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AKINA portrait 2

Keliʻi Akina, Ph.D.

Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

, the No. 4 University of Hawai‘i men's volleyball team's series against No. 1 Long Beach State somehow ended up delivering more than fans bargained for. 

The Rainbow Warriors and The Beach battled for two consecutive nights in front of sold-out crowds, providing spectators with high level displays of volleyball throughout the weekend. 

Long Beach State defeated the 'Bows in four sets on Friday night in front of a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 9,962, while the Rainbow Warriors outlasted The Beach in a five-set epic in front of 9,771 on Saturday night. 

Long Beach State exited the weekend 24-2 overall and 6-2 in the Big West standings, while Hawai‘i improved to 23-4 on Saturday night and pulled into a tie for first in the Big West standings. 

Five on UH were honored following Saturday night's match as part of senior night's festivities, the last of which was libero ‘Eleu Choy. For two consecutive nights, Choy was the defensive star, enduring a lethal Long Beach State offense and an injury to the midsection in the fourth set on Saturday. By the time it was time for him to make his senior walk, Choy buried his head in his jersey, physically spent and overcome with emotion. 

"Being here for six years, it's really a long journey," said Choy, a Farrington alumnus. "I remember being here my first year as a freshman. I was a really young kid, and now I'm like an adult. I feel more mature as a man."

Choy had 12 digs and an assist over the weekend, but statistics don't tell the whole story. 

"That is ‘Eleu's All-American tape," UH head coach Charlie Wade beamed after Saturday's match. "He took what is the best server in the NCAA and neutralized him. He just absolutely dimed hot shots and really played at a high level. He certainly put together (an All-American) performance over the weekend and showed that. If he's not the best libero in the country, he's damn close."

Added outside hitter Louis Sakanoko: "‘Eleu is so good. He worked so hard for it. I'm so happy for him. He played so great. Everyone knew when there will be big games, he will be here popping off. And he showed it today. ... He was just the best tonight. ‘Eleu is the best. That's the only thing I can say."

At one point in the fourth set, Choy stayed down for an extended period of time after a Long Beach State point but remained in the match. 

"I tried to dig the ball. It went through my arms and hit me right in the cojones," Choy recalled.

Throughout the series, Choy's intestinal fortitude was put to the ultimate test against Long Beach State freshman sensation Moni Nikolov, who was as advertised, wowing the crowd with his sheer skill and versatility in a bevy of areas. 

, entered Friday as the nation's leader in service aces, the only player in the country to average more than one per set. Although the Rainbow Warriors, led by Choy, held him to no aces for the first time all season on Friday, he shined in every other facet, dishing out 38 assists while playing solid defense with seven digs. He also kept UH honest with a block and three kills. 

Nikolov added 49 assists with five kills and six digs on Saturday, but again was held to no aces. 

, Hawai‘i's leader in kills, sat out both matches with an ankle injury, his right foot in a walking boot. Stepping up in his place was fellow freshman Finn Kearney, who led the 'Bows with 17 kills on Friday night. 

Once UH's coaching staff determined Titriyski wasn't going to be available against Long Beach State, a competition ensued between Kearney and Kainoa Wade, the son of head coach Charlie Wade. Kearney edged out Wade to win the starting job, his connection with starting UH setter Tread Rosenthal already established after the pair won multiple medals for Team USA's junior national team over the years during international competition. 

Kearney had 17 kills again on Saturday night, while senior middle blocker Kurt Nusterer had 10 kills on 12 swings and six blocks. 

Nusterer didn't have a kill on Friday, hitting -.250 on four swings. But UH coaches trusted their veteran on Saturday, keeping him in the starting lineup. 

"Yesterday I had one of the worst games of my life, so the thought there is that the next day you can only go up from there," Nusterer said on Saturday night. "I found out I was (still) starting. It was really freeing in a sense that they had faith in me and trust in me, and I knew I couldn't play worse than I did the other day. So, once the ball got rolling, it kind of just snowballed."

After the end of Saturday's match, the Rainbow Warriors honored its five seniors: Kawai Hong, Clay Weiter, Zachary Thompson, Nusterer and Choy, all of whom were draped in lei afterwards. 

The Rainbow Warriors will close out the regular season next week with a pair of matches at UC Santa Barbara from April 18-19. The 'Bows then host the Big West Tournament from April 24-26. 

