BUSINESS BRIEFS
Insurance companies illegally taxed
Advertiser Staff and News Services
An appeals court has ruled that the fees Hawai'i charges insurance companies are unconstitutional and amount to an illegal tax.
State officials say the ruling by the state Intermediate Court of Appeals could affect more than $1 billion in special funds collected by the state.
The court says state officials overcharged insurance companies, and then transferred the excess money to the general fund.
It says if the state had returned the excess money, it would have been in a better position to argue the assessments were valid taxes.
Attorney General Mark Bennett says the ruling will have a major impact on the way fees can be assessed by state government. The ruling is based on a lawsuit filed by the Hawaii Insurers Council in 2000.
KAISER OPENS NEW WING TODAY
Kaiser Permanente Hawaii will celebrate the opening of a new wing at its Moanalua medical center today with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, blessing and tours of the new facility.
The 176,000-square-foot, six-story addition is the first phase of a $157 million expansion project. New facilities and services available in the wing include an emergency department almost three times the size of the current department, 68 additional patient beds, eight operating rooms almost twice the size of existing rooms, a clinic lab and blood bank, central sterile department, surgery and perinatal units, and an educational conference center.
It is the first major renovation since the medical center opened in 1985.
GENERAL GROWTH PLAN BOOSTS SHARES
Shares of General Growth Properties Inc. rallied yesterday after the Wall Street Journal reported that the nation's second-largest U.S. mall owner is shopping its portfolio to potential joint-venture partners as it scrounges for capital to pay off $18.7 billion of debt coming due over the next four years
General Growth shares closed up $2.33, or 6.5 percent, to $40.26 on the New York Stock Exchange.
General Growth, which owns Ala Moana Center, Ward Centers and more than 200 other malls across the country, told the Wall Street Journal that the ventures would likely target some of the 165 malls the company owns outright, a category that includes such high-profile properties as Fashion Show Mall and the Grand Canal Shoppes in Las Vegas and Ala Moana Center.
MAUI BREWING ENTERS 8 IN CONTEST
Maui Brewing Co. has entered eight of its microbrews at the World Beer Cup in San Diego this week.
The judging wrapped up yesterday and the winners will be announced Saturday at the World Beer Cup Gala Awards Dinner.
The World Beer Cup Competition was established in 1996 and held every two years. Judges honors the top three beers in more than 70 categories with gold, silver and bronze awards.
Maui Brewing's Coconut Porter received a gold medal at the 2006 competition. The Coconut Porter is one of three microbrews produced and packaged on Maui. Coconut Porter is distributed throughout Hawai'i with Mainland distribution expected later this year.
Founder Garrett Marrero and his wife, Melanie, run a 7-barrel brewpub at the Kahana location as well as the 25-barrelfull-production brewery and canning facility in Lahaina.
