ASD icon blue inverse lighter

ASD Staff

Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"This is so true..."}]

Smile 26 6 18

<title>Daily Smile: Thursday, June 18, 2026</title>

This is so true...

Daily Smile: Thursday, June 18, 2026

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

Aloha Spirit

It’s not every day that singers and songwriters get to visit the home of Simon Cowell, one of the best known judges of 

 But that is exactly what happened for Nyjah Music and Zyah Rhythm, the

North Shore brothers competing in Season 21 of the television show, who were invited to film a judges callback round at Cowell’s house in Malibu, California.

, allows each judge to pick acts to audition a second time before a panel decides who will advance to live shows. Watch the episode at 7 p.m. Central Standard Time, which is 2 p.m. in Hawai’i, on Tuesday, Aug. 4, on NBC, to see if the brothers advance. The episode will also be available on Peacock the next day.

Here is an exclusive clip of Cowell giving the brothers feedback.

Getting an invite to the judges callback round from Cowell, who is known for being a tough judge, meant a lot to the duo.

“We were pretty stoked,” Nyjah told Aloha State Daily. “Just being there was amazing.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"He was like an uncle, Zyah added."}]

“So I actually would have thought that Simon would be hard on us, just because of the videos and stuff,” he said. “He has turned down some people. But just going to his house, he made it feel like he was more of an uncle to us. It was super chill. He was super inviting and super open with his house. He told us we could jump in his pool, if we wanted.”

They did not in fact jump in the pool. They did not have swimsuits, Zyah added.

Currently, Nyjah Music and Zyah Rhythm have more than 250,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Last year, their cover of “Burning Love,” which was produced by their uncle, Bruno Mars, was featured in Disney’s live action 

 Today, that song has more than 13 million streams on Spotify.

But even with a hit like that, the auditions for “America’s Got Talent” had them nervous. Waiting backstage for 

their audition, which aired on Tuesday, June 9, on NBC

, was “pretty nerve-wracking,” Zyah said.  

“But then once we stepped on stage, we're pretty comfortable,” he added. “We did hear some people from Hawai’i in the audience. It got us pretty comfortable with the stage.”

By hearing Hawai’i, he means they heard a cheehoo.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Did they expect that? Zyah shook his head."}]

“It kind of shook the nerves away,” he said. “And it just showed that we have some people from home watching us.”

They performed their latest release, “Heartbeat,” an original single, which dropped on streaming platforms on June 15.

“It's really a universal song for people that want to show how much they love someone and how they want to be a part of someone because the lyrics are, ‘Can I be your heartbeat or the flower in your ear?’ and stuff like that,” Zyah said. “That person for us is our grandma. We dedicate it to our grandma, and it just shows how much we love our grandma, how she started it all, but she did pass away when we were little. But yeah, it's just about our grandma.”

After being off Island, Nyjah and Zyah look forward to local foods. For Nyjah, that usually involves a poke bowl at Foodland, with iced tea on the side. After flying in, Zyah likes to stop at 

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

"America's Got Talent"

<title>Exclusive video: North Shore brothers talk about ʻAmerica’s Got Talent’</title>

Nyjah Music & Zyah Rhythm, the North Shore brothers who are also the nephews of Bruno Mars are back on “America’s Got Talent.” Catch them singing for Simon Cowell at his house in an episode that airs Tuesday, Aug. 4. They also unpack their latest single “Heartbeat,” which was inspired by their grandmother, and the cheehoo that calmed their nerves during auditions.

Exclusive video: North Shore brothers talk about ʻAmerica’s Got Talent’

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

Crime & Courts

The state Department of Transportation’s Airports Administrator is on paid leave after being named in a bribery indictment last week.

Ford Fuchigami was one of five people to be 

 by an O‘ahu grand jury on bribery charges, alongside Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, former Rep. Ryan Yamane, former Public Utilities Commission chair Leo Asuncion Jr., and lobbyist Tobi Solidum.

Fuchigami’s charges — use of false statements, conspiracy to commit bribery and obstruction of justice — stem from a $7,000 check he reportedly received from Solidum in Jan. 2022, when Fuchigami was an employee of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. That payment was allegedly connected to Solidum’s efforts to get the Legislature to pass a Covid funding bill; the Senate Ways and Means Committee did so unanimously two months later.