Hawaii MVB seniors 041225

<title>No. 4 Hawai‘i men's volleyball prevails over No. 1 Long Beach State on senior night</title>

The Rainbow Warriors and The Beach battled each other in front of a sold-out crowd for consecutive nights.

No. 4 Hawai‘i men's volleyball prevails over No. 1 Long Beach State on senior night

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

A bill to outlaw the sale of "assault rifles" is on the verge of passage in the Hawai‘i Legislature, despite wide opposition by gun advocates.

Senate Bill 401 proposes to ban the purchase or sale of “assault rifles” and “assault shotguns” in the state after July 8. While such weapons purchased and registered before July 8 would remain legal, those guns could not be again sold within the state.

The bill has generated substantial opposition from gun owners statewide. Several have argued that the bill’s definition of an “assault rifle” would impact the vast majority of long guns in circulation.

An "assault rifle," as defined in the bill, is a semiautomatic rifle with an overall length of less than 30 inches, with a fixed magazine capable of accepting more than 10 rounds, can accept a detachable magazine and has features such as a pistol grip, flash suppressor, bayonet mount and others.

While some of these features would be prohibited because of their potential to expedite violent crimes — folding stocks, for example, can enhance “the concealability of the weapon,” according to the bill — gun advocates have said that many of them are standard features on most rifles. 

“They’ve said the M1 carbine would be legal under the bill, but it wouldn’t,” said Wayne Asam, president of the Mid Pacific Pistol League, a nonprofit that promotes competitive sport shooting. Asam told Aloha State Daily the bill prohibits rifles with handguards that shroud the barrel and allow the shooter to hold the barrel without being burned, something that is standard to the M1 carbine.

Furthermore, Asam said, flash suppressors, also banned by the bill, are “stock on almost all rifles.” Such suppressors dampen a weapon’s muzzle flash, help limit muzzle rise and improve accuracy over multiple shots.

Gun clubs would largely be limited to pistol shooting under these restrictions, Asam said, while hunters would be seriously impacted. He said lawmakers had clearly taken restrictions drafted in other states and transposed them to Hawai‘i without understanding them.

Big Island Rep. David Tarnas, architect of the bill, acknowledged as much, telling Aloha State Daily that he specifically adapted language used in a 2023 Illinois weapons ban.

Tarnas said he sees the bill as simply finishing the work of a 1992 Hawai‘i measure that banned the sale of “assault pistols,” which were defined in similar terms as this year’s assault rifle bill.

“In my opinion, the legislature should have addressed the issue of semiautomatic rifles at the same time,” Tarnas said. “But over 33 years, people have become accustomed to these rifles with military characteristics.”

Tarnas said he wants to protect citizens’ Second Amendment rights, and emphasized that SB 401 does not criminalize current legal and registered owners of assault rifles. 

However, Tarnas added that those guns currently in the state will eventually be decommissioned: they cannot be legally transferred between owners, nor can they be bequeathed to heirs. Anyone who inherits such a gun has 90 days to render the weapon permanently inoperable, sell or transfer it to a licensed dealer or a police chief of any of the state’s counties, or otherwise remove the weapon from the state.

At the same time, Tarnas said, there are “a vast amount” of Hawai‘i residents in support of assault weapon restrictions. The public submitted more than 420 pages of testimony — see that and the drafts of the bill 

 — including dozens of form letters emphasizing that such weapons “are military-grade weapons that have no place in civilian life,” alongside continued opposition.

But Asam questioned Tarnas' assessment. For example, he said, the bill also bans .50-caliber firearms, which laypeople may only associate with military sniper rifles, but also includes high-powered pistols like the Desert Eagle that most commonly only see use as sport guns.

Ultimately, Asam said that the process of getting a firearm in Hawai‘i is already restrictive and onerous, and so the only people impacted by the ban would be law-abiding gun owners.

Beyond the content of the bill, opponents have also questioned its context. SB 401 began life as a much shorter proposal to simply prohibit .50 caliber firearms, which passed through the Senate despite substantial public opposition.

But in March, the House Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs — of which Tarnas is a member — recommended the sweeping amendments that gave the bill its current form. Those amendments transferred to SB 401 the text of another Tarnas bill, House Bill 893, which passed through the House without incident but was not scheduled for any Senate committee hearings.

