Tuesday, August 14, 2012

A Response to the Star Advertiser's Foreclosure Report

Click here to read more.




Friday, May 18, 2012

2012 End of Session Newsletter

Click here to read more.




Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Ask Your Senator



During the 2012 Education Week, Maui Senators had the opportunity to share their legislative experience with a student shadow from the Kamehameha Schools Maui Campus. Participating in this year's "Ask Your Senator" project, Ka‘ili Mossman, a junior at Kamehameha Schools Maui, submitted a question to the Maui Senators:

"I understand that some states have a term limit. Why doesn't Hawaii have one?"




Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Senator Baker in Support of SB2012


During Tuesday's, February 21, 2012, Senate Session, Senator Baker rose in support of SB2012, SD1. This bill, which passed unanimously and now goes to the House, aims to fight local unemployment by investing $500M to repair the State's aging infrastructure during this period of historically low interest rate. These shovel ready projects are on all islands and target our schools, in the UH system and our hospitals. Through such investments the Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) projects that this measure alone will create more than 5000 jobs.

Click here for Senator Baker's complete speech.




Monday, January 13, 2012

State-Federal Mortgage Servicing Settlement to be Discussed



Click here for a review of the conference on the Mortgage Servicing Settlement.




Friday, January 27, 2012

Women's Legislative Caucus Dedicates 2012 Legislative Package to Female Veterans
Maui Veteran Chelsea Fernandez Recognized for her Outstanding Work

The Hawai‘i Women's Legislative Caucus presented their 2012 legislative package on Thursday, January 26, 2012. During the conference Chelsea K.E. Fernandez, a disabled Iraq war veteran, was recognized for her service and outstanding work in the community on behalf of persons with disabilities. Fernandez was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Syndrome Disorder after serving our nation in the U.S. Army Reserve in Iraq. This wasn't enough to extinguish her desire to serve the community and she went on to become President and Co-founder of FernanTech Inc., a company that is just in the process of opening a new branch called Hawaii Assistive Technology Company (HATCO). HATCO's mission will be to provide our disabled and/or impaired community the chance to live independently by bringing in new technologies to aid the differently-abled in their day-to-day living.

Click here for a complete list of the bills and resolutions introduced by the Women's Legislative Caucus.

 
From L to R: Isla Young, Maui President of Business and Professional Women; Senator Roz Baker; Chelsea K.E. Fernandez
(Photo courtesy of the Office of Senator Kidani)
  (Photo courtesy of the Office of Senator Kidani)




Thursday, January 26, 2012

Discussion of the Mortgage Foreclosure Task Force 2012 Report



Click here for the Discussion of the Mortgage Foreclosure Task Force 2012 Report.

The complete Mortgage Foreclosure Task Force report is available for download at: http://lrbhawaii.info/reports/legrpts/2012/mort.pdf.




Thursday, October 13, 2011

Senator Baker honored with National Distinguished Advocacy Award

Senator Rosalyn Baker recently traveled to Washington D.C. to accept the National Distinguished Advocacy Award. The award is the most prestigious honor given by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) in recognition of the Senator's years of relentless commitment to strong public health and tobacco control policies.


(L to R: Cory Chun, American Cancer Society Hawai‘i Pacific, Government Relations Director; Hawai‘i State Senator Roz Baker; Bernie Sakoda, from Kaua‘i, State Lead Ambassador; Mia Ako, from Kaua‘i, Ambassador Constituent Team (ACT) Lead 2; and, Keahu Matsumoto, Oahu, ACT Lead 1 at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Leadership Summit, National Distinguished Advocacy Award breakfast in Washington D.C.)




Tuesday, October 4, 2011

State Launches Mortgage Foreclosure Dispute Resolution Program




Friday, July 22, 2011

Victims of Domestic Violence

Victims of domestic violence are assured a nondiscriminatory work environment through Act 206. It is now unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an employee because of the domestic or sexual violence victim status of the employee. Please use this link to see the recent article in the Maui News for more information. Maui's local 24 hour Domestic Violence Hotline: 808-579-9581. This number is a local call for Maui, but can be called collect if necessary.



