When your UIPA is MIA: Loyal Blog fans will recall we have been patiently awaiting an answer to our public records request for the cost of two trips that Gov. Josh Green made earlier this year to the nation’s capital to lobby against the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

The governor’s office finally responded but the information provided under the Uniform Information Practices Act raised more questions. So we followed up several times with the Green administration over the last couple weeks but just can’t get his aides to get back to us with all the details.

Here’s what we can tell you, which might be as good as it gets on this one:

A flight booked for travel Jan. 5-9 for the governor cost $1,659 per seat (Green has said he flew coach) and there are two seats listed on the paperwork. But the name of the second traveler is blacked out.

Erika Engle, the governor’s press secretary, told the Blog that was the governor’s security detail and that the person can’t be named for security reasons. (Note: The governor’s office has named the security detail and others who accompany him on previous trips as well as all their costs in material provided to Civil Beat under previous UIPA requests. Engle now says that was a mistake.)

So, by our math, the Jan. 5 flight cost would have been $3,318 for the governor and one companion. The governor’s office won’t confirm that total, which also is blacked out on the paperwork.

A hotel room for four nights cost taxpayers $1,255. The hotel bill lists two adults in one room. Josh Green’s name is on the room. His office won’t say who the other occupant was.

The second trip to lobby against RFK Jr. was Jan. 27-30: The total price per passenger on that flight is listed as $1,353, but two tickets were again purchased. That would be $2,706 total. Again, Engle says the second seat was for the security detail who can’t be named.

That hotel for Jan. 27-30 was $681 for a single adult.

But where did the security detail stay both trips, and how much did that cost? The governor’s office didn’t respond to that question.

And the office also didn’t provide costs for ground transportation and meals for either of the trips. Attempts to get clarification have been unsuccessful.

It shouldn’t be this hard to get travel information from the governor or any other state official who is using public money. And Green has been pretty good about transparency and accountability in the past.

But Green did get a rash of public criticism from people who questioned why he was using taxpayer money for what appeared to be a political trip. He has insisted travels to warn members of Congress and national media audience of the danger of appointing an anti-vaccine stalwart as the nation’s health secretary was official state business. Dr. Peter Marks, the nation’s top vaccine official, who resigned Friday, would probably agree.

Do you know where your birth certificate is tonight?: Hawaiʻi has a dismal track record when it comes to voter turnout, but it’s not because it’s difficult to register. You just need a Hawaiʻi driver’s license or state ID along with your Social Security number. Registration can be done online and in person, and forms are easy to obtain and submit. There are even translations available in Hawaiian, Chinese, Tagalog and locano.

And with mail-in balloting, you don’t even have to leave home. The National Vote at Home Institute ranks Hawaiʻi among the eight most vote-at-home-friendly states.

But now President Donald Trump has issued an executive order requiring that prospective voters show proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote. That’s alarming for a state like Hawaiʻi with a large immigrant population. Not to mention the fact that many people might be hard-pressed to come up with a birth certificate or passport (if they even have one) and perhaps not as likely to register to vote at all.

Scott Nago, Hawaiʻi’s chief election officer, told The Blog that, because the order was just issued last week, “it would be premature to know what the impacts would be.”

Still, some legal experts are already warning of an overreach of presidential authority that could block millions of eligible Americans from voting, NPR reports: “Ahead of the 2024 election, Trump and his allies made baseless claims about the threat of noncitizens voting in large numbers.”

Count Hawaiʻi among the states where election deniers have made baseless claims. Our elections commission already is struggling to deal with the fallout.

Political wonder woman: The Center for Effective Lawmaking has released its scorecard of how members of the 118th Congress (2023-2025) did in terms of effectiveness, and U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda scores quite well.

Tokuda, a Democrat who is only in her second term, ranked No. 9 among the Top 10 House Democrats in terms of effectiveness and No. 8 for freshmen reps who exceeded expectations in the last Congress. She introduced 30 bills, according to the center, three of which passed the House and two of which became law.

“In addition to setting herself apart from her Democratic freshman counterparts, a deeper consideration of Rep. Tokuda’s legislative record demonstrates that she cultivated a highly specialized policy agenda during her freshman term: more than 70% of her sponsored bills engaged with policies that were directly or indirectly related to Hawaiʻi,” according to the report.

The report also recognized Tokuda “as part of a distinguished group” of women lawmakers “whose heightened effectiveness” in the minority party highlights the growing impact of women lawmakers in the legislative process.

Tokuda was stoked by the recognition.

“Despite the challenges we continue to face working in a Republican-controlled Congress and a hack-and-slash administration, I will continue to fight tirelessly to advance the needs of our communities and remain committed to working across the aisle to ensure that our people have the support and resources they need,” she said in a press statement.

To learn more on the congresswoman’s views on the “hack-and-slash” administration, read Civil Beat’s recent Q&A with Tokuda.

The Center for Effective Lawmaking is a joint research, education and outreach initiative between the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University. All legislator rankings, including for Rep. Ed Case and Sens. Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono, can be found by clicking here.

Flame out: The eternal flame in the Eternal Flame Memorial across from the Hawaiʻi State Capitol is facing the reality of life back here on earth. Sadly, it has gone out, the victim of a blocked gas line.

The gas has been turned off, according to the Department of Accounting and General Services, which is scrambling to relight the monument.

The Eternal Flame, if you did not know, burns in remembrance of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.

The copper and bronze abstract art sculpture was designed by Kaua‘i sculptor Bumpei Akaji, a 442nd Regimental Combat Team veteran.

Take the Pono Pledge: The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority is in turmoil over high-level leadership departures and the hotel industry is freaking out that tourists might be charged more money to visit Hawaiʻi in order to take better care of the ʻāina and kai.

We’ll see if a visitor impact fee for climate change mitigation survives the 2025 legislative session. If it does not, the Hawaiʻi House of Representatives has a possible fix: the Pono Pledge.

The Pono Pledge (www.ponopledge.com) is a recent initiative by the Island of Hawaiʻi Visitors Bureau and Hawaiʻi County intended to encourage safe, responsible and respectful tourism. Visitors would take the pledge to be pono when visiting the Big Island.

I will mindfully seek wonder, but not wander where I do not belong.

I will not defy death for breathtaking photos, or venture beyond safety.

I will mālama (care for) land and sea, and admire wildlife only from afar.

Molten lava will mesmerize me, but I will not disrupt its flow.

I will not take what is not mine, leaving lava rocks and sand as originally found.

I will heed ocean conditions, never turning my back to the Pacific.

When rain falls ma uka (inland), I will remain high above ground, out of rivers and streams.

I will embrace the island’s aloha spirit, as it embraces me.

Lawe i ka ma’alea i kū’ono’ono. “Take Wisdom and Make it Deep.”

The idea, according to two House resolutions, is for guests of hotels and other paid accommodations to take the pledge “as a mandatory component of the check-in process.” Or they’d ask guests to provide proof that they have already pledged.

HTA pointed out the obvious in its noncommittal testimony: It does not have the authority to make anyone take the pledge.

HTA also noted that Maui has its own pledge while Kauaʻi uses the Aloha Pledge.

Still, and this time The Blog will point out the obvious, a pledge is a manini substitute for the estimated $500 million a year the state has said it needs to protect and preserve the land and sea.