Tarnas said the language of the SB 401 has thereby already passed muster in the House. He added that, because the original form of the bill was related to firearms, the changes are still germane to the measure’s original subject matter and therefore do not constitute a “gut-and-replace.”

The State Supreme Court found gut-and-replace actions — the controversial practice of stripping the entire text of an existing bill after it has already been discussed in legislative readings and replacing it with unrelated text without allowing for adequate discussion — unconstitutional in 2021.

[{"text":"Nonetheless, Asam said he finds the bill shady.","type":"text"}]

“We fight off assault weapon bans every year,” Asam said. “And since we keep being successful, it seems they’re trying some new tricks.”

The bill now goes into conference committees over the coming weeks, following disagreements between the House and Senate over the amendments.

Tarnas David A 359 16x9

<title>State Legislature poised to pass sweeping weapons ban</title>

Senate Bill 401 proposes a ban on the sale of "assault rifles" beginning July 8.

State Legislature poised to pass sweeping weapons ban

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Entertainment

Arts & Culture

When Lei Day arrives, Maui singer and songwriter 

 will don a gardenia lei with 250 flowers in honor of his late grandmother.

“Gardenia is my maternal grandmother’s favorite flower,” the four-time Grammy award winning artist told Aloha State Daily. “She used to have a hedge of them in Hilo, full during the season, April, May, until the first week of June. ...  I remember my grandmother's house full of gardenia flowers and bouquets.”

Peʻa, a five-time Nā Hōkū Hanohano award winner, will headline his seventh annual “May Day is Lei Day in Hawaiʻi” concert on Saturday, May 3, at the Hawaii Theatre. That performance will feature 

, who received the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award for the Male Vocalist of the Year in 2024, along with Nā Kumu Hula Sonny Ching, Lōpaka Igarta-De Vera, Ka’ilihiwa Vaughan-Darval, Kauʻi Kamanaʻo, Kunewa Mook, Shelsea Lilia Ai, Carolee Nishi and Krystal Yamamura.

On Friday, May 2, Pe’a will perform along with Maui-based falsetto champion 

 in “May Day is Lei Day with Kalani Pe’a” at 

. The event is free and open to the public. It starts at 10 a.m. and includes a lei contest. Leis must be dropped off by 2 p.m. and winners of the contest will be named at 3 p.m., according to representatives of the hotel. The event is being sponsored by Highgate Hawaiʻi, Kaimana Beach Hotel, Pe’a, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Manuhealiʻi, Keahou Shopping Center and others.

Lei Day started with a few people wearing lei in Downtown Honolulu on May 1 in 1927,  according to the City and County of Honolulu. Today, the annual event includes a lei contest, as well as performances. 

 remembers cutting up paper to make flowers for lei in elementary school. 

“May Day is very special,” he said. “It’s a good day to share Hawaiian music and Hawaiian language and hula and culture.” 

His gardenia lei is created by Leilani Pearson, who grows the flowers on Maui, he said. Leis can bring you back to a sense of place and time, as well as memories of people, Pe

“It’s that moment of wearing a lei that reminds you of someone you love,” he said. 

Lu Kahunani Cristobal, was supportive of his pursuit of music and higher education, he said. In fact, she bought his plane ticket so he could go to Colorado Mesa University, where he planned to study vocal performance. It was his first time leaving the islands, he said. He was 18 years old. 

She lived until her early 90s and eventually developed Alzheimer’s disease, which made it hard for her to recognize him. Pe

a wrote “Kahunani No ‘Ola’a” for her, which is part of his Grammy Award-winning second album, “No ‘Ane’i.”  

“During her final years — out of a 12-year span of suffering from it — I would sing her song to her, and I think she would remember me through music,” he said. “She would remember me for that moment. For that split second, she remembered me through my song and through my voice.”

a, music was healing for not just his grandmother, but his own journey to overcome a speech impediment as a child. 

“I really do feel music is healing for the world,” he said.

Kalani Peʻa

<title>Kalani Peʻa to headline back-to-back Lei Day performances</title>

The Maui-based singer and songwriter has won four Grammy Awards and five Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards. He is teaming up with award-winning singers and dancers to bring several memorable Lei Day performances to Oʻahu.