Following that indictment, DOT “will follow its internal administrative policies” regarding Fuchigami, DOT public information officer Russell Pang told Aloha State Daily. While that means DOT will cooperate with any requests from various authorities, it also means the Airports Administrator was been placed on paid department-directed leave for 30 days as of Monday.

“Administrator Fuchigami will be afforded due process before any disciplinary action is taken, if warranted,” Pang told ASD via email.

Fuchigami and his fellow indictees are set to appear in court for an arraignment Thursday. Four of the five — Fuchigami, Luke, Yamane and Asuncion — have posted their respective bails, while Solidum has reportedly fled to the Philippines.

A bench warrant for Solidum is pending, and he is to be held without bail should he be apprehended.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Ford Fuchigami 16x9

<title>State airports administrator on paid leave following bribery indictment</title>

Ford Fuchigami will appear in court Thursday along with Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke.

State airports administrator on paid leave following bribery indictment

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke has been indicted for bribery by a O‘ahu grand jury.

Luke’s bail was set at $80,000 Friday after being charged with bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery and falsifying her campaign spending report.

Four others were also indicted Friday in connection with the State Attorney General’s investigation into a purported paper bag full of $35,000 paid to an unknown, but “influential,” lawmaker referenced during a 2022 federal bribery investigation.

Those others included former State Rep. Ryan Yamane, lobbyist Tobi Solidum, former chair of the state Public Utilities Commission Leodoloff Asuncion Jr., and Ford Fuchigami, airports administrator for the state Department of Transportation.

According to the indictment, during Luke’s 2022 campaign for lieutenant governor, Solidum was seeking additional state money for Covid community testing centers. The indictment cites a conversation between Solidum and Ty Cullen — the former Hawai‘i Rep. who, at the time, had turned informant for the FBI — where Solidum was worried that the state DOH would cut funding for Covid testing centers soon.

During the conversation, Solidum reportedly told Cullen Luke was running for the lieutenant governor position, adding: “All I gotta do is give her more money.”

Solidum, Cullen and Luke all reportedly met on Jan. 20, 2022 at Morton’s The Steakhouse in Ala Moana, where Solidum’s stepdaughter Kristen Pae placed an envelope on the table containing two $5,000 checks, one from Solidum and one from Pae. Luke reportedly took the envelope.

Solidum then told Luke, “By next week we’ll have 35, so it will be halfway to our 70.”

Later during that meeting, Solidum asked Luke about the possibility of drawing upon federal funds to continue Covid testing, to which Luke agreed to follow up.

The two $5,000 checks were subsequently deposited into the Friends of Sylvia Luke bank account, the same day Luke arranged for a meeting to discuss emergency appropriations for additional Covid community testing. In February, Luke’s Finance Committee, which she chaired, passed 

, a bill approving more than $170 million in state funds for Covid mitigation measures for the next two fiscal years.

The indictment does not specifically mention an exact $35,000 transaction, let alone a paper bag, although the the transaction in Morton’s strongly resembles an event Luke described in February: she admitted accepting two $5,000 checks in a dinner involving Cullen, although she also claimed she never cashed the checks.

Asuncion’s presence in the indictment entirely stems from his role as Luke’s campaign treasurer, wherein he allegedly knowingly failed to disclose the donations by Solidum and Pae, and also his subsequent claims in March that the checks had been returned to those donors unspent. Asuncion reportedly claimed that those checks had never been deposited into the Friends of Sylvia Luke bank account, and therefore believed he didn’t need to report them.

Despite this, Deputy Attorney General David Van Acker said Friday that he believes Yamane to be the “most culpable” of the five named in the indictment.

According to the indictment, Solidum had sent money to Yamane in 2020 and 2021, and later asked about the status of health care measure 

, which failed to move forward through conference committees that year. Yamane texted Solidum “Sorry couldn’t deliver it.”

Solidum and Yamane continued to meet throughout 2021 and 2022, with Solidum repeatedly giving Yamane money. Solidum reportedly “texted Yamane in an effort to get a rival Covid testing company fined,” which Yamane assisted by forwarding Solidum’s claims about said company to the state Department of Health.

In early 2022, Yamane, Solidum and Fuchigami met frequently to discuss HB 2392. At one point, the text conversation between Yamane and Solidum turned to the federal charges against Cullen, leading Yamane to text Solidum “Might not be good to been [sic] seen with me.”

