Kalauao

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The Legislative session ends tomorrow. I am a bit sad about it; I have enjoyed my time working for Rep. Michael Y. Magaoay. Working in the House leadership has been eye-opening: I encountered a wide range of bills on many different issues, ranging from the state's finances to education reform to cultural issues to civil rights. I was able to personally meet a majority of the representatives in the House of Representatives. I was able to see the role personality plays in politics. I met a number of lobbyists who gave me insight into the political system. I was able to address the concerns of constituents and help individuals out with their problems. I was even able to explain constitutional amendment rules to a lobbyist from Kupuna Care.

I definitely do want to work here at the Legislature again in the future, either as an aide to a representative or senator, or doing work for a committee or legislative agency. The latter would be my first choice: I'd love to work as an policy or information analyst or attorney for the Legislative Reference Bureau or the House Majority Staff Office/Senate Majority Office. Alternatively, I still want to do work for the House Finance or Senate Ways & Means one day. Of course, I would not mind being an aide directly for a representative or senator, and hopefully I can secure a job doing just that this upcoming session in such a way that does not interfere with my law classes. Do wish me the best of luck...

Labels: legislature, professional

Tracking through conference committee and final reading. These are the bills I was following during the first crossover; most of them are now dead, but a few have Senate companion bills that are still alive.

• HB 2318 HD2, SD1, CD1: Relating to the Homeless - creates a fund to build homeless camp sites. Bill is still alive; a conference committee draft was passed and will be presented before the full House and Senate tomorrow for Final Reading.
  
• HB 2347 HD2: Relating to the Maximum Term of Commercial Use and Operator Permits for Thrillcraft and Parasailing - Would change the way permits are issued and renewed for thrillcraft and parasailing businesses. Bill is dead. A Senate version of the bill, SB 2019, SD1, HD2, CD1 is still alive and will be heard before the full House and Senate tomorrow for Final Reading.
  
• HB 2902 HD3: Relating to Public Education Government Television - Would change the way cable fees directed toward public education government television are allocated. Bill is dead; no comparable Senate version exists.
  
• HB 2370 HD2: Relating to Transportation - Raises the rental motor vehicle customer facility charge from $1/day to $4.50/day. Bill is dead. A Senate version of the bill, SB 2461, SD2, HD2, CD1 is still alive and will be heard before the full House and Senate tomorrow for Final Reading.
  
• HB 2486 HD2, SD2, CD1: Relating to Education - Mandates a minimum number of instructional hours per school year in the DOE. Bill is still alive; a conference committee draft was passed and will be presented before the full House and Senate tomorrow for Final Reading.
• HB 2376 HD3, SD2, CD1 & HB 2377 HD3, SD2, CD1: Pair of bills proposing a constitutional amendment to change the BOE from an elected body to a body appointed by the Governor. Requires the members of the Board of Education to be nominated and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appointed by the Governor from lists of qualified candidates presented to the Governor by the Board of Education Selection Advisory Council. Bills are both still alive; conference committee drafts were passed and will be presented before the full House and Senate tomorrow for Final Reading.
  
• HB 2598 HD1, SD2: Relating to the Transient Accommodations Tax - Places a limit on the TAT tax distributed to the counties. Bill is dead; it died in conference committee.
  
• HB 2736 HD1: Relating to Public Procurement - Requires at least 80 percent of workers on public works and construction contracts to be Hawaii residents. Bill is dead. A Senate version of the bill, SB 2840, SD2, HD1, passed final reading earlier this month and is awaiting passage or veto by the Governor.
• HB 2817 HD1: Relating to Art - Allows for the disposition by public auction of works of art acquired by the State. Bill is dead; no comparable Senate bill exists.
  
• HB 2381 HD2: Provides a temporary tax credit for residential construction and remodeling projects. Bill is dead. No comparable Senate version is still alive.
  
• HB 2877 HD1: Relating to Taxation - Suspends temporarily the exemptions for certain persons and certain amounts of gross income or proceeds from the general excise, use, and public service company tax and requires the payment of the tax at a one per cent rate. Effective July 1, 2010, and sunsets on June 30, 2015. Bill is dead and I am not even going to bother looking up comparable Senate versions.
  

Labels: legislature, professional

That is my goal for this weekend. The new version will be compatible with Firefox 3.5 or higher.

I'm thinking of expanding the extension to make versions of "Highlife" for other schools besides ‘Aiea. Most schools don't have as clean and simple a logo as ‘Aiea does, but that probably won't be too big of an issue. To start, I could probably make versions for O‘ahu's high schools, as there aren't *too* many public high schools on the island. I could include some private schools, too (OK, maybe just Maryknoll for some obvious reasons). Finally, I could create extensions for the ‘Aiea complex schools, seeing as how grounded I am in my hometown.

I have some semi-ambitious plans for this project, though most ideas are still quite fuzzy. I could throw the ‘Aiea versions up on the domain name "aieatreasures.org," which I've owned for about a year now but haven't done anything with. And a quick inquiry shows that "hawaiihighlife.com" is available for purchase! I could also make some highlife jokes with the project, ha ha ha.

On a related subject, I'm trying to figure out the new, "toolkit" front-end of the SeaMonkey app suite. If I learn the XUL needed, maybe I could do something with it.

Labels: aiea highlife, professional, webdev

This makes me want to teach AP Economics.

I'd be a terrible teacher, and after seeing Deanne's frustrations with her own job, this probably would be a terrible choice. But economics is a very interesting field; the only thing I've ever wanted to teach more than economics is geology (which I can't teach because I only took one intro class in it).

Blogger's FTP support ends at the end of this month. I either need to migrate blogging services or just get rid of this blog altogether. Any suggestions?

They never start on time because Representatives and Senators are so stubborn, they won't even show up to conference committee hearings on bills they don't like. Meaning the conference chairs need to chase them down.