Kalani Peʻa to headline back-to-back Lei Day performances

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Real Estate

Once home to a number of walk-up apartment buildings, the site along Kapi‘olani Boulevard in Mō‘ili‘ili is now an empty lot. Here, developers plan to construct Kuilei Place, a new residential community that will include 1,005 one-, two- and three-bedroom homes on 3.15 acres.

The condominium development is a partnership between Kobayashi Group, a family-owned and managed real estate development and investment firm focused solely in Hawai‘i, and BlackSand Capital, a Hawai‘i-focused real estate private equity firm.

[{"text":"A blessing and ground breaking ceremony was held Wednesday.","type":"text"}]

When it's complete, Kuilei Place will have a 43-story tower on the Diamond Head side of the property and a 12-story mid-rise building facing Kapi‘olani Boulevard that will be connected by a 13-story parking structure.

The development will offer a mix of market-rate and workforce residences aimed at those who make between 80% and 140% of the area median income.

According to representatives of the developer, 603 of the 1,005 residences are "affordable," including 148 one-bedroom units, 382 two-bedroom units and 73 three-bedroom units.

The remaining 402 market rate units include nine live-work lofts, 96 one-bedroom units, 169 two-bedroom units and 128 three-bedroom units.

Kuilei Place was the first project approved to participate in the 

Hawaii Housing Finance & Development Corp.'s Dwelling Unit Revolving Fund Equity Pilot Program

. This program aims to help individuals working in some professions facing critical labor shortages — such as health care workers, educators and first responders — achieve homeownership.

There also will be 7,211 square feet of commercial and retail space, 50,643 square feet of open space, 1,670 parking stalls and storage for approximately 600 bicycles, the representative noted. Other amenities will include a swimming pool, lounge areas, barbecue cabanas, play spaces for keiki, wellness spaces, a walking path with fitness stations, and private dining and club rooms, and more.

An announcement from the developers noted, too, that the Kuilei Place will feature dining concepts from Aoki Group.

According to the developers, Kuilei Place also will have the first residential on-site greywater reuse system in Hawai‘i, which will recycle water from sinks, showers and laundry machines, saving approximately 11 million gallons of water each year.

More than 85% of the residences have already been sold, the developers said.

Five years ago, Kuilei Place was just an idea from a colleague at BlackSand Capital, Kobayashi Group CEO Alana Kobayashi Pakkala told the crowd gathered Wednesday.

"Can we make make this work? Can we do a 201H permit, get 60% of the homes sold under the state affordable housing program and make it pencil?" she said. "Can we change the way people look at kama‘āina-focused or affordable housing?

"From the beginning, we knew it was ambitious," Pakkala continued. "This project faced many challenges ... but we were determined to reimagine what kama‘āina housing could be in Honolulu. Our vision was clear — to create not just homes, but a community where local families could thrive and build their future through homeownership. Despite the initial resistance, we did have many supporters who believed in the project's potential and the idea that we could make a meaningful, positive impact to change our city."

"Honestly, I'm just so grateful," Pakkala told Aloha State Daily following the ceremony, when asked how it felt to reach this point in the project. "I'm humbled and grateful thinking about all the people that are here today that we wouldn't be here without." 

Pakkala says there are many challenges to bring forth any development, but this has been "the most challenging I've encountered in my almost 25-year career. But yet, like with most things, it's the most gratifying because I know that it makes a huge impact.

"I know that we are going to change the lives of these 1,000 households, families, fundamentally, and that this will be a kama‘āina-focused home and community — really a vertical neighborhood. And to blend seamlessly and together our 80% to 140% AMI households with our market households, and deliver a community that meets everyone's needs, both financially, but also from a heart and mind perspective ... I think that's the most gratifying element."

Pakkala says there were a total of 141 apartments in the mid-century walkups that were once on the property. The developers assisted those tenants with transitioning to new housing in late 2023, she said.

According to Pakkala, it's taken almost five years for the developers to get to this point. And as for the Kuilei Place development, she says the goal is to move homeowners in toward the end of 2027. 

A number of state and city leaders spoke during the event, including Gov. Josh Green and Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.

