State lawmakers tackling housing, dental needs, pay equity
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hawaii lawmakers are considering limiting the number of years people can live in public housing if they agree to an incentive program in advance.
2016 January 26 photo by Craig T. Kojima On Tuesday, January 26. Homeless Point in Time Count a major volunteer effort to record the number of homeless people across the state on a given night kicks off in Wahiawa. Institute for Human Services is in charge of the this district. In the Whitmore Village area, Heidi Apau, left, and “Z” emerge from a homeless structure after asking some questions of the resident.
Hawaii lawmakers are heading into their second full week of the 2016 legislative session, planning to tackle the housing shortage, dental needs for the poor, renewable energy and breastfeeding jurors.
Housing and homelessness solutions will be on the top of the agenda at multiple hearings Monday and Tuesday. Housing developers and representatives from the Department of Hawaiian Homelands, the Public Housing Authority and various agencies will give updates on affordable housing projects in the works. The same morning, the House Committee on Housing will consider a bill that increases the income tax credit for low-income renters and another that aims to reduce homelessness by offering stipends to unemployed people in job training programs.
On Tuesday, the House Committee on Human Services will consider a program that flies displaced homeless people back to the mainland, and another that allows homeless people to replace identification cards free of charge.
On the topic of energy, the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee Tuesday morning will take up a proposal to allow counties to run their own public utilities and another proposal to create tax credits for solar-powered air conditioning units.
On pay equity, the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor will hear a bill Monday morning that would ensure that men and women performing substantially similar work are paid equally.
Restoring basic dental benefits to Medicaid patients will be discussed in the House Human Services Committee on Tuesday morning.
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Also on the health topic, the Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection and Health Committee will meet Tuesday morning to consider a proposal to allow pharmacists to prescribe birth control. They’re also considering a bill that would exempt breastfeeding mothers from jury duty — 17 states and Puerto Rico have passed similar laws.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Senate Human Services Committee will meet to discuss a bill that would ban sugary beverages in child care facilities. If passed, it would also limit the amount of natural fruit juice a child could drink.
A bill that would appropriate money to design and build a new state mental health hospital will be heard on Thursday morning in Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection and Health Committee. The bill would give $165 million to replace the Hawaii state hospital in Kaneohe.
23 responses to “State lawmakers tackling housing, dental needs, pay equity”
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And the welfare recipients have to tackle a way to remain on the entitlement’s pay roll.
These problems should have been faced and tackled long ago. The lack of competency in the legislature along with a very weak and inept governor will hurt our chances of solutions.
Is breastfeeding jurors really even a question?
I dont get it either….why would we bring in woman to feed the jurors with breast milk????
how does that work with hung juries . . .
One hung low?
Gotta love utterly clueless Nei bureaucrats when they say, “They’re planning to tackle housing, dental needs for the poor, renewable energy, breastfeeding jurors and gender pay equity.”
Key word here is “Planning.” Nothing said about what they will do, if anything. Bureaucrats will never commit to actually doing their job.
They have been planning for decades.
They will form a “COMMITTEE”, who will, in turn, hire a “Consultant”, who’s advice will have to reviewed by an additional Committee, which will hire another Consultant, who will aid in forming another Committee, etc., etc., ad naseum… AND, that’s how the tax revenues are spent, ad infinitum.
Yes FARKWARD!!
To add to your line of reasoning, and to ‘borrow’ a line written by a John O’Sullivan, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute…
citizens are “finding themselves increasingly neglected, or worse, fobbed off with election rhetoric and forgotten between elections”.
We are to blame because in the end, we are not doing very much, are we (?), to hold them accountable. “Accountability”, one of those election or preamble words they toss to us but WE don’t hold THEM accountable.
The Gender equity law was signed back in 1953. You’re going to have to force more women into engineering and into being doctors and then force more young men into nursing and education, then you just have to overcome nature and demand women quit having children, then and only then will you achieve this so called gender equity, even our senators haven’t figured that one out.
The key word is “similar”. They will look for job categories with a majority of women, find job category with mostly men that pays more, declare them “similar” and then raise the pay for the first category.
I saw this before in one city where they did this with garbage collectors and office clerks.
I suppose, depending on the department, filing clerks were doing a kind of “garbage collection”.
Bernie Sanders/hiLIARy clinton kind of ideology here in the Hawaii legislature at work.
Let me get this straight. Working people need to deal with their own housing and dental needs. People on assistance need better dental and housing than the working poor. So, if we work harder they will give our tax money away to give someone better dental than we get. Whatever happen to Strong Carter Dentists in the ’50s where you go and pay a nickel, if you have it. And the Dentist would have chairs lined up in the school cafeteria and they would work on you. I guess they are too good for that!
Even most of our veterans don’t have dental. We should begin there, since they fought for our freedom.
“Hawaii lawmakers are heading into their second full week of the 2016 legislative session.
They’re planning to tackle housing, dental needs for the poor, renewable energy, breastfeeding jurors and gender pay equity.”
Some of these issues have been longstanding issues throughout generations. Housing and dental needs for the poor are examples.
Renewable energy, breastfeeding jurors and gender pay equity have been ‘added’ to the list in the new millennium as a change of the times.
Hawaii’s lawmakers make more progress when they are not in session.
How about you can stay in housing for 18 months if you don’t cause trouble and find a job. Then if you want an extension, you can try to make it to the City of Refuge before a bunch of War Canoes get you, then it’s extended another year.
Glad to see they’re tackling the really difficult stuff.
“A Senate committee on Monday will hear a bill that would ensure equal pay for men and women performing similar work.”
no. never equal pay for similar work. and never similar pay for equal work.
it should always be equal pay for equal work, or similar pay for similar work.
All the dental colleges in Manila opened their doors to the public for dental needs and charged cheaper prices. Students got lots of practice as Filipinos are ignorant about dental hygienic. Some even gave them free if they were poor. Does this happen here? Maybe our dentists should be required to provide so many hours of free dental care every month for the needly by passing laws to do so. Students from the various professional schools would love to welcome the opportunity to do some real life problem-solving and learn compassion and humane suffering. Remember the city council made cheap spay/neuter services available to all and veterinarians volunteered. Let’s do this with lawyers, doctors, nurses, carpenters, plumbers, restaurants (UH culinary school already does this and welcomes the practice), and so on. Try opening some small 24-hours dental clinics or mobile units and plant them in walking distances where the poor and homeless are. 60 Minute’s Scott Pelley interviews two nurses with advanced degrees who volunteered to help treat poor sick people in the Appalachian Mountains. They could diagnoses, treat, and write prescriptions for these poor souls whose only sin was to be born poor. This is probably the answer to what we should do if there is a doctor shortage. Let the nurses doctor. I am impressed with Long’s in-clinic nurses. They are excellent communicators and sincere in heart for their patients. I will always be impressed with these kinds of people. Let’s start giving nurses scholarships for these advanced degrees and prepare them for the coming crisis.
The government doesn’t do anything, unless their crony friends are able to make a profit.
Hey Racoon, let’s start by requiring you to work for free before you earn any money, and this is throughout your career.