Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, Jan. 12, 2014

Taiko drumming came to Pahala Community Center yesterday at the I Can Cer Viv concert organized by Ka`u High School senior Kamrie Koi to raise money for United Way. Photo by Julia Neal

      Sen. Josh Green, chair of the Senate Health Committee, told Nancy Cook Lauer that continuing the Hospital Sustainability Program and Nursing Facility Sustainability Program are his focus. The programs use federal funds to supplement payments to hospitals and nursing facilities and offset uncompensated-care costs.
      “This is a time when we need to sustain our health care safety net,” Green said. “It’s a critical priority.”

Sen. Russell Ruderman

      Food self-sufficiency tops Sen. Russell Ruderman legislative priorities. He and other legislators are developing a package of 20 or 30 bills.
      Ruderman, vice chair of the Senate Energy and Environment Committee, told Cook Lauer he wants to work with large and small farmers and ranchers to lower food prices and protect the islands from calamities and shipping strikes. He said that adding 10 percent to the locally grown food supply would save consumers $300 million a year, preserve open space and create jobs.
      One proposal, the Cottage Food Bill, would loosen regulations for families and small farmers to make and sell items such as banana bread and cookies. It would require producers to take a food-safety course and agree to maintain certain standards.
      Other bills would allow raw milk and raw milk products such as yogurt and cheese. One would create distance-learning classes so farmers could take classes close to home.

Rep. Richard Onishi

      Vice chair of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Richard Onishi, is focusing on agriculture. He wants to continue a feed subsidy program that helps farmers and ranchers pay for livestock feed, a lot of which is imported from the mainland. Last year, the program got $2.5 million, and Onishi is looking for at least that amount this year, he told Cook Lauer. He also will seek $1 million for a biodigester to convert food scraps from hotels and resorts into feed for livestock.
      Agriculture quarantine inspectors, water issues and funding for a rural physician training program are also on Onishi’s priority list. The three-year physician training program expects to train four primary care residents each year. It also seeks to train pharmacists, nurses and psychologists specializing in rural health care concerns.

Rep. Richard Creagan

      The program received $1.8 million last year, and Onishi wants $2.8 million to be provided this year.
      See hawaiitribune-herald.com.
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DR. RICHARD CREAGAN, who was named to the House of Representatives by Gov. Neil Abercrombie on Friday, yesterday told The Ka`u Calendar that his priorities in the 2014 state Legislature are going to be “supporting health care, agriculture and education in Ka`u and Kona.” He said he will “make a great effort to support access to land and water for the farmers of Ka`u.” Creagan, himself is a physician and a farmer, lives with his wife Marilyn on his farm at Kiolaka`a between South Point Road and Wai`ohinu where they grow coffee, citrus, avocados and bananas. The Creagans’ farm was one of the first four farms selling at Na`alehu Farmers Market when it first opened years ago, selling lettuce.
      He said he expects to be on the Health and Judiciary committees and hopes to be on the Agriculture committee.
      Creagan will be sworn in on Wednesday at the opening of the 2014 Hawai`i Legislature. He also said he looks forward to helping Ka`u’s large Marshallese community with health, education, discrimination and immigration issues. He served in the Peace Corps in the Marshall Islands and speaks the language.
       To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.