On July 8, 2011, Governor Abercrombie signed SB229 into law
(Act 206) helping to protect victims of domestic violence in the work place. (Photo courtesy of Senate Communications)







Thursday, July 21, 2011

Mortgage Foreclosure (Act 48)

Mortgage Foreclosure (Act 48) - Reforms our foreclosure laws and provides a process for Hawai‘i homeowners to meet with their lenders face-to-face to try and save their homes from foreclosure and work out a mutually acceptable solution. The mortgage foreclosure dispute resolution program uses trained neutrals to facilitate communication between the parties to maximize the likelihood of a successful outcome. The program is administered by the State's Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs with assistance from the State Judiciary's Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution. Although some lenders seem to want to disregard our laws, we believe the transparency, notice and consumer protection provisions of the law will assist homeowners whether in a judicial or non-judicial foreclosure action. For further information regarding this legislation and the resolution program, please visit the DCCA website for more information.




Thursday, July 21, 2011

Kihei Community 2011 Session Wrap Up

Please click here to review some of our community projects as well as important legislation that passed during our 2011 Legislative Session.


Lahaina Community 2011 Session Wrap Up

Please click here to review some of our community projects as well as important legislation that passed during our 2011 Legislative Session.




Friday, July 8, 2011

Bill Signing - SB1520

On July 6, 2011, Governor Neil Abercrombie signed SB1520 into law which recognizes Native Hawaiians as the "only indigenous, aboriginal, maoli population" of these islands. The new law creates a commission of qualified members to take the first steps in creating a Native Hawaiian government entity and supports efforts of our Congressional delegation to achieve federal recognition. Senator Rosalyn Baker was proud to be among the 23 ayes in the Senate to send SB1520 to the Governor. (Photo courtesy of Senate Communications)




Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Bill Signing - SB219 and SB892

Senate Bill 219 protects female inmates and their unborn babies. The measure prohibits the physical and mechanical restraint, including shackling and handcuffing, of inmates who are pregnant or in postpartum recovery. The bill, which went into effect upon approval, was a part of the Legislative Women's Caucus package. Senator Baker, a member of the Legislative Women's Caucus, was a co-introducer along with lead sponsor, Senator Jill Tokuda. (Photo courtesy of Senate Communications)



Senate Bill 892, addresses the provisions in the Hawaii Revised Statutes regarding service animals that are either obsolete or inconsistent with federal law. By updating our laws, owners will be able to acquire new rights and properly protect those that had been offered before. The bill, introduced by Senator Suzanne Chun Oakland, went into effect upon approval. Senator Baker is a member of the Senate Committee on Public Safety, Military Affairs and Government Operations, the lead committee approving this measure. Senator Baker is a longtime advocate for Hawaii's deaf and blind community. (Photo courtesy of Senate Communications)




Friday, December 3, 2010

CPN holds Informational Briefing on the PUC interim decision, 12/2/2010

From a recent PUC decision to open inter-island shipping lines to Pasha, the Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection held an informational briefing to gather more information on the impact of the decision. The briefing was well attended by many Neighbor Island business people. Please follow the link to read the article in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser:

"A recent state decision to open up regulated interisland shipping to competition might cause shipping rates to rise and service to fall, according to about 30 neighbor island business representatives who spoke yesterday at a Legislative briefing..."




Thursday, August 26, 2010

Lahainaluna - History Lesson




Monday, August 9, 2010

Senator Baker's floor remarks on gubernatorial nomination of Katherine Leonard for Chief Justice (August 6, 2010)

The Senate convened in a special session to consider Governor Lingle's nomination of Katherine Leonard as the Chief Justice of Hawaii's Supreme Court. The Senate did not confirm this nominee and the following floor speech outlines Senator Baker's position on this nominee:

"Madam President, it is with regret and some sadness that I find I must rise in opposition to Governor's Message No. 4, the nomination of Katherine Leonard as Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court... By all accounts, she has been an able jurist during her short tenure on the Intermediate Court of Appeals. She is deemed very bright, writes well, and is considered a very capable legal analyst. But Madam President, the duties and responsibilities of the Chief Justice require more than just having a good legal mind..." Read more




Friday, July 16, 2010

Act 182 enhances allure of trust

The Pacific Business News today published the following article on Act 182, the Permitted Transfers in Trust Act:

"A new state law allows for the establishment of a type of trust that lawmakers hope will boost Hawaii's financial sector by attracting millions of dollars for its asset management business.

Backers of Senate Bill 2842, now Act 182, said the intent of the measure is to offer incentives to high-net-worth individuals throughout the United States and globally to transfer at least part of their liquid net worth into Hawaii for asset and trust management..." View full article




Friday, July 16, 2010

Sustainability

Sustainability Sustainability is on the minds of all in the state. Senators participated in a pilot paperless effort, reducing their consumption by millions of pages. As a result, all public documents are now available online. Read more