September 2007 | Small Business News
Small Business Views
By Sam Slom, President and Executive Director of Small Business Hawaii
The new interim director of the state Department of Labor is attorney and former Board of Education member, Darwin Ching who succeeds Nelson Befitel. Meet Darwin at our next SBH Sunrise, Thursday, September 27, at 7:00 am in Macy’s Pineapple Room, Ala Moana Center.
The State Supreme Court, ruled 3 – 2 in July, that the action by the 1999 State Legislature in raiding $350 million from the Employees Retirement System (ERS) was unconstitutional, but no required pay back by the Legislature.
The federal minimum wage increased from $5.25 to $5.85 on July 24, the first federal increase in 10 years. It increases to $6.55 7/24/08 and $7.25 7/24/09. The Hawaii minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour.
Longtime member Ocean Club at Restaurant Row is pau. Where will politicians go for their 2008 downtown fund-raisers?
Congratulations to bounty hunter Duane “Dog” Chapman on the publication of his new book, “You Can Run But You Can’t Hide.” The local A&E TV star’s book debuted at #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list.
The State Administration is once again pushing food stamps on residents. Seems usage has declined (that’s a bad thing?) some 16,000 in recent years to about 90,000 (45,000 households) and so has state revenues from the fed ($148 million in 2006) because the more people that use food stamps (at taxpayer expense) the more revenues (at taxpayer expense) the state gets. And with food prices soaring, maybe more of us in small business will soon qualify.
The City (taxpayers again!) paid $50,000 to reprint and re-mail Real Property Tax notices because the printed tax year date was wrong; nothing else, but the City worried about legal challenges.
Ho hum: KHON-TV was sold again, after only 18 months by Montecito Corp. to New Vision of LAX; “in for the long haul.”
The July 31 Milton Friedman 95th Birthday Celebration was a great success. Space at the Pacific Club was sold out with 80 attendees. Sponsored by the Grassroot Institute and co-sponsored by SBH, it will be an annual event.
The UH Shidler School of Business was ranked 19th best among international business schools by the U.S News & World Report for 2007. The UH football team is #23.
Forbes ranked Hawaii #2 in business vitality for 2007 while the Milken Institute ranked Hawaii #1 in costs of doing business for the 3rd consecutive year.
Try see the new look at the SBH website (smallbusinesshawaii.com) courtesy of webmaster Melvin Ah Ching. We think it will mean easier navigating for SBH members and for our visitors. What do you think?
A total of 43 of 76 state lawmakers — all but 4 were Democrats — attended the National Conference of State Legislatures in Boston in August. Cost was $100,000 plus.
State Senator Mike Gabbard, elected for a 4-year term as a Republican in 2006, switched and became a Democrat last month dropping the GOP 20% to 4 of 25 Senators.
Former First Hawaiian Bank CEO, Walter Dods, led a group of Hawaii investors who bought MidPac Petroleum LLC from an investment firm in Singapore.
Office of Hawaiian Affairs Administrator (OHA) Clyde Namu'o was quoted in the Advertiser (8/19/07) as saying the opponents of the racial separatist Akaka Bill, “...has billions of dollars...” Really? And I thought it was a true grassroots citizen effort unlike OHA who refuses to disclose its taxpayer supported lobbying expenditures for Akaka.
There was no official celebration of Hawaii’s Statehood again this 48th year but there was State & City recognition of the 125th anniversary of Iolani Palace — held on Statehood Day. SBH led a protest-riddled celebration last year — the first in a decade.
Get ready for higher taxes: the drum role began with a recent SMS poll commissioned by the highly political Hawaii 2050 Task Force which residents answer loaded questions related to “support for education, healthcare, etc., no matter what the cost.” That’s right, continue to throw more money at old problems and tax residents to do it without requiring any accountability — or results.
The Hawaii Supreme Court in a 3-2 ruling (the Kauai tax case) ruled taxpayers here have no redress against government imposed taxes.
Real estate businessman Noble Turner is starting the Hawaii Kai Chamber of Commerce. Longtime SBH member Delorese Gregoire is the Secretary.
Whole Foods entry into Kahala Mall resulted in kicking out 4 longtime restaurants.
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