"A project like this, when I'm standing on the ground, I can envision the nurses that are going to be living here, the teachers, and it's very easy for me to visualize that," Green told ASD following the ceremony. "That is one of the core demographics that will be here, and that helps solve our health care crisis, that helps eliminate the shortage of teachers every year. This is a real excellent solution for many of our challenges."

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<title>Developers break ground on Mō‘ili‘ili project</title>

Kuilei Place will offer 1,005 residences on 3.15 acres. More than 85% of the units are already spoken for.

Developers break ground on Mō‘ili‘ili project

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

If you’ve ever experienced Mediterranean food from one of the New York City street carts, get excited — something similar recently popped up in Kailua.

 opened on March 23, according to business owner Naji Salahaldin, who says the business is inspired by the New York City street carts. He says he and his business partner initially thought about opening as a small hot dog cart, but decided to ultimately have a trailer.

“We wanted to make it (the hot dog cart) look like the street carts of New York, but we thought about the rain,” he says. “We made it into a little kitchen.

“A lot of guys at work (my full-time job) call me Naji Baba,” he adds. “My partner — who’s from Brooklyn and grew up eating this stuff all the time — always goes to this place in New York called Haji Baba.”

Naji Baba’s location is ideal for foot traffic, and Salahaldin says they chose the location to provide more options for those who live and work in the area.

“I live here (in Kailua),” he says. “There used to be a trashcan for the building (where we’re located). The landlord is a doctor; there are a lot of nurses around there, and he wanted to have a food cart or something affordable for the nurses working.”

The cart’s menu is simple, consisting mainly of rice platters and sandwiches. The combo rice platter ($16) — which comes with falafel, gyro and chicken — is the bestseller, according to Salahaldin. Plates come with the business’s housemade white sauce, but contrary to popular belief, it’s not quite tzatziki. 

“People use tzatziki sauce; we make our own white sauce,” Salahaldin says. “That’s what makes the plate; it gives it more flavor. It has yogurt, mayo, eggs and a bunch of other things. It’s not tzatziki because there is no cucumber.”

If you’re going to the cart for the first time, the combo rice platter is ideal because it’s basically a sampler. All the meat choices are flavorful, and if you’re concerned about the price, rest assured that it’s enough food for two meals.

If you get the falafel sandwich, you won’t have to worry about dried falafel. The falafel are flavorful with some texture, but they aren’t overly gritty.

“We make the falafel from scratch; our falafel, white sauce and chicken seasoning are our secret,” Salahaldin says. “A lot of other places have frozen falafel; we decided to do something different.

“Back home, there’s no such thing as frozen falafel,” he adds. “You get the dry chickpeas, you soak them overnight and it becomes soft, then you have to grind them, add garlic, onions and cilantro. It’s in our culture; falafel is what we grew up eating. I was born and raised in Palestine; this is what my mom made, this is what we ate.”

The sandwiches are good options if you want a meal that’s easy to grab and go. They’re a little messy to eat, but so worth it — and ask for extra white sauce and hot sauce just in case. Once you try that white sauce, you’ll probably want more.

Be forewarned: If you go at prime lunch time, the cart might be busy; during our visit, a phone system wasn’t installed yet, so only in-person ordering was available (a new phone system has since been installed). The goal for the business is to be open every day, eventually with halal meat, according to Salahaldin.

 “We did not expect this volume all at once,” he says. “People keep coming back!”

Open 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sundays

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<title>This New York-style street cart is serving up Mediterranean food</title>

Kailua-based Naji Baba is open Fridays to Sundays.

This New York-style street cart is serving up Mediterranean food

Business & Tourism

The Chamber of Commerce Hawai‘i is, ahem, engineering new ways to bring kama‘āina back to the Islands.

The Kama‘āina Come Home program connects former Hawai‘i residents who have moved to the Mainland with engineering opportunities here in the Islands.

According to the chamber, the Kama‘āina Come Home program — which is trademarked by and used with permission from the 

 — aims to reverse the loss of local talent "by showcasing career pathways, economic opportunities and quality of life in Hawai‘i."

Participants will receive one-on-one mentorship, access to an exclusive LinkedIn group and other resources, as well as networking events "to support a smooth transition back home."

McKenna Dale, manager of Workforce Development at the chamber, a statewide nonprofit that advocates for businesses in Hawai‘i, told Aloha State Daily that the program stems from the organization's Engineering Sector Partnership. These sector partnerships are industry-led public-private workforce development initiatives, and the Engineering Sector Partnership is one of five convened by the chamber, she said.

