I link to the article here since I am not a paid member at Civil Beat and, thus, I could not participate in any discussion at Civil Beat if my piece generated comments….

I did a fair amount of research on this topic and I could go into much greater detail about it (if anyone were interested) but I was asked to observe a word count limit.

If you’re visiting my blog for the first time via the Civil Beat link, welcome.  Please, have a look around at my previous work.

It would appear that Representative Gene Ward, leader of the House Minority Caucus, is the new face of the Hawaii Republican Party, its so-called “titular head.” Lenny Klompus, a man suddenly without a political portfolio after years of carefully grooming Governor Lingle’s media presence, has hitched his wagon to Ward. Within days of Klompus’ arrival, Ward and other House Republicans have publicly sided with the one-member-too-small faction of House Democrats supporting Calvin Say to remain as House Speaker. I have a strong hunch that Klompus influenced that decision.

Sound about right to you, too?

Anyway, you’re here, so you’ve probably heard Ben’s piece, which means you know the gist of what I’ve been up to for the past 18 months(!).  A good place to explore where you will find links to all the related posts is at my small corner of the Hawaii Open Data Project, a place established by Ryan Ozawa to serve as a repository of sorts for projects like what I’ve been doing. If you only want the blow-by-blow of the struggle to get the records, however, that is all described in this long post.

By the way, Mr. Markus interviewed me for this piece on November 4, 2010. Fitting, then, that it should air seven weeks later, as no part of this project came together as quickly as I would have liked… haha.

Please, leave me a comment, spread the word about this project, and USE THE DATA!

p.s. If you missed it, then you can try to listen later today (around 4:30pm HST).

I thought that I still had hundreds of records to go, until I realized that the remaining pile consisted only of the records for measures which had been vetoed and subsequently overridden by the Legislature. Thus, after a careful comparison to confirm it, all those remaining records were duplicates. It feels great to be done!

In this final batch are records pertaining to clotheslines in planned communities, the Early Learning Council, unlicensed contractors, filing dates for excise taxes, credit checks during the hiring process, teacher licensure, and drug treatment. Most of these records pertain to bills that became law without the Governor’s signature.

The document index is now 4,432 rows long and catalogs 2,118 records! There is bound to be an error (or tens) in a document that size, so please let me know if you find any.

As ever, to look at any particular document, point your browser to
http://poinography.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009uipa/poi****.pdf
[substituting the asterisks with the four-digit document number you want, using leading zeros as needed]. For example, here is the link to view the first page of this latest batch of public comments. REMINDER: all of the contents of this site (to include the uploaded documents) are published under a Creative Commons license. Please, respect the terms of that license.

Now that I am finished, I hope that the Senate Clerk would reconsider the decision to not host these documents alongside the other testimony related to the same pieces of legislation. At the very least, I would hope that she would include (or link to) my Document Index with an explanation of how it may be used to find the records here at this blog. Remember, too, that my index is an Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and allows the data to be sorted to make them more useful (i.e. by measure number, by sender, by recipient, etc.).

I finished just in time, too. Not only is the next legislative session coming in a few weeks (it would have been VERY lame to be working on data TWO sessions old), but something pretty cool is happening Tuesday that makes my finishing this task extra satisfying. “Stay tuned!” [cough]

This batch of records comprises comments on legislation relating to the following topics: tort claims against public utilities, telecommunications de-regulation, electronics recycling, renewing liquor licenses of tax delinquent businesses [Next Door and Jacques North Shore Bistro have particularly vocal followers, or so it would seem], establishing preferential rates for renewable energy produced by agricultural producers, physician orders for life-sustaining treatment, the use of airport revenue to apply for a FAA spaceport license, and a contentious bill about how lease rents are to be set by arbitration [which led to a flood of comments from employees of GP Roadway Solutions].

As ever, to look at any particular document, point your browser to
http://poinography.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009uipa/poi****.pdf
[substituting the asterisks with the four-digit document number you want, using leading zeros as needed]. For example, here is the link to view the first page of this latest batch of public comments. REMINDER: all of the contents of this site (to include the uploaded documents) are published under a Creative Commons license. Please, respect the terms of that license.

Nothing too shocking in this batch. Or, I should say, nothing to shocking to a person like myself not intimately familiar with the legislation. Your mileage may vary.

Kudos to KITV and KHON for reporting about a community meeting where a presentation was made by a company that is in the business of helping law enforcement agencies locate the source of gunshots and other noises made by illegal activity. Honolulu City Council Chair Nestor Garcia (my original boss at the Lege, back in the day) hosted the events in our/my neighborhood where Ed Jopeck of Shotspotter described the equipment which is used to pinpoint the location of gunfire and explosions by triangulating on the sound produced.

