Molokai Times
February 10, 2008
By David Lichtenstein
Senator J. Kalani English is pressuring the federal government to conduct training for the Transportation Workers Identification Credential requirement on Molokai.
English wrote the Federal Transportation Security Administration after receiving numerous requests to simplify the process to receive these ID cards. These cards are being required from the Department of Homeland Security for all workers picking up cargo from Young Brothers at the Kaunakakai Wharf.
"I was informed by a flood of communications last month that the company implementing the TWIC program in Hawaii refuses to set up a TWIC processing facility on Molokai or Lanai, forcing customers located on Molokai or Lanai to travel to another island to enroll," English wrote to the TSA.
The TSA contractor, Lockheed Martin Business Process Solutions, forces employees to travel to either Maui or Oahu for this training. Including transportation, the process could cost employees as much as $250 per worker. And this does not include the cost of renting a car from the airport to the training facility.
"May I remind you that Hawai'i is an island state," English wrote. "As such, the cost of traveling to another island to obtain the mandated identification card should be avoided. We simply need to have a TWIC processing facility on Molokai and Lanai, or at least on Molokai."
Because Molokai does not have a freight consolidator, every business on the island would need to get these ID cards for employees who pickup cargo.
"We are a county of small businesses," wrote English in a memo to his constituents. "We cannot afford the cost of this program. This will cause great hardship for our businesses, particularly those with employees."
The owner of the Kualapuu Market, Ltd., wrote this in a letter to English dated Jan. 15: "[We are a] mom and pop grocery store and for us to send our employees to comply with this requirement will take a toll on our operation and budget."
English is requesting that the TSA either take steps to locate a TWIC processing facility on Molokai or establish a procedure for Lockheed Martin Business Process Solutions, to, at the very least, operate this program and issue TWIC cards on the islands of Molokai and Lanai on a periodic basis.
This should be done, "in the interests of service, convenience, fairness and economics," English concluded.
Original article URL: http://www.molokaitimes.com/articles/8210213620.asp