At the end of the 2022 legislative session, Yamane spoke effusively in support of HB 2392, and specifically named Luke in his thanks for getting the measure passed.

Fuchigami, for his part, received a $7,000 check from Solidum in Jan. 2022. Fuchigami, who worked for the Senate Ways and Means Committee at the time, was party to subsequent conversations with Solidum and Yamane regarding HB 2392.

Yamane was indicted for bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery; Solidum for three counts of bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery; Fuchigami with use of false statements, conspiracy to commit bribery and obstruction of justice; and Asuncion with falsifying candidate committee reports, use of false statements and obstruction of justice.

“For years, people in Hawai‘i have wondered: ‘why can’t we investigate and prosecute our own public officials for corruption?’” Attorney General Anne Lopez said at a briefing Friday. “This is the reason why the Legislature created the Special Investigation and Prosecution Division [within the AG’s office] … We have a commitment to following the facts to where they lead, no matter how long it takes to get there.”

Nonetheless, Van Acker emphasized that Luke and the others in the indictment are still presumed innocent, and that the statements in the indictment remain only allegations. Van Acker and Lopez did not take questions Friday.

Luke took an indefinite leave of absence from the lieutenant governor position in April, which has continued to this day.

 For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

PXL 20260725 020059478 TS 000 16x9

<title>Luke indicted for bribery</title>

Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and four others have been charged in Attorney General corruption investigation

Luke indicted for bribery

Kam Napier Headshot

A. Kam Napier

Columnists

I have to tell you a short story about Minnesota before I can tell you something about Hawai‘i. Sit tight for some unpleasant details.

It starts with Tou Lue Vang, from Laos, who was at one point legally living in the United States, in Minnesota. Vang went on to behave terribly while here. He was convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual assault for repeatedly molesting a 10-year-old girl over two years, from 2002 to 2004, 

 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“He once offered his victim $10 to keep quiet about the sexual assaults,” DHS said. “When interviewed by police, he tried to justify his actions as ‘a cultural thing

’ and even said that his victim was just as guilty as him and should also be arrested.”

These actions cost Vang his right to be in the United States. On Oct. 31, 2006, a Department of Justice Immigration Judge ordered that he be removed.

 the Center for Immigration Studies, Laos refused to take back its deported citizens until 2025, until it finally relented under pressure from the United States.

According to DHS, ICE arrested and detained Vang in December but by then, Minnesota was in full meltdown over immigration enforcement and in February, a District of Minnesota judge ordered him released from custody.

That wasn't only the ally Vang found. At some point he applied for a pardon, in hopes that wiping his record clean would eliminate the reason ICE was coming after him for deportation, as reported by 

That pardon was granted, in a unanimous decision. In Minnesota, such pardons are granted by a three-person panel: 

 (D), and nominally non-partisan Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice 

This was widely seen as an extension of Minnesota’s sanctuary state policies, done out of spite to frustrate Trump and ICE.

On July 14, media asked Walz about the deportation and he had the audacity to question the 

 motive for removing a convicted child molester.

. “Did that make the children that are left behind any more stable? Did it improve the idea that we can’t all be judged by our worst day?”

On question 1: Yeah, it did. Vang's conviction disqualified him from staying here, that’s the law. He only evaded it because Laos didn’t want him back.

Question 2: Walz is possibly, obliquely referring to Vang’s own children. What is the logic here? Our prisons are full of natural born American citizens who are separated from their children by incarceration and no one sane goes around saying, “Wait, we can’t put people in prison for molesting children! Doing so destabilizes their children!” If it's a tragedy for Vang and his family, it's one he wrote himself.

Question 3: It’s possible the syntax of this one is so garbled and awkward because some tiny voice in Walz’s head is second-guessing what’s he’s saying. No one likes to be judged by their worst day. OK. Fair enough. For most people, their worst days do not include serially molesting a 10-year old over two years. But Walz’s inner sociopath smacked down his last sensible neuron and he said this ludicrous thing anyway.

[{"type":"text","text":"What does any of this have to do with Hawai‘i?"}]

You might not know this, but Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was the guest of honor as keynote speaker at the Hawai‘i Democratic Party’s state convention in Waikīkī at the end of May. 

