legislative process

I need to say I’m sorry, and I am. I’m saying it and feeling it —I’m sorry!

I have told you that Talking Story will be the single place to keep up with me, for I can be at a number of places around the web, and lately I have been negligent about updating here as much as I should. I do apologize.

So let’s catch up, shall we?

First, about the “Sunday Paper” title

Seems Sunday has always has a grounding effect on me. My dad started it with church for the whole family way back: If you were already born, you had to go too. Here in blog land, Sunday Mālama was a natural for Managing with Aloha Coaching, and for the first 6 months of writing Say “Alaka‘i” we had Sunday Koa Kākou. Both of those pilot projects/writing commitments are now in hiatus land (yes, I do dabble and experiment) and we’ve had a Sunday Paper feature here at Talking Story once before too (It was a bit different than what I am doing today). I’m thinking of bringing it back when I make another move” not sure yet, and depends how it all sorts out” keep reading”

What IS definite, is that Talking Story will get a lot more attention before I allow myself to reconsider two requests that continue to come up from the Ho‘ohana Community: For now, I hope you will understand I must say “no” in favor of my other current projects.

One request has been “Rosa, please bring back your value of the month program, Value Your Month, Value Your Life.” I honestly miss it too, and I still Ho‘ohana with it privately, but cannot do so publicly again: You can self-coach using the archives of MWA Coaching or my book ”“ it was written exactly for that purpose!

The second request has been “Rosa, please bring back your email newsletter, Ho‘ohana ‘ÅŒlelo.” I don’t think you will miss it as much if I get better about my updates here: For now, Talking Story must serve that purpose. If you do not have an email subscription, I highly recommend you try one: More incentive will be mentioned two sections down…

My Two ’09 Projects: Updates

As I mentioned to you in Life Imitates Art (my late May update) there are two projects I am determined to complete before I take on any other new ones. They are

The writing of my second book (and I am pleased to say I am making wonderful progress with it!) and
A total revamping of my web presence which entails the platform/publishing move from TypePad (TP) to WordPress (WP).

Those website changes have started (it’s a big project), and I did alert you to the launch of Teaching with Aloha a dozen days ago. Very exciting!

One of the things I neglected to share (again, sorry!) was that Joyful Jubilant Learning was converted too: We unveiled the new look on the 4th of July. Take a quick look if you haven’t seen it yet: Snazzy, isn’t it?

Upcoming plans for Talking Story

The TP to WP project will include a move for Talking Story to its own domain: This site will soon be found at TalkingStory.org (no link ‘cause not yet!) HOWEVER unlike the conversion we did at Joyful Jubilant Learning, where older posts can be accessed in the new archives, much of what is now here at Talking Story will be newly stored in my private archives only.

In other words, if you want something here, grab it now, and print it, for old links will cease working: When TalkingStory.org launches it will be a new presentation of lots of free resources, however it might not have all your favorites. You have at least two more weeks before anything happens, maybe a bit more, and I will tell you when a new launch date is finalized.

If you have a Talking Story subscription (either RSS or email) you need not do anything else, for your subscription will automatically switch to the new site when the transition is made.

Highlights at Joyful Jubilant Learning

July has been quite exciting in the JJL neighborhood of our Ho‘ohana Community. For the first time ever (other than our Annual Love Affair with Books) I have had to turn down post contributors there, for every day on the calendar quickly filled up for the month’s theme:

July 2009: Communicating As Learners Do

I do think that the digital switch from TP to WP had a little to do with it ”“ after all, the site is dedicated to ‘Ike loa, the Hawaiian value of learning, and the WordPress platform offers a lot more learning opportunity. However I also think the theme there was a significant driver, for communication is a biggie for all of us.

Already there are quite a few overlaps there to topics we cover here on management and leadership, and I encourage you to check in with JJL regularly this month: A good way is by following @JJLhui if you are on Twitter.

Today is my assigned posting day for the month of July, and I have written on the number one tool in our Managing with Aloha stable of good practices: D5M. My post is called

Learning to Listen with The Daily Five Minutes

I think you will enjoy it: I tell the story of why, how and when the practice started for me, and in keeping with the JJL theme of communication this month, I talk about three significant lessons learned in the nineteen years since my very first D5M with my management team at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. They are all connected to listening, absolutely vital in talking story too.

Dream Chasing, A Volkswagen Bug, Freedom and Inventiveness

What do all those things have in common? Rick Cecil of Ruzuku.com and @getencouraged got something about each one out of me in a recent interview we did.

Rick has put together a new interview series as part of his product development process for Ruzuku.com and I had the honor of being the third person he featured, stepping in line behind simplicity evangelist Leo Babauta and the immensely compelling writer Patti Digh.

Rick and I both found we gained a number of insights from the process of how he approached the interviews. If you are interested, you can read more at a posting Rick did about it at Joyful Jubilant Learning:

Building Customer Relationships with Authentic Conversations

Yep, that title is spot on ”“ true talking story stuff!

If you would like to read my interviews, you can find them listed on this page (Rick separated it into 5 parts, published last week):

Another Step Forward ”“ From There to Here with Rosa Say

Mahalo Rick!

“What happened with your letter to your legislators?”

This had me all up in arms for a few days, remember? Walking my Talk: A Letter to my Legislators

In brief, the governor did veto the bill, and the legislators have said they will not move to override her veto. Yes, I am thrilled, however I don’t think the issue is over. I also discovered that all my legislators are horribly unresponsive despite this and other efforts I made to converse with them” not good, and thus I take no credit for the turn of events going the way I hoped for!

Meantime, Amazon.com still has kept our Hawai‘i accounts closed. I can get into my old accounts, however there is a big banner across them reading “This account is closed and will not generate referrals. Access to this site is for historical purposes only.”

