The 2013 Legislature lurched to its midway point as we "flASHback" on the week’s news that amused and confused:
» The House and Senate voted on more than 400 bills at the Legislature’s crossover deadline. That’s the point in the session when attention shifts from horseplay to monkey business.
» Legislators advanced measures to reduce Hawaii’s dependence on food imported from the mainland. It’s about time we got our own Spam factory.
» The House passed a potentially landmark bill to require labeling of genetically modified edibles, but food lobbyists are expected to kill the measure in the Senate. Senators are better educated on where their bread is buttered.
» Rep. Jessica Wooley scoffed at attacks on the GMO bill, saying, "Our job is not to run away from controversy, ignore or marginalize people’s passionate concerns; our job is to make better policy for all the people of Hawaii." If only that was the real job description.
» The Senate pressed county liquor commissions to define "dancing." It’s like the "Hokey Pokey" thing senators do when they kick the Public Land Development Corp. out the door with one foot while rolling in the Public-Private Partnership Authority with the other.
» Legislators claimed it was a mistake last year when they exempted themselves from ethics rules against profiting from their actions, but bills this year to fix the mistake died without hearings. The urgency passed after we made the mistake of re-electing them.
» Ansaldo Honolulu JV unveiled its design for Oahu rail cars, boasting that Honolulu will have the nation’s first driverless commuter train. The driverless theme perfectlymatches the rest of city government.
» Rail officials say 2013 excise tax revenues for the train are $33 million short of what they expected and accused the state of miscalculating the city’s share. It’s refreshing to see government agencies shortchanging each other instead of taxpayers for once.
» About 1,000 public employee pension managers from around the country are taking heat for planning a Waikiki conference when their systems are deeply in debt. They’re just testing vacations their retirees might have enjoyed if there were money to pay their pensions.
» Pension conference organizers provided an "Attendance Justification Tool Kit" to help managers explain the junket. Hawaii legislators will borrow the guide as a model for their "25 Percent Pay Raise Justification Tool Kit."
And the quote of the week … from Rep. Roy Takumi on criticism that a bill to develop school properties has the DNA of the PLDC: "That’s like saying you can sense the DNA of a kitty cat in the saber-tooth tiger, but I don’t think anybody would confuse a cat with a saber-tooth tiger." Just as nobody would confuseour lawmakers with George Washington.
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Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.