“Walz … brought the nearly 400 party delegates and guests to their feet several times at the Hilton Hawaiian Village ballroom,” 

 Civil Beat, covering the convention on May 31. “He got a lot of whoops and shout-outs, too, by calling Trump a ‘corrupt, petty, cruel wannabe dictator’ and ‘a pile of crap.’”

[{"type":"text","text":"Tim Walz, greeted in Hawai‘i with applause and aloha."}]

Surely, the local invitation predated Walz’s bizarre defense of an illegal immigrant child molester. But local Dems had plenty of facts before them at the time that Walz had stepped forward to defend, categorically, every convicted criminal in Minnesota that ICE had gone in to arrest. Surely, they were aware that they were inviting, with honors, a man who presided over a state government that 

 for as much a billion dollars’ worth of fraud across multiple social programs. Surely, they could’ve known that in January, Minnesota lawmakers accused Walz and his administration of retaliating against whistleblowers about this fraud, thereby enabling it.

Surely, they remembered that Walz himself withdrew his re-election attempt in light of these many scandals.

[{"type":"text","text":"They overlooked it all and gave this guy a hero’s welcome."}]

I've been meaning to write this ever since the convention happened, but news about Walz just kept evolving and I wanted to see where his latest escapades would go. Now that this Vang chapter is over, I have same question I had in May: If he’s the role model for the party going forward, what does that mean for the future of Hawai‘i?

What does that tell us about who they serve? Local interests and concerns? Or, as we saw with 

 just fully colonized by Mainland politics and priorities?

The party is running on fumes of nostalgia for when it was sensible and stood for the betterment of people right here in the Islands. But the party of serious people like Burns, Ariyoshi, Inouye and countless others — sober, responsible — seems intent on following the pied pipers of Act Blue, Indivisible, and the Democratic Socialists of America, straight into insanity.

Based on historic voting patterns, there’s a good chance if you’re reading this that this your party. You’ve voted for it all your life. You likely always will. Anything but cast a vote for those icky Republicans! If so, please do everyone in the Islands a favor: Get involved, and knock some sense into your people. If Walz is their idea of an accomplished statesman, an example to cheer on and follow behind, they need an intervention.

A. Kam Napier is editor in chief of Aloha State Daily. His opinions in Pipikaula Corner are his own and not reflective of the ASD team.

Tim Walz Getty Images 2264762248 16x9 Large

<title>Pipikaula Corner: The company they keep</title>

Hawai‘i Democrats invited a special Mainland guest to their annual convention in late May, as keynote speaker. If this is their role model, ASD Editor in Chief A. Kam Napier opines, Hawai‘i is in trouble.

Pipikaula Corner: The company they keep

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

Changes are in the works for two organizations focused on improving Waikīkī.

Starting July 1, the Waikīkī Business Improvement District, or WBID, and Waikīkī Improvement Association, or WIA, will align management in an effort to streamline operations, reduce overhead and enhance efficiency.

It's not a merger; WBID, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, will continue to operate independently under the umbrella and management of WIA, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, joining three other nonprofits that already do so: Waikīkī Beach Special Improvement District Association (WBSIDA), the Waikīkī Transportation Management Association (WTMA) and Aloha Festivals. Each organization will maintain their own boards, funding and decision-making abilities.

"It's important because what we wanted to do was bring together and make more efficient the way that these organizations operated," Trevor Abarzua, president and executive director of WBID told Aloha State Daily this week. "They're all in Waikīkī. They all have similar but different missions, but there isn't necessarily a need for the duplication of staff, the duplication of resources, whether that's accounting or lawyers or everything that goes into overhead for a company or an organization. The reason we want to do the management alignment was to consolidate the overhead and then consolidate some of the roles."

[{"type":"text","text":"Here's what that looks like:"}]

Abarzua will become the president and CEO of WIA, replacing retiring CEO Rick Egged. John Zerfas, currently director of strategic initiatives for WBID will become the vice president of operations for WIA and a new position will be created for the vice president of community engagement. WBID's Administrative Director Suzanne Kirio will carry that role over to the WIA. There's also an opening for an events and member services position, replacing a vacant WIA communications director role.

Those five positions will be under the auspices of and paid from WIA funds.