The chamber said in a recent announcement that the partnership, which was launched in 2018, focuses on career awareness, math readiness, and women in STEM, or science, technology, engineering and math, "to build a strong engineering talent pipeline from kindergarten through career."

Dale said Kama‘āina Come Home is the flagship program of the Talent Recruitment and Retention action team, the  fourth and newest action team, or priority focus area, for the Engineering Sector Partnership.

The idea of Kama‘āina Come Home, Dale says, is to connect engineering students and professionals who are originally from the Islands and living on the Mainland with engineering companies and professionals here in Hawai‘i "for informational interviews and for network expansion," with the goal to find the right career opportunity for that person.

"Brain drain is such a huge issue and a hot-button topic in Hawai‘i, so we're really trying to create a program that offers this one-stop shop that offers a resource and a gateway to connect with local professionals and folks who are both eager to help you find work, eager to help you make connections and really just even advise on the personal, interpersonal decision of returning back to Hawai‘i, which is obviously a high-cost state to live in," she said. "[We are] really seeing this program as an opportunity for folks who are curious about coming home to enter in a community of folks who can help them make that possible."

Dale says the program's website went live in December and an active LinkedIn group is the "cornerstone of the program for the time being." In that group, students or engineering professionals on the Mainland looking to explore opportunities and make connections, and local engineering professionals wanting to help those individuals, can connect. But the chamber is looking to launch a more formal mentorship program in the spring.

So far, Dale says more than 80 local professionals have signed up for the program, while Mainland recruitment efforts have really just started, she said, noting that about a dozen job seekers from the Mainland are currently participating in the program. The chamber is looking to expand that reach in the coming months.

Why is it important for the chamber to focus on bringing kama‘āina back to the Islands?

"I think that out-migration and brain drain is not only a critical workforce issue and a critical economic issue, but I think it's a very personal issue, with people's families having to move away due to the high cost of living, lack of opportunities — all sorts of different reasons," Dale said. "And the chamber, as a voice of business in Hawai‘i, is very invested in making sure that not only Hawai‘i's business community is thriving but the workforce is also thriving."

Businesses interested in joining the initiative or kama‘āina looking for opportunities to return home, visit the program 

Unsplash waikiki aerial

<title>Chamber of Commerce Hawai‘i wants kama‘āina to 'Come Home'</title>

The job placement program connects former residents who have moved to the Mainland to engineering job opportunities in the Islands.

Chamber of Commerce Hawai‘i wants kama‘āina to 'Come Home'

Yamachika Tom IMG 1913 Large

<title>Tom Yamachika</title>

Tom Yamachika

Hawai‘i's state Department of Transportation pays the most among all departments in internal fees back to state government for its shared expenses. Here's why it may be stuck with that arrangement.

Honolulu Airport i Stock 515521559

Community Voices: Supporting Government’s Central Services

The Hawai‘i state Legislature wants to change taxes on capital gains by some as yet unstated amount by taxing, for example, the money you gain selling your house at rates comparable to state income taxes. For individuals, this could amount to as much as a 52% increase to the rate someone would pay on capital gains.

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Community Voices: Taxing Capital Gains

Two bills would raise the Transient Accommodations Tax, but won't openly state the new rate, in a process leaving little time for public input.

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Community Voices: You Want to Raise the TAT by HOW Much?

The Hawaii State Tax Watch Doggie has gone online to check it out and has a few quibbles.

Taxcut Hawaii screenshot

Community Voices: The new tax cuts website

A new bill would tax health plans so that the state can buy bulk vaccines for people not otherwise entitled to receive free vaccines. It also immunizes the state itself — against lawsuits.

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Community Voices: Universal vax for Hawai‘i

Why the Tax Foundation of Hawai‘i drafted a bill to stop the state Department of Taxation from leaving liens on taxpayers on the books past their 15-year statute of limitations.

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Community Voices: Taxpayers need a break from old liens

Employers could be hit with a 42% increase in what they pay in state unemployment insurance taxes under a bill being considered by the Legislature.

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Community Voices: A Stealthy Tax Hike

Any increase to the GET, such as the one proposed, falls hardest on people with the least income.

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