

“It’s literally like a party-in-your-mouth dish,” she adds. “The coldness of it is unexpected, but the coldness is also what makes it so awesome; it keeps the kanpachi nice and chilly.”

If you have to choose one hot appetizer, the ‘ulu fried feta ($22) would be it. The feta is encased in a crunchy ulu Kohalā Brewery batter and topped with local herbs and greens, including shaved zucchini, fennel and radish. The exterior is nice and crispy, giving way to the creamy feta underneath. The bright veggies add some zing and pair nicely with the fried cheese.

“Everyone likes hot cheese,” Wong says. “Hot crispy cheese? Even better.”

Dumplings are a hot commodity on the eatery’s brunch menu, so it’s fitting that a different version is available during dinner. These housemade dumplings are topped with Mama Wong’s chili munch, cilantro and green onions. If you’re wondering about the price, rest assured that each dumpling is a generous size. The addictive chili munch is its crowning glory. 

This twist on butter chicken includes Makhani sauce, tamarind date chutney, and cilantro coconut chutney. The chicken is soft and tender, and the rich, creamy tomato-based sauce is aromatic and adds a slow-building heat.

This over-the-top bowl features Sun Noodle ramen topped with Westholme wagyu short rib, Maui onion rings, Ali

i mushrooms, horseradish garlic furikake butter, Sumida watercress, green onions and shiso. It’s served in an umami beef bone dashi. As a whole, the dish is savory and fun to eat; it’s a nice way to enjoy steak without getting it the traditional way.

There are currently three dessert options — creameux with bittersweet chocolate and liliko

i ($12), ‘ulu vanilla cruller with haupia gelato and toasted coconut ($12) and Bottom of the Bowl ($8). The latter is designed to be reminiscent of a cereal bowl filled with milk and soggy, sugary cereal goodness. It comprises Via Gelato’s vanilla gelato topped with macadamia blossom honey, sea salt and cornflake crunch.

The creamy gelato is offset nicely by the crunchy cereal, and the sea salt prevents the dessert from being overly sweet. It’s the perfect blend of sweet and salty — after one bite, you’ll probably wish this bowl was endless.

“I’m so grateful to be a part of the next chapter of Koko Head Café’s development,” Rosicky says. “I look forward to continuing to share my love and passion for food with the local community through this new endeavor. I’d like to share gratitude for chef Lee Anne, our general manager Patrick Salmon, and our outstanding team that fosters the incredible and infectious energy that makes Koko Head Café so special and has allowed us to grow over the last 11 years.”

Koko Head Cafe chef Lee Anne Wong 072525

<title>Iconic brunch spot Koko Head Café launches its new dinner menu</title>

Dinner service has been 11 years in the making. The menu debut includes dishes like wagyu ramen, ʻulu fried cheese and poisson cru with a shave ice surprise.

Daily Smile: Sunday, May 10, 2026

ASD Staff

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Daily Smile: Sunday, May 10, 2026

Authors

ASD Staff

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