That consolidation means "a savings across the board, not only for the WBID, but for all the other organizations, [as well as] consolidating who that leader is in Waikīkī, or who you go to for things," Abarzua says. "What we want to do is have a one-stop shop, that the WIA is a one-stop shop where you could get anything done in Waikīkī, whether you want to meet with the business community, you want to meet with the Neighborhood Board, you want to talk about the beach replenishment projects, you want to talk about the [Aloha] Ambassador program. You could reach out to one entity and they'll have the answers for everything, rather than having different spokespeople or different staff for all these different things. It made sense."

Abarzua says WIA will also be a bridge between the broader community and government.

[{"type":"text","text":"Meanwhile, Each 501(c)(3) nonprofit will have a day-to-day director."}]

WBID Deputy Director Dave Willard will oversee WBID operations under the new structure while Dolan Eversole and Blaine Kia, alongside other cultural and community leaders, will continue in their roles with WBSIDA and Aloha Festivals, respectively. There's currently an opening for a full-time position with WTMA.

According to a timeline on its website, WIA actually established the WBID in 2001 — but the organization branched off on its own a few years later.

"Now's a great time to bring it back together under this management alignment, under this umbrella of services, just based on the growth of Waikīkī, the growth of the initiatives that both the BID and WIA have worked on, and I think it just makes it more aligned for the organizations to be working hand-in-hand," Abarzua says.

[{"type":"text","text":"According to Abarzua, the nonprofits each pay a management fee to WIA."}]

WBID will pay an annual fee of about $345,000, about 6% of its budget, to WIA, "providing executive leadership, board support and coordinated communications," according to information provided during WBID's annual meeting in May. Meanwhile, a 25% cost share, about $76,000, will support the two VP roles.

"By taking the executive director and admin director salaries off the WBID books, and paying only a 25% cost share of the new VP of operations and a 25% cost share of a new VP of community engagement at the WIA level, WBID is able to generate significant administrative savings," the information noted. 

All told, WBID stands to save nearly $170,000. The money saved will be reinvested for more community services, Abarzua says.

So what will the people who live, work and visit Waikīkī notice with this change?

"With the alignment itself, one of the things they will notice is more efficiency in the way these organizations are run," Abarzua says. "But what the vision is for WIA is that we want to really reimagine what the organization does and how it's portrayed."

[{"type":"text","text":"That means a rebrand."}]

"We want to, again, rebrand WIA, with a new brand, a new name, a new look, new feel ... and we're going to do that over the next six to 12 months, starting in July, to be more community-facing," Abarzua told ASD. "Waikīkī Improvement Association's been around for a number of years, but we wanted to not only manage these key, crucial nonprofits, but I think this is a really great opportunity for the organization to really lead on how is Waikīkī branded?"

For his part, Abarzua, 33, says he couldn't be more excited to step into his new leadership role.

"There's a lot of momentum right now and I stand on the shoulders of giants that I've been able to learn from," he says. "Rick Egged in particular has been a staple in Waikīkī for 27 years. ... I've been able to learn under them for three-plus years in this role at the WBID, and being able to see what works and to learn from these guys that have so much wisdom, but then what I'm excited for, too, is to bring my own touch to it. I'm a younger guy. I have fresh ideas. I have fresh energy, so to take the things I've learned and to take the historical aspects of what's been going on, but then to really drive the idea of 'hey, we want to do new things. We want to really grow what Waikīkī  is doing,' just to make it the best possible destination in the world and the best possible community, not only to come to visit, but also to live in, to work in, to hang out and surf in. We want this to be for everyone."

, WBID was formed to help supplement city services and is supported by grants, donations and commercial property assessments on nearly 3,800 commercial properties in the Waikīkī Special District.

Part of WBID's efforts to keep Waikīkī clean and safe include the Aloha Ambassador Program, Safe & Sound Waikīkī, houseless and mental health outreach, and disaster preparedness training, its website notes.

(ICYMI: Read about Aloha Ambassador General Manager Solomon Kaimimoku 

Meanwhile, Abarzua says that WIA's main focus is representing the entire community of Waikīkī, not just businesses, but the residential community, the workforce, "just anything Waikīkī related."

WIA "works to enhance Waikīkī's physical, economic and cultural environment," its 

Trevor Abarzua Talking to an Ambassador

<title>Waikīkī Business Improvement District, Improvement Association to align management</title>

The move aims to streamline operations, reduce overhead and enhance efficiency and goes into effect July 1.

