Say it ain’t so: The Sunshine Blog was oddly bummed to hear that one of our favorite legislators is planning to bid aloha to the State Capitol next year.

Sen. Karl Rhoads confirmed the news that he won’t run for reelection to Civil Beat’s Kevin Dayton in an interview last week. The 62-year-old Rhoads told Dayton he’ll have served two decades in the Legislature by the time his current four-year term ends, and “for me personally, it’s enough.”

“It’s 20 years, and that’s a long time to do anything in this life, and it was great and it was an honor and a privilege, and you’ve got to know when it’s time to go, and it’s time for me to go,” he says.

The Blog is all for term limits and Rhoads has probably stayed even a bit longer than what generally accepted term limits would allow (eight years in one chamber, maybe followed by eight years in the other.) But he’s been one of the Legislature’s staunchest advocates for accountability and transparency and done a lot to advance that cause in his key position as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where virtually all of the accountability bills must go. And he’s an all-around decent guy.

Rhoads informed his fellow senators and others of his plans early because “I just wanted to give everybody who might be interested in the seat time to put together a good campaign, which in my opinion is a year.”

He represents an urban Honolulu district that includes Nuʻuanu, Punchbowl, Liliha, Iwilei, Chinatown and downtown.

We’ll save the political eulogy (biggest accomplishments, disappointments, what he’ll do next, yammer yammer) for next year. In the meantime, we’ll still have one more session of Rhoads bringing his exceptionally civil and thoughtful style to a place that really needs it.

And there’s still much to be done. Pay to play. Public financing of campaigns. Election reform. The list goes on. The Blog is keeping its fingers crossed that there’s a Karl Rhoads clone waiting in the wings.

Eviction friction: The Hawaiʻi Elections Commission held yet another near endless meeting Wednesday, clocking in at over seven hours including several recesses. It would have been even longer had the commission chair, Mike Curtis, not evicted commissioner Ralph Cushnie.

It’s the second time in a year that Cushnie has been tossed from a meeting for being out of order. This time it came just after the six-hour mark of the meeting, which was streamed on YouTube.

Curtis accused Cushnie of “obstructing the agenda,” specifically section five — an Oct. 20 request from Cushnie to the Elections Commission to add to the agenda records obtained by him through a public records request. The records, he said, were pertinent to a pending report on alleged voting discrepancies in the Big Island’s 2024 general election.

Cushnie claimed Curtis was unilaterally withholding commission emails from commissioners and asked him, “Under what authority are you withholding those emails sent to and from the commission email?”

Curtis replied, “The Sunshine Law,” explaining that the open meetings law precluded Curtis from communicating with more than one other commissioner at a time “other than at a meeting like this.” Curtis added that “the emails will be coming as appropriate.”

Cushnie wasn’t buying it, arguing that commissioners could not “do their jobs correctly without all the information. Letters are being held and redacted and kept out of the commission’s view.” He also argued that the commission rules by majority vote.

But Curtis overrode Cushnie’s point of order and said he had the discretion to reject any complaint about that from Cushnie. The two continued to bicker, Curtis warned him to stop talking and then, when Cushnie did not, Curtis booted him.

Because the meeting was conducted via Zoom, however, Cushnie remained on screen and appeared to be able to hear the meeting as it continued. Just before the seven-hour mark, Cushnie tried to speak again but Curtis would not let him.

“Your behavior was unacceptable,” Curtis told him.

That prompted commissioner Kahiolani Papalimu (a Cushnie ally) to tell Curtis that she believed Curtis himself had behaved in a way that was “unbecoming of a chair. It truly is. So you need to think about your conduct also.” She was referring to a moment earlier in the meeting when Curtis had accused someone in the meeting of asking “a stupid question.”

Another Cushnie pal, Dylan Andrion, then put forth a motion to allow Cushnie back into the meeting. Commissioner Jeffrey Osterkamp — decidedly not a Cushnie ally — then remarked, “For whatever reason, the chair seems to attract the venom of some of the commissioners and —”

“Venom?” Andrion interrupted.

“Yes, venom,” said Osterkamp. “Meeting after meeting he’s kicked around by people who don’t like his rulings. He’s accused of various minor crimes. And Robert’s Rules of Order, as I understand them, also prevent people from making personal attacks on others rather than just stating the facts. And I have heard Commissioner Cushnie repeatedly make personal attacks on the chair. No repercussions, but I think it needs to be understood that the chair has been very open to allowing Commissioner Cushnie to speak his mind, attack him personally over and over without, for the most part, shushing him.”

Curtis, said Osterkamp, has at times “had no choice” other than to shush Cushnie.

