Protecting Bears, Gambling, New Taxes and Fees to Be Debated at Tuesday’s Legislative Crossover
Hawaii lawmakers will hold their first crossover on Tuesday.
That is when they pass hundreds bills on final reading all in one day and transmit them to the other House for consideration.
There will be bills to increase taxes and fees, add more government regulation, institute the plastic bag ban, and establish clean energy legislation. A number of bills to protect animals of all kinds including bears (even though Hawaii has none) and seals will be considered.
Lawmakers also continue to tinker with the public education system and native sovereignty issues. The debate over legalizing gambling in Hawaii is not dead.
There are just two crossovers during the 60-day working session, with the second scheduled in April. Final voting is scheduled for May.
KITV’s Jodi Leong Joins University of Hawaii System
The University of Hawai‘i System is pleased to announce that KITV Island Television news anchor/reporter Jodi Leong will join the university as its new Director of Communications on March 15. Leong will be responsible for assisting with the university’s communications strategy, news media relations, publicizing the university’s strengths and initiatives, branding and messaging, and marketing efforts. She will report to and work closely with Associate Vice President of External Affairs and University Relations Lynne Waters.
According to VOA News, “A new survey says that Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecommunications tycoon, is the world’s richest person. The Bloomberg business news agency said Monday that its new list of the world’s 20 richest individuals showed that the 72-year-old Slim is worth more than $68 billion. But it noted that with such wealth, his net worth can fluctuate markedly on any given day, and fell last Friday alone by more than $478 million.
“Slim controls Mexico’s America Movil company, one of the world’s leading mobile telecommunications companies. Slim ended atop the list (https://topics.bloomberg.com/bloomberg-billionaires-index/) ahead of two American moguls, Bill Gates, the founder of the Microsoft technology empire, and Warren Buffett, the octogenarian investor who heads the Berkshire Hathaway company. Bloomberg said Gates is worth more than $62 billion and Buffett nearly $44 billion.
“The news agency said that both Ingvar Kamprad of Sweden, who controls the Ikea Group furniture retailer, and Bernard Arnault, with a large stake in Paris-based LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods manufacturer, are worth more than $42 billion each.
“The list of richest people includes five from Europe, three from Asia, two from Latin America and one Canadian.”
-VOA News report-
(Editor’s note: No one from Hawaii made the world’s most wealthiest people list. According to a separate ranking by Forbes, Hawaii’s Pierre Omidyar is ranked at the 50th wealthiest person in the nation with $6.2 billion and Steve Case is ranked 331 with $1.3 billion. For a full ranking of Hawaii’s wealthiest people, see Hawaii Business’ annual ranking here)