SMALL BUSINESS CAUCUS "GOES FOR BROKE"

The b-partisan Small Business Caucus headed by Rep. Gene Ward, John Karamatsu, Senators Carol Fukunaga and I, announced its premier caucus bill, "Relating to Workers' Compensation". HB 763 exempts from the workers' compensation law an individual who holds an ownership interest of more than fifty per cent in the employing unit, including, but not limited to, corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, and limited liability partnerships.

The Small Business Caucus supports small businesses in Hawaii by easing their financial constraints.

While Hawaii's economy is strong and improving for most people, small business still bears the burden for most taxes, mandates and regulations and requires meaningful reform, not just talk but positive action, and that's what this caucus is all about. Small businesses make up over 90 percent of total business in the state, and are one of Hawaii's chief sources of employment.

DRUG TESTING BILLS HIGHLIGHTED

There is renewed controversy involving random drug testing of teachers. My bill, SB 211 requires all elected officials to submit to random drug tests. The Judiciary Committee is attempting to put the two bills together. The HSTA union and the DOE, have vigorously fought all attempts to drug test teachers.

GOVERNOR NOMINATES NEW JUDGES

Governor Linda Lingle nominated Glenn J. Kim to the Circuit Court of the First Circuit (Oahu) and Mark E. Recktenwald as chief judge of the Intermediate Court of Appeals. Their appointments are subject to Senate confirmation.

Kim is a deputy prosecuting attorney with the City and County of Honolulu's Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, which he first joined in 1993. Recktenwald has been the director of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs since January 2003.

MARCH FOR LIFE

Several legislators and I spoke at the January 22 "March for Life" held outside the State Capitol. I spoke on the sanctity of life before birth as well as protection for unborn fetuses with bills I introduced this session. The March also focuses on the opposition to physician assisted suicide.