Ultimately, Andrion, Papalimu and commissioners James Apana (he’s new to the commission) and Lindsay Kamm (she tends to side with Cushnie) voted to let Cushnie back in, but Osterkamp and commissioner Clare McAdam voted no and Curtis and commissioner John Sabas (he’s new, too) abstained. The motion failed.

The Blog loves Sabas’ zoom background reminder to be civil a la Abe Lincoln — even if it is backwards. Or maybe he did that on purpose. Either way, too bad no one else seemed to be paying attention to it.

But wait! There’s more!

The commission ultimately decided to recess the meeting and start back up where it left off this coming Wednesday. Anyone who wants to witness this train wreck for themselves can find a link to the livestream here on the commission’s website.

Extra innings: The Legislative Reference Bureau has promised that by the time the Legislature convenes in January, it will have produced a study of the possible impacts of lengthening future legislative sessions.

The Blog has had no success at getting a sneak preview of what specifically the LRB might be looking at — until now. Here are the three scenarios at play:

• The Legislature meets year-round with a total of 180 session days, as well as 27 recess days;
• The Legislature adds no additional session days, but spreads the 60 over the year by inserting additional recess days;
• The Legislature does not meet year-round but conducts a regular session of 120 session days and 18 recess day, with the regular session ending in late August or early September.

Those options were outlined in a letter the LRB sent to the Hawaiʻi State Ethics Commission, and presumably many other state agencies, asking for estimates of how much they might increase the cost of state government.

In the case of the Ethics Commission, the answer is $50,000, tops, and that would be a one-time cost, Executive Director Robert Harris told commissioners recently.

“The only increase we could anticipate is if we had to change how frequently lobbyists file their disclosures, which might require us to update our database system,” Harris said.

No doubt the LRB will be hearing much higher cost estimates from some other state agencies, such as the Senate and House where a lot of part-time employees might become full-timers.

But The Blog reminds everyone that legislators will start getting paid full-time salaries of $97,896 in January 2027 (jumping to $114,348 in January 2030) even if their sessions continue to last just three and a half months.

Ahoy, mateys: Eleven of the 12 state legislators representing the Big Island held fundraisers Tuesday evening at the Hilo Yacht Club, the first time The Blog recalls such a large, neighborly gathering.

The fundraisers were for Democratic Sens. Tim Richards, Dru Kanuha and Joy San Buenaventura and Democratic Reps. Greggor Ilagan, Kirstin Kahaloa, Jeanne Kapela, Matthias Kusch, Sue Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Nicole Lowen, David Tarnas and Chris Todd.

All but Kanuha and Richards are up for reelection in 2026, while the other Big Island senator, Lorraine Inouye (her term ends in 2028), did not schedule a fundraiser but still joined her colleagues and guests at the yacht club. Candidate filing for the 2026 elections begins Feb. 2 and ends June 2. The primary is Aug. 8.

Congressman Awa?: Republican state Sen. Brenton Awa confirmed to The Blog last week that he is indeed running in the August primary for the U.S. Congress. Should he win, it could make for a competitive general election contest against U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, the Democrat who is expected to run for a third term. Although … Hawaiʻi has only sent a handful of Republicans to D.C. since statehood in 1959.

So far, Tokuda has not drawn any party primary challengers unlike her colleague, Democratic Rep. Ed Case. Awa is not up for reelection in 2026, meaning he can keep his Senate seat should he lose the race for the 2nd Congressional District. It represents all of the neighbor islands and the part of Oʻahu that does not include the greater Honolulu area. Awa currently represents North Shore areas of Oʻahu.

A vacancy on Maui: The Maui County Council will hold a special meeting Monday to discuss the process for filling the vacancy for the Kahului residency area seat created by the death of council member Tasha Kama late last month. The council faces a Nov. 25 deadline to fill the vacancy under Section 3-4 of the Charter of the County of Maui. If it does not, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen may appoint someone to the seat.

Maui County Council Chair Alice Lee said in a press release that any of the eight council members may introduce a resolution to appoint a qualified nominee. A second meeting would be held later in November to discuss proposed nominees with the goal of selecting the ninth member.

Green is green: And last but not least, Hawaiʻi Gov. Josh Green was named to Time magazine’s list of 100 Climate 2025 influential leaders who are driving innovative and effective climate policy and practices in business and government.

“Around the world, decision-makers, executives, researchers, and innovators are working to help unlock the necessary funding and resources needed for successful and equitable climate action,” the magazine said.

Green’s push for a “green fee” — the first of its kind in the nation — to tax tourism to fund climate resiliency projects and programs was cited by the magazine.

Also on the list, ‘Aulani Wilhelm, the CEO at Nia Tero, a global nonprofit that provides millions of dollars in support for Indigenous people worldwide. Wilhelm is Native Hawaiian and was recognized as one of the 100 most influential leaders driving business climate action.