Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 10, 2011

Councilwoman Brittany Smart 

A COMMUNITY TALK STORY SESSION will be held tonight by County Council member Brittany Smart at Cooper Center in Volcano at 7 p.m. Her guest will be Council member Pete Hoffman, and the subject is How Impact Fees Impact Me. Impact fees on development can raise money for infrastructure but have also been blamed for higher housing costs. Hoffman says he has a new formula that will help the community, which will be softer on the owner-builder. Questions from the audience are encouraged.

BIOFUELS TAX CREDITS proposed in the state House of Representatives are scheduled for decision-making in committee today. Pacific Biodiesel owners Kelly and Bob King want the measure to incentivize small business and include used cooking oils, grease trap and waste animal fats, to encourage expanded use of recyclable materials for clean fuel production. They also want independent farmers to have the same advantage as big agricultural interests. They want tax breaks based on actual production rather than capacity. 

Kelly and Robert King of Pacific Biodiesel, with
composer Jack Johnson, support locally made
biofuel from crops, food and agricultural waste

     They said that the biodiesel industry has to be flexible and that it has struggled under recent economic conditions and fluctuating petroleum prices. Many U.S. biodiesel facilities are running at reduced capacity, have shut down entirely or gone bankrupt. Nearly all new biofuel facility construction has been stalled indefinitely.
     The way the bill reads, says Pacific Biodiesel vice president Kelly King, it appears that only large agricultural entities that own both the farm and fuel production would benefit, and that the local farmer working with a biofuel production operation is at a disadvantage.
     The Kings, the state Department of Business and Economic Development and other entities want a tax credit for biofuels with a level playing field for large and small producers.
     A presentation on biofuel production planned for Ka`u will be given on Monday, February 21 by `Aina Koa Pono at Pahala Community Center at 6 p.m., sponsored by the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce.

THE STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES voted yesterday to continue opening prayers each day. New rules, however, prevent prayers from being used to advance, to proselytize or to disparage any religion. The new rules were passed following the American Civil Liberties Union warning both the House and Senate that they should separate the activities of church and state. The prayers will no longer be considered official business of the House. The Senate recently did away with prayers altogether, becoming the first legislative body to do so in the country. Ka`u Senator Gil Kahele, however, joined eight other senators in praying before a Senate session to show that they still look for guidance from Akua.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS will have to offer a few more school days and a little more time each day in the classroom, starting this fall. Right now the children go to school for 178 days, which will increase to 180 days. Elementary schools will offer about five hours a day, while intermediate and high schools will offer 5.5 hours a day. The next school year, starting in 2013, will see another increase in school time, with a total of 1,080 hours for students of all grades.

Sen. Josh Green

THE PROPOSAL TO INCREASE TAXES ON ALCOHOL and to levy a tax on soda was the subject of a hearing at the state Senate Health Committee, chaired by Dr. Josh Green yesterday. The alcohol tax could generate about $23.4 million a year, and the soda tax could bring in $44 million to help ease the state budget crunch. About $15 million would go toward alcoholism and obesity prevention programs. 

One version of the bill would tax all sugary beverages. 

     During the hearing, representatives of the Hawai`i Restaurant Association, Hawaiian Sun, Itoen, Coca-Cola and other soda, liquor and sugary beverage companies called the measure regressive, saying it would hurt lower- and middle-income families. The Tax Foundation said that Hawai`i already has some of the highest tax rates on alcoholic beverages in the country. The tax hike would reaffirm the perception “that Hawai`i is a tax hell,” said the Tax Foundation.

     The American Heart Association; Hawai`i Primary Care Association; and the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition supported the bill. 

     To prevent diabetes and other health problems, the American Heart Association recommends that men ingest no more than nine teaspoons of sugar a day and women consume not more than six teaspoons, including all the sugar in drinks, prepackaged and homemade foods. Sen. Josh Green said the issue deserves a more complete debate before deciding whether it should pass his health committee.