As it happens, I wrote to Shotspotter back on November 21, 2010:

I write a blog about Hawaii politics. On the island of Oahu we have a huge amount of illegal aerial fireworks and improvised bombs(!) that are detonated by normally-law-abiding people to celebrate New Years Eve, with a window of about one month before and after that sees a build-up and taper-off from that single night of intense activity. Around Independence Day there is a smaller version of the same anarchy. Despite literally thousands of offenses, the authorities typically make only one or two arrests per year and claim that the arrest rate is so low because the LEO (or a member of the public willing to testify for the prosecution) must actually witness the offense being committed. People with respiratory ailments and nervous pets of all kinds are affected.

Would your shotspotter system be effective in pinpointing the location of illegal aerial fireworks and bombs in a mid-density urban environment? Would you be willing to demonstrate your system this year in my community and perhaps shame local LE into taking more aggressive action? Does the system produce evidence that would stand up in court and obviate the need for a citizen to “rat” on his or her neighbor?

To see how crazy it gets, take a look at the video I shot from my 9th floor balcony last year:

This is not a joke. Can you help?

I received an auto-response to the effect that the press officer was on vacation for Thanksgiving. Finally, on December 3, I got an acknowledgment of my email—claiming that my message had gone into a spam folder by mistake. My inquiry was to be fielded by Mr. Jopeck. But nothing came of it. I pinged the press officer again on December 10, letting her know that Jopeck had not responded.

Three days ago, on December 13, Mr. Jopeck responds, telling me that, what else, my email had been in his spam folder. He then informed me that he would be in Waipahu, meeting with Nestor Garcia … the next day(!), and he invited me to join them. Jopeck also said he planned to meet with the Honolulu Police and Fire Departments. I had other plans for Tuesday evening already, so I did not attend.

An excerpt from what Jopeck wrote:

As luck [sic] would have it, I am leaving my current home near Washington DC this morning to come to Honolulu for three days (Dec 14-16). The primary purpose for my trip is, at the request of Honolulu City Council Chairman Nestor Garcia [sic], to meet and address a community meeting in Waipahu on exactly this issue. I will be happy to give a demonstration of our solution at or after this meeting. I hope you will consider coming to the city council meeting to hear my presentation and so that we can meet. While I am in Honolulu, I will also be meeting with Honolulu Police and Fire Department representatives.

Luck?! At the request of Garcia?!

Whatever you say, Mr. Jopeck. Heh.

Anyway, from the KITV story:

Council Chairman Nestor Garcia, who represents Waipahu, wants the city to seriously consider the technology to combat illegal fireworks, especially once consumer fireworks are banned on Oahu starting Jan. 2.

“We know that there is a problem out there. We hear it every night. Even last night, I heard it. The problem is trying to detect it under the cover of darkness. With this technology, as I’ve been told, it might be able to solve that problem for us,” Garcia said.

The technology costs roughly $250,000 for the first square mile and about $200,000 per additional square mile after that, according to Jopeck.

That sounds expensive, but this is a seasonal problem. Does the technology cost $250,000 per square mile per … year? per month? per week? per day? If $250,000 is the annual rate, then setting up the system for a month suddenly sounds much more affordable. The story also mentions the possibility of using Shotspotter during the upcoming APEC meeting. Doesn’t the Department of Homeland Security (or some other federal agency) have a budget for making grants to host cities to defray security expenses?

How about a free sample for a week, Mr. Jopeck? My dog, Perl, would like to spend a quiet evening without needing to cower under my bed!

Anyway, I apologize for the posting hiatus. In addition to just needing a break, I had a run of library books on hold finally becoming available, then basketball season started, and all that meant I devoted less time to this weird “hobby” of mine. This batch took me past the 1900 record barrier, and the document index is now over 4200 rows. Wow!

So, what’s in this batch of records? Comments about opihi regulations, a flood of comments from Kakaako landowners/developers (including a comment from the Gannett Pacific Corporation) in opposition to changes regarding affordable housing requirements, a trickle of comments from supporters of that same measure, comments about amendments to the campaign finance law, comments from businesses and insurers opposed to a law forcing them to offer health insurance to part-time workers, some high-profile businesses and politicians commenting on the increase in the petroleum barrel tax, comments about extending the GET to online purchases, comments about labeling meat products that have been gassed to appear more fresh, and about legislation to put a five-year cap on residence in public housing.

As ever, to look at any particular document, point your browser to
http://poinography.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009uipa/poi****.pdf
[substituting the asterisks with the four-digit document number you want, using leading zeros as needed]. For example, here is the link to view the first page of this latest batch of public comments. REMINDER: all of the contents of this site (to include the uploaded documents) are published under a Creative Commons license. Please, respect the terms of that license.

