Would include electronic smoking devices and betel nut products as well.
The House Committee on Health held decision making on HB525, which would make all state parks tobacco-free, earlier today. The nine-member committee unanimously passed the bill with amendments. Four voted aye, five voted with reservations.
On Saturday, January 31, Surfrider Foundation and the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawai`i conducted four simultaneous beach clean-ups on Oahu (Ewa), Kauai (Anahola), and Hawaii Island (Kona and Hilo). Over 360 volunteers across the state collected and took a tally of the most littered items on Hawaii’s beaches.
“We collected over 15,000 cigarette butts along with 3,426 pieces of plastic and 1,386 pieces of foam from four beaches this Saturday,” said Stuart Coleman, Hawaii Coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation. “Cigarette butts, plastic, and expanded polystyrene foam are among the most littered items in Hawaii and the world.”
HB525 prohibits smoking and the use of tobacco, electronic smoking devices, or betel nut products within the state park system. Concerns centered on the ban on electronic smoking devices and betel nut, as well as with the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ ability to enforce the ban.
Local 5 Kaiser workers currently on strike will be joined by other Local 5 members and community supporters for a march through Waikiki and subsequent rally tomorrow.
Hundreds of community members and Local 5 members who work in the hotel and healthcare industry will be staging a march and rally in Waikiki on Thursday. An estimated 800 participants are expected.
Kaiser, Hawaii’s largest Health Maintenance Organization, is also a nonprofit. Yet, in the first three quarters of 2014, Kaiser Permanente reported net profits of $3.1 billion, adding to their $30 billion in cash reserves.
“I love my patients like family and want to give them the care they need and deserve. This community needs Kaiser to invest in people and workers like me, not just in new buildings and facility upgrades,” says Jonah Pascual, a medical assistant at Kaiser Permanente Honolulu.
Thursday’s community protest comes as nearly 1900 Local 5 Kaiser workers continue a week long strike that began on February 2nd. The last state-wide strike staged by Local 5 union workers at Kaiser took place in 1986.
Workers, including medical assistants, receptionists and housekeepers, are among the strong majority of workers who have been on strike protesting changes implemented by Kaiser that they say hurt patient care, such as closing urgent care clinics and laying off workers.
“As a single mom, good quality healthcare is really important to me,” says Lilibeth Herrell, a Sheraton Waikiki housekeeper, “Hawaii is my home, and in Hawaii we treat everyone with aloha. Yet Kaiser—a nonprofit—is acting like every other corporation that wants to take, take and take from us.”
“I’m a member of the AiKea Movement, and we stand for healthy communities that promote health as a basic human right,” says Dr. Christine Lipat, “I’m also a holistic chiropractor who is very much interested in wellness and in the big picture, that we need to organize together to take care of ourselves and each other for a healthy community.”
Local 5 represents nearly 1900 Kaiser Permanente workers on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii Island.
Local 5 represents approximately 10,500 workers throughout Hawaii who work in the hospitality, health care and food service industries and is an affiliate of UNITE HERE, an international union that represents over 250,000 workers throughout the U.S. and Canada.
A report confirming that Unit Director Michele Carbone ran the UH Cancer Center into the ground can teach us an important lesson about the systemic problems currently killing the University of Hawaii.
Fiji will redesign its national flag to reflect the country as it is now rather than its colonial past. Here are other flags in history that incorporated the union jack
A transit-oriented development community workshop centering on rail stations near the airport will be held tonight.
The city’s Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) team is inviting the public to share thoughts on concepts for revitalization and new development near the Pearl Harbor, Honolulu International Airport and Lagoon Drive rail stations at a community workshop planned for tonight.
Concepts on the table include safe pedestrian crossing of Nimitz Highway, bus and bicycle connections to the rail stations, new housing opportunities and improvements to Keehi Lagoon Park.
The meeting is scheduled to run from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday, February 2 at the Aliamanu Middle School Cafeteria located at 3271 Salt Lake Boulevard. Light refreshments will be provided.
Kaiser Permanente's Local 5 workers have begun a 6-day statewide workers strike.
Above: Local 5 Kaiser workers picket outside Kaiser Wailuku on Maui. Photo courtesy Local 5
Local 5 members who work at Kaiser Permanente are moving forward with their plans to go on strike for six days, beginning today, Feb. 2.
