Categorized | News

Updates from Sen. Schatz (July 9-18)

MEDIA RELEASE

KAILUA-KONA COMPANY TO RECEIVE GRANT FROM DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) has announced Cellana, a leading biofuel company based in Kailua-Kona, will receive a $3.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop an integrated, high-yield algae biofuel feedstock production system at its Kona Demonstration Facility.

Cellana’s research efforts have created a successful business model using algae to produce various products including low-cost animal feed, high-quality nutritional oils, and a new form of renewable biofuel.

“Hawaii’s unique environment makes it an ideal place to develop our natural resources into innovative forms of biofuel and high-value products,” Senator Schatz said. “This important Energy Department investment will accelerate the development of new local biofuels and help build Hawaii’s research and development industry.”

Cellana’s new approach to developing high-value nonfuel products and biofuel serves as a successful model for funding biofuel research and production and gives it the potential to grow into a more commercially viable operation. The Cellana project also helps the Energy Department meet its goal of reducing the cost of algal biofuel to a competitive level by 2022.

The Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy works with industry, academia, and national laboratory partners to accelerate development and deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and market-based solutions that strengthen U.S. energy security, environmental quality, and economic vitality.

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SCHATZ ANNOUNCES FEDERAL FUNDS FOR UH NURSING PROGRAM

U.S. Sen Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) announced that the University of Hawaii (UH) will receive a $349,472 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The grant will provide funding for the UH School of Nursing’s project, Achieving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing: A Veteran’s Initiative. Kapiolani Community College, Kauai Community College, and Maui College will also participate in the project.

“Nursing is one of the fastest growing occupations in the United States,” Schatz said. “The University of Hawaii’s School of Nursing has created an innovative way to assist our veterans seeking an education in nursing while improving their employment opportunities as they transition to civilian life.”

The Achieving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing: A Veteran’s Initiative will implement a statewide academic partnership model program for veterans with medical training and experience by facilitating enrollment, progression, and graduation with a baccalaureate degree in nursing using multi-level, evidence-based strategies.

This project will be open to veterans from all branches of service. Military status will include active duty, National Guard, reserve, retiree, and veterans populations with a variety of educational preparation, ranging from the completion of the General Educational Development (GED) test, a high school diploma, some college, and a degree in other fields at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

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SCHATZ COSPONSORS LEGISLATION TO OVERTURN SUPREME COURT RULING THAT BLOCKED WOMEN’S ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) has cosponsored the Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act, legislation introduced by Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) that would protect families from corporate interference and make sure that employers cannot deny women essential health benefits mandated by federal law, including birth control coverage.

“Corporations aren’t people and they should not be given Constitutional rights,” Schatz said. “The health and welfare of people should always come before corporations. Our bill will ensure women have the right to make personal health care decisions for themselves and their families.”

In a divided decision, the U.S. Supreme Court last month ruled in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby that closely-held private corporations can impose their religious beliefs on women by denying them birth control coverage as part of their health insurance.

“With this bill, Congress can begin to fix the damage done by the Supreme Court’s decision to allow for-profit corporations to deny their employees birth control coverage. The Supreme Court last week opened the door to a wide range of discrimination and denial of services. This bill would help close the door for denying contraception before more corporations can walk through it,” said Cecile Richards, President, Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

“As the nation’s leading advocate for women’s reproductive health care, Planned Parenthood Action Fund is committed to making sure women can get the no-copay birth control benefit that we and others fought so hard to pass and protect. No woman should lose access to birth control because her boss doesn’t approve of it,” Richards said.

“Last week, we heard a collective gasp across the country as Americans everywhere tried to make sense of five male Justices on the Supreme Court deciding that our bosses could have control over our birth control in the Hobby Lobby decision,” said Ilyse Hogue, President, NARAL Pro-Choice America. “Today, we hear those gasps turn to cheers as we see champions in Congress move to right this wrong. Ninety-nine percent of American women use some form a of birth control in our lifetimes, and all medical experts agree that these remedies should be included in comprehensive healthcare. Anything less than this amounts to discrimination against women in the workplace. If there’s one thing we can agree upon more than the idea that politicians aren’t equipped to decide for us how and when and with whom we have families, it’s that our bosses are even less so. This bill is the first step in making sure those personal healthcare decision stay where they belong — in the hands of the women whose lives are affected.”

Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), and Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) are introducing companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

Cosponsors of the Senate bill include, Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), John Walsh (D-Mont.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

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