META: So, what’s the dealio, BM? Are you gonna play me like Mr. Bennett for months, or what? You should know by now that I am a very patient man…

Deputy AG Russell Suzuki sent me this email:

I apologize for not responding sooner. After reviewing your appeal and reexamining Mr. John H. Radcliffe’s June 3, 2009 memo, I agree with your contention that the “Working Draft of Executive Summary and Presentation Material, Market and Economic Impact Analysis, Two Casinos on the Island of Oahu,” is the document referred to in Mr. Radcliffe’s June 3rd memo and that the memo, with the attached summary, was sent not only to the Governor but also to eight legislators. Under this circumstance, the document that you seek is not protected from disclosure and attached to this email is a pdf of the document. We would request that if you intend to publish the report that you clearly identify that the document is not the work product of the State. You may also wish to seek permission to publish from Mr. Radcliffe inasmuch as the document clearly states “NOT FOR PUBLICATION” and “WORKING DRAFT.”

Pfft. As if I would ask anyone for permission to publish a government record I obtained via a UIPA request…

However, note that Suzuki’s message does not back down from his [dubious] claim that the Governor is allowed a “deliberative privilege,” rather he merely concedes that this report does not qualify for such a privilege.

REMINDER: all of the contents of this site (to include the uploaded documents) are published under a Creative Commons license. Please, respect the terms of that license.

So, what’s in this batch of records?  The bulk of these comments (and here we are talking hundreds of records, folks) are about the amendments made to the Act 221 tax credit. Those records provide yet another (incomplete) hint of exactly which companies and investors are (or were) claiming those credits… However, other notable subjects include: unemployment insurance, public accountancy regulation, and enterprise zones.

As ever, to look at any particular document, point your browser to
http://poinography.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009uipa/poi****.pdf
[substituting the asterisks with the four-digit document number you want, using leading zeros as needed].  For example, here is the link to view the first page of this latest batch of public comments.  REMINDER: all of the contents of this site (to include the uploaded documents) are published under a Creative Commons license.  Please, respect the terms of that license.

Like last time, this batch also has one especially intriguing item:  check out this record, a letter from Alec Sou of Aloun Farms regarding a bill to extend enterprise zone tax incentives that were about to expire. In the letter Mr. Sou, now awaiting a federal trial on charges of grossly exploiting foreign farm workers, writes, “We have been a company of over 150 full time employees for over a decade. We have recently hired additional employees expanding to roughly 170 due to the availability of the work-pool. [??]” Sou continues, “We are not asking for new hand-out [sic] of tax moneys or credits, we are simply asking that you let us keep the HALF-% that we earn so that we can put it back in to hire and train new employees. That along with some of the benefits of the SB 1284, will allow for us businesses to quickly make infrastructure improvements while the interest rates remain low for the near future. If we don’t hire more people, we don’t get the benefits [emphasis mine]

Of course, Mr. Sou never promised the Governor to hire American employees to “get the benefits” of the enterprise zone relief, nor did he promise to treat all the workers he hired fairly… Anyway, it would seem that our tax dollars were at least somewhat empowering Mr. Sou’s alleged sordid behavior. Nice. Check it out.

META: Still waiting for word from the OIP about that gambling report. If they rule that the report need not be disclosed to me, then don’t worry—Radcliffe has offered to provide a copy to Ian Lind and Ian will scan it. Win!

UPDATE: October 12, 2010: Ian Lind has obtained the report directly from John Radcliffe! The report is available from Ian, and from me.

So, what’s in this batch of records pertaining to legislation that passed the 2009 regular session? Among the more notable subjects: tattoo artist regulation, renewable energy incentives, regulation of light pollution near observatories, taxation of gambling winnings regardless of offsetting losses (the gamblers were ANGRY), and expansion of advanced practice registered nurse authority. As ever, to look at any particular document, point your browser to
http://poinography.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009uipa/poi****.pdf
[substituting the asterisks with the four-digit document number you want, using leading zeros as needed]. For example, here is the link to view the first page of this latest batch of public comments. REMINDER: all of the contents of this site (to include the uploaded documents) are published under a Creative Commons license. Please, respect the terms of that license.

This batch does have one especially intriguing item: check out this record, a letter from über lobbyist John Radcliffe about establishing two gaming casinos on Oahu. The report Radcliffe refers to in the letter was not provided in response to my UIPA request, and I challenged the Office of the Governor’s claim of “deliberative privilege.” The initial response from the OIP suggested that they will uphold the deliberative privilege—even if the report was not created by the government but was only “solicited by” a government agency. However, that OIP decision may have been made in ignorance of Radcliffe’s letter, which clarifies that the study is ten years old and, thus, was not solicited by the Lingle administration. I await further OIP review of my challenge, and I have a strong hunch that I’ll get the report. If I do get the report, it will be posted here, natch.

UPDATE: October 12, 2010: Ian Lind has obtained the report directly from John Radcliffe! The report is available from Ian, and from me.

BONUS: A picture of my new bike is here, if anybody cares. It’s quite a machine and I’m very happy with it.