On Oahu, Kaiser workers are picketing at Kaiser’s facilities in Moanalua, Honolulu and Waipio. Picket lines will also be organized on Maui at Maui Lani and Wailuku, and on Big Island at Hilo and Kona.
Workers on strike are not discouraging patients from entering the facilities. In fact, they encourage patients to come the facilities for any services they may need, especially in the case of an emergency. Workers will be passing out leaflets to patients and community members to inform them about the decisions Kaiser has made that have negatively affected patient care, including closing Honolulu urgent care and laying off staff. Four one-day work stoppages have been organized since 2013
“When I first started working at Kaiser, we were trained to care for our patients like family. That’s especially important in my department, mother & babies. But with all of the cuts to staff, Kaiser is making it harder and harder to provide that kind of care to our patients,” says Shanelle Simpliciano, a certified nurses aid at Kaiser Permanente Moanalua.
“Kaiser has changed for the worse since I started working here 17 years ago,” says Momi Hai, a lead front desk employee at Kaiser Permanente Maui Lani, “We’ve struggled with our jobs getting subcontracted, or our jobs getting cut completely. It has a real impact on workers and patients. Meanwhile, Kaiser makes $11 million a day. Kaiser is thriving, but what about us?”
Local 5 represents around 1900 Kaiser Permanente workers statewide. The strike will end on Saturday, February 7 at 12:00 midnight.
Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery and IMUAlliance are drafting and sponsoring a bill to ban sex trafficking in Hawaii this session.
For the 2015 legislative session, Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery and IMUAlliance are drafting and sponsoring a bill to ban sex trafficking in Hawaii. Currently, Hawaii is one of only two states that fail to outlaw sex trafficking in their criminal codes.
“The struggle to establish a sex trafficking law began in 2005 and the implementation of this law is long overdue. A strong sex trafficking definition would allow the state to move forward in effectively combating human trafficking in a victim-centered way,” said Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery Executive Director Kathryn Xian.
“The lack of a sex trafficking ban silences efforts to eliminate sexual slavery on our shores,” said IMUAlliance Executive Director Kris Coffield. “Without a definition of sex trafficking in state law, we cannot adequately identify victims of this horrible crime or create a social services system that addresses their needs.”
The bill would convert the state’s promoting prostitution laws into sex trafficking in the first and second degree. It would also eliminate the statute of limitations for sex trafficking cases and enable solicitation of sex trafficking victims to be prosecuted as a trafficking offense.
“A sex trafficking law would not only allow us to see more accurate statistics and studies on human trafficking in Hawaii, but also would identify victims appropriately as unwilling participants in their own exploitation. These victims are not criminals,” said Xian.
“We must remove the ‘prostitute’ label from people who have no say in their actions,” said Coffield. “When you call someone a prostitute, especially a child, you brand her as a criminal. That can jeopardize her ability to obtain a job, housing, and sustainable lifestyle.”
Additionally, PASS and IMUAlliance have drafted a proposal to separate johns from sex trafficking victims in the state’s prostitution code by creating a new “solicitation of prostitution” statute to cover paying for sex. Hawaii’s prostitution laws presently include johns and victims in the same statute, making it difficult to implement legals reforms aimed at ending demand for sex trafficking.
“Our current laws make it difficult to obtain statistics related to this crime against humanity. For example, under current law, patrons of prostitution, the “johns,” are included in the same statutory category as prostituted persons, which makes it nearly impossible to end the demand by increasing criminal penalties for buyers of women and children for sex,” said Xian.
“Johns provide the demand that drives sex trafficking,” said Coffield. “Buyers are criminals paying for the opportunity to victimize women and girls. Our laws must target the financial facilitators of exploitation, while treating survivors as victims of sexual violence.”
IMUAlliance is a nonpartisan political advocacy organization devoted to advancing human rights, socioeconomic equality, and educational opportunity.
The Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery (PASS), is a Hawaii-based not-for-profit 501(c)3 whose mission is to stop human trafficking in Hawaii and the Pacific. PASS provides services and advocacy for survivors of human trafficking, education and training on the identification of victims of human trafficking, and public awareness and prevention education for the greater community.
Despite being outnumbered at the Army listening sessions, proponents of a dramatic Army personnel reduction were able to make a successful case for the full downsize.
The Women’s Legislative Caucus, consisting of members from both the State Senate and House, today announced a joint package of measures for the 2015 legislative session.