This impacts both the SLC aStore and the JJL aStore: Both remain on the web, seemingly “live” for Amazon.com has nothing to lose ”“ I am sending them a ton of links. However I cannot make any changes to those storefronts.

However none of this has affected my ability to offer Managing with Aloha to you via Amazon.com and they continue to order from me: Just sent a shipment off to them this past Wednesday, and you will find my book in stock there.

Gotta have Comics, or something funny

Otherwise it hardly qualifies as the Sunday Paper, right?

Mahalo to Aaron for sharing this with me: Web Site Story.

Now get outside for some Sunday sunshine, and share your Aloha,

~ Rosa

In the past, I have urged you to be brave, and get involved in your community, both online and offline. Then a couple of days ago I posted a tweet on Twitter, after I had read this in our local paper: Hawaii lawmakers send governor bills to tax Internet transactions

If you are a Hawai‘i resident, you can get this info here:

If you are in another state or country, Google/search for it: Pretty easy to find.

Briefly, there are two bills our Hawai‘i legislature has passed and I am hoping our governor will veto: From a summary by the Honolulu Advertiser Government Writer Derrick DePledge:

INTERNET TAXES

State lawmakers have sent two bills to Gov. Linda Lingle that could lead to greater tax collection on Internet sales.

Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SB1678 SD3 HD1 CD1) —
Allows Hawai'i to join 23 other states to simplify tax laws and
encourage retailers to collect and pay state sales and use taxes.
Requires federal legislation.

Internet general-excise tax (HB1405 HD2 SD2 CD1) —
Imposes the state's 4 percent general-excise tax on Mainland retailers
that establish an economic nexus in Hawai'i through local Web sites.

The article ends with:

"Several local Web entrepreneurs have also urged Lingle to veto the
bill, arguing it would handicap the growth of Hawai'i's online business
and media industry.

Local Web sites can become affiliates of
retailers like Amazon.com or sign up with brokers such as LinkShare,
which connect local bloggers and publishers with advertisers. Local Web
sites receive commissions when customers follow links to Mainland
retailers and buy products or fill out surveys and become future leads.

Dean
Takamine, president of Synertech Media, an online marketing firm in
Honolulu, said that if the bill becomes law, many Mainland retailers
will drop affiliate marketing in the Islands.

"Basically, what they'll do is they'll just kick off all Hawai'i advertising affiliates," he predicted."

Well, his prediction has come true.

Is this constitutional?

I have a personal interest in these bills as an independent businesswoman who leverages the internet within my own business (Ho‘ohana Publishing ring any bells?). I received a letter from Amazon.com this morning stating my account will be canceled with them on July 1st. They consider these laws an "unconstitutional tax collection scheme."

What that means to you, as part of my Ho‘ohana Community, is that you will no longer be able to buy Managing with Aloha from Amazon.com, AND I will no longer be able to offer you my other recommendations in the ease of the SLC Store and the JJL Store. It seems unlikely that I will have the option of opting out of their affiliate program so I can keep the aStore convenience of supporting books sold by others in our community – and in other states (i.e. even if strictly as a non-commissioned storefront). Amazon.com writes that as of July 1st,

"…we will have to terminate the participation of all Hawaii residents in
the Amazon Associates program on or before that day [the Hawaii law takes effect]. After the
termination day, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers
referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com nor will we accept new
applications for the Associates program from Hawaii residents."

Walking my Talk

Will I comply with the law? Yes, I am a law-abiding Hawai‘i citizen. However I am very disappointed. The constitutional question aside, I don’t think that either the Streamlined Sales Tax Project (Bill SB1678) or the Internet General-Excise Tax (Bill HB1405) make much sense, economic or otherwise.

This is one of those times however, that simply being “disappointed” doesn’t cut it.

There are other Hawai‘i websites which have composed form letters you can copy and send to the governor, but I doubt this will help for two reasons:

Form letters largely are ignored (when did you last read or respond to one?). You need to write a personal one to better your chances, and even then you have to hope they will read it.
We are a Democratic majority State with a Republican Governor, and should she veto these bills, it is highly likely both the House and Senate will move to override. (Tell me again how our government two-party system is not broken?)

When laws affect you, think about your own personal circle of influence. Who do you know, and how can you get heard?

This is the letter I sent via email to my House Representative, my district Senator, the Speaker of the House (and yes, in the spirit of full disclosure, Speaker Calvin Say is my brother-in-law: I am married to his younger brother), Senate majority leader Colleen Hanabusa and Governor Linda Lingle. I will be printing them and mailing paper copies as well, and thanks to the power of citizen publishing on the internet, I hereby publish it on Talking Story with links inserted in the hope that SEO-savvy Google Alerts work better than flooded inboxes.

I hope they don’t move to tax my blogs next….

12:45pm Update after a bit of Twitter talk-story:
To be clear, this is not about a loss of affiliate advertising revenue for me. You will notice that my websites are all advertising free, with the exception of the Amazon.com aStore as a convenience and in support of the other authors in our Ho‘ohana Community. I usually don’t make enough referral income to even cover my monthly internet access bill, and this is how my affiliate income, though modest, is used: The JJL Literacy Project.

My concern with losing the partnership of Amazon.com and other internet retailers, is about the loss of the storefronts, for we are already at a significant distribution disadvantage in Hawai‘i, and our options for promoting Made in Hawai‘i products are severely limited.

Think about this as a Hawai‘i consumer: How many times have you wanted to make a purchase over the internet for something not available here in the islands, only to get to your cart check-out and get the message that, “We are so sorry, we cannot ship to Hawai‘i.”

First, about the “Sunday Paper” title