Waikīkī Business Improvement District, Improvement Association to align management

More than 230 bills are going before the full Legislature on Wednesday for a final vote. I looked at all of them to find out where the state wants to spend more money. What you see here aren’t even the massive 

, that run for hundreds of pages, where other increases surely lurk. These are just the 32 new ideas that had their own legislation this session, which will add to the state’s spending if passed this week.

Combined, they add up to nearly $214 million to the state's $10 billion operating budget covered by the general fund (the total budget is more than $20 billion, including federal spending via the state). If all 32 pass, they'd take the equivalent of $288 from each of Hawai‘i's roughly 743,000 tax filers.

Most of these bills appropriate the money from the general fund, unless otherwise noted, meaning they have to come out of your paycheck or the GET you pay on every purchase. And the context here is that the session began in a panic over the budget following the Trump administration’s cuts to certain programs. There wasn’t a dime to spare, we were told, and the recently promised tax cuts were no longer possible. 

While the Legislature seems poised to preserve some of those cuts, nevertheless, the message was one of freaked-out austerity. 

From largest to smallest, here are the year’s spending bills with a side of commentary. You may love or hate these bills; either way, you have until Wednesday to nudge your legislators on these bills, to vote for them or against them.

[{"type":"text","text":"Links go to the final draft of each bill."}]

 in hazardous duty pay for unionized state workers who totally got to keep their jobs and weren’t shut down like the rest of us during the Covid-19 lockdowns. In fact, they work for the entity that shut us all down. The state can’t afford tax cuts, but can afford to pay extra money for its own employees. And this is on top of the $600 million that the state has already paid its workers in hazardous duty pay related to Covid in recent years. 

 out of the stadium development special fund for, well, a lot of things, it’s a lengthy bill, but in brief, for infrastructure improvements to the stadium area to make possible the larger redevelopment beyond just building the stadium itself. I’m including this because of its size and the nice-to-have versus need-to-have nature of the stadium project. 

 to replace money that used to come from the federal government for SNAP and health insurance. You might recall that these cuts were the reason Gov. Josh Green hit the panic button on the budget and suddenly tax cuts for us had to go, and yet, this is hardly the biggest expense of the Legislative session. 

 to subsidize the University of Hawai‘i’s Name, Image, Likeness program for student athletes. Of this $10 million, the bill says the Legislature will appropriate to $2.5 million while UH is required to take $4 million out of its tuition and fees special fund and raise another $5 million through gifts, grants and donations.

Look, we like UH sports. We cover UH sports because we know you like UH sports. Heck, we even pay a lot of money to advertise ASD at UH games in a variety of sports. We do so voluntarily. That said, I do not care for UH leaning on the Legislature to steal a buck from every man, woman and child in the state of Hawai‘i just because it can’t get enough money out of donors and alumni to compete with the money student athletes can make at Mainland universities through NIL deals. The Legislature should have told UH to try harder. This is not a core function of government, and while I know it means a lot to some student athletes, UH sports are a form of entertainment enjoyed by only some of the state’s taxpayers. I’d say the same for the proposed subsidy for the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra, but that bill seems to have died. 

more in hazardous duty pay for still more unionized state workers who faced no more risk than anyone else in Hawai‘i.

to create a state construction manager pilot program for Department of Education schools located in Neighbor Island counties, includes one new manager and five staffers. 

 to “establish a Hanai memory network program … to support individuals with dementia and their caregivers.” 

 to buy one patrol boat and 20 patrol vehicles for the Hawai‘i Island conservation enforcement division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources. 

 to increase the amount of money made available to candidates running for office through Hawai‘i's partial public financing program. The amount hasn’t been increased since 1995 and wasn’t pegged to inflation so this spending is to catch up on the buying power of the funds. The bill still neglects to tie the funding to inflation, however, so legislators will have to fix this again in the future. 

 to hire state government fire marshals and fund their operations to inspect state government buildings, work that used to be done by county fire departments. Also establishes a State Fire Code to supersede all county fire codes, in which case, how many fire departments and fire codes in how many governments do we need anymore? 

 to create and launch a KupunAloha pilot program “to provide in-home health care and support services for individuals who do not qualify for existing government programs and cannot otherwise afford these services.” 

, max, per year, plus $55,200 per year for an administrator, to create and manage a pilot project that would reimburse Hawai‘i ranchers and farmers for transportation costs. 

 to develop and implement a program offering taxpayer-funded colorectal cancer screenings and treatment, including hiring a manager for the program. 

 to help Leeward O‘ahu care homes improve their facilities to better withstand disasters. 

 to raise the pay for jury duty from $30 per day to $50. What’s this? A raise … for us? Sign me up! Clearly, I’m very judgy. 

 to add Hilo’s Banyan Drive area to the Hawai‘i Community Development Authority list of regions to redevelop. Includes money for administration and one staffer. Crazy idea, but what if … just suppose … the state got out of the Banyan Drive business entirely, sold the land, and let the private sector do its thing? 

 for the state to develop a program to pay off people’s medical debts. 

 for three positions in the UH system to help create more multilingual translators in Hawai‘i. 

 to establish a bachelor’s degree program in agricultural science at the University of Hawai‘i-West O‘ahu campus, including hiring an administrator. 

 to create an Office of Community Culture, Arts and Innovation within DBEDT as a “sister entity to the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.” Pays for one executive director and one staffer to literally just write reports. Remember, folks, you can’t make art or innovate unless the government helps you! 

 to create an office that certifies community behavioral health clinics and hire its executive director. 

 to create and fund the Hawai‘i Braille Literacy Education Act. There are about 170 kids in K-12 public schools in need of Braille instruction, but only 10% of them have this service in their special education programs. No critique here other than surprise.

 to create and fill a full-time program management position for the cesspool conversion revolving loan fund. Hawai‘i’s cesspool problem is truly its biggest environmental disaster, and one we can actually solve, unlike climate change. Every penny of the new Green Fee on tourism ought to go toward getting rid of these things as a public health menace, if you ask me. So my critique here may surprise you — we aren’t spending enough on closing cesspools.  

 for the state hire an outside contractor to train child welfare services staff on domestic violence issues. 

 to develop a pilot program requiring each county, “to establish a summer streets pilot program that temporarily closes vehicular traffic and repurposes roads for pedestrian and cyclist use, outdoor events, temporary installations, and other community-driven activities.” I mean, we have perfectly good parks, parks equipped with parking lots, where these activities could happen. But let’s instead make taxpayers pay for temporary traffic jams to teach them a lesson about the good life they could have if they just walked everywhere. 

 to establish a commission to figure out which public schools the state will need to close or consolidate in face of declining enrollment. “Projections from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education indicate that Hawai‘i is expected to experience the nation's steepest decline in high school graduates over the next 16 years, with enrollment decreases likely to accelerate,” the bill notes. Can you say, middle-class flight?  

 to commission a University of Hawai‘i study into how to pay for the growing long-term care needs of Hawai‘i expanding senior population. 

  for the state Health Planning and Development Agency to “develop a comprehensive state plan on hearing loss focused on improving access, affordability, awareness, and early detection of hearing loss in collaboration with community stakeholders, relevant advisory boards, and state agencies.” 

 to hire a disability integration specialist to make sure the state’s disaster planning includes the needs of people with various disabilities. This position satisfies a new demand on the states by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

 for the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism to create a program that would raise awareness among business owners about how dementia might be impacting their employees and customers. 

for the Department of Education to “establish a two-year student-authored book publication pilot program in which students research, write, and publish original works” in Kalihi, Nānākuli and Wai‘anae elementary schools. This sounds terrific, and so obviously good that my question is — why does this require a law? The DOE has an annual budget of more than $2 billion dollars. Is it completely incapable of figuring out how to get a mere $50,000 into a new program without lawmakers telling them to do so?

 to be paid to the City & County of Honolulu for feral chicken eradication. What can I say here that would be funnier than that? 

Thirty-two bills have a combined total of nearly $214 million in new spending. They will be voted on this Wednesday. ASD editor A. Kam Napier pulled together this digestible overview, with commentary, so you know where your money might be going.

Daily Smile: Thursday, June 18, 2026

ASD Staff

Reporter

More in Daily Smile

Daily Smile: Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026

Daily Smile: Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

Daily Smile: Friday, July 31, 2026

Daily Smile: Thursday, July 30, 2026

Most read

Daily Smile: Thursday, June 18, 2026

Authors

ASD Staff

Reporter

More in Daily Smile

Daily Smile: Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026

Daily Smile: Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

Daily Smile: Friday, July 31, 2026

Daily Smile: Thursday, July 30, 2026

Most read