On the Issues

Being in the middle of the Pacific, transportation costs add significantly to consumer costs. We should work with and encourage our Congressional delegation to seek an exemption from the Jones Act, which would allow more ships and lower transportation costs.

I believe unwise government spending and inefficiency is at the core of high costs, causing high tax rates and constant increases.  We need to identify areas of spending and inefficiency that need change, correction, or elimination.

Many of us are falling further and further behind, and for some it is practically “life or death,” used here as a figure of speech for emphasis.  Therefore, we must look at our government spending and systems more seriously, meticulously, and vigilantly to identify, correct, and cleanup waste and corruption.  

Gas Prices

Lowering or temporarily suspending state taxes on gasoline would help ease the pain at the pump. However, this would be a temporary fix, and does not get to the real causes of the problem. Inflation arguments presented above, apply here also.

Government reform is necessary to remove oppressive regulations, streamline procedures, identify and correct mismanagement and unwise spending, and expose and clean out corruption.  This can in turn allow and promote more competition, productivity, and working together for the good of the people, and not special or self-interests.

Affordable Housing

Home ownership and the lack of affordable housing is the greatest cost factor component negatively impacting our families. It is literally an impossible dream and out of reach for many. On a personal note, we help one of our daughters with housing, while another has moved out of state in order to afford a home!

We need to come together with all of the participants in the process: 

1. Government, which controls all rules and regulations; as well as negotiates agreements.

2. Landowners.

3. Developers.

4. Construction industry – unions, contractors, suppliers.

We must:

1. Identify the key cost factors that contribute to the extremely high cost.

2. Improve and streamline the process.

3. Research new methods and materials (e.g., modular homes).

4. Generate other ideas that can make a significant difference and change the direction of escalating home costs.

HB 1837, a bill passed in our recent 2022 Legislative session, is step in this direction to increase housing, and would:  

1. Establish a statewide working group on affordable housing to foster increased inter-agency coordination on housing and zoning issues.

2. Encourages counties to adopt zoning and regulatory policies that allow for greater housing opportunities for residents at all income levels.

3. Consider allowance of multifamily development in retail and commercial areas.

4. Consider conversion of office units and commercial space to apartments and multifamily uses.

5. Consider promotion of possible housing options in areas zoned for single family homes.

6. Streamlining the permit process and timelines.

7. Look into conversion of vacant or underutilized county land for affordable housing.

8. Tasks counties, the Hawaii housing finance and development corporation, and Hawaii public housing authority to present a timely regular report to the legislature, on efforts in reducing or removing applicable regulatory barriers.

Because this bill appropriates $100,000 to support this initiative, including one paid position, we need to make sure there is transparency and accountability to prevent insider special interest benefiting. This is where new fresh unattached legislators like myself are needed to help achieve this goal.

Teachers /educators are at the heart of our public education system.  They are some of the most important contributors to our society, with their role to help prepare our next generation.  Yet they are one of the more undervalued and underappreciated professions.  We need to better support them for this most difficult and challenging task.  

1. They need to be paid according to their value to us.  We cannot attract and retain qualified talent without a competitive credible income level.

2. We need to move away from the one-size-fits-all model.  With a wide range of needs and proficiency, we need to identify each individual student’s needs and address them specifically and accordingly.  

3. Critically important is the need to care for the emotional heart, and moral character development of each child, to nurture them into the fullness of who they were born to be.  Introduce new fresh curriculum appropriate for that purpose.

4. Teach our children how to think critically to solve real life problems, and not just memorize and repeat facts. 

5. Teach our children healthy conflict resolution.

6. Better handling of disruptive students so educators can specifically focus on their challenging goals.

7. Hire more teachers, teacher aides, and student teachers to improve the teacher-student ratio.

8. Hire more tutors to help supplement and fill in the gaps. 

9. Promote charter schools, and vocational schools.

10. Partner with private industry to provide workforce development programs.

Government reform is a top issue for me, because government (good or bad) touches and greatly affects every aspect of our lives.  We need government reform to decentralize control and transfer power from the few in position, especially career politicians, back to the people. 

Especially in the past couple of years, we have experienced a strong heavy-handed overreach of government control, and restrictions and even loss of our freedoms. 

We have also been seeing more cases and officials in the news, exposing hidden elements of corruption and illegal activity.

I propose the following changes and initiatives:

1. Term limits for the Legislature, to prevent the increased prevalence of special and self-interest relationships that result in the abuse of power, corruption and illegal activity. The Governor, Mayor, and City Council all have term limits.

2. More accountability and transparency through regular audits, to help identify and prevent fraud and mismanagement.

3. More accountability to identify conflicts of interest, and disqualify those officials from participating in the process.

4. Campaign spending limits, to put all candidates on an even playing field; greatly eliminating the influence of and entitlement of donors and money on future legislative decisions; and greatly reducing the significant advantage of long entrenched incumbents.

5. Prohibit legislators from soliciting campaign funds, holding fundraisers, or accepting campaign contributions during the legislative session.

6. Correct the legislative procedure that currently allows gut and replace manipulation of bills.

7. For every legislative session, identify the state’s top priorities and dedicate all bills to only address these top priorities, while also limiting the number of bills.  This would focus legislative time and effort where it is most needed, allow more thorough research and deliberation, and reduce the number of nonessential bills being introduced. Note that there were almost 6,000 bills introduced in the 2022 session.

8. Require every new bill to have analysis to determine the cost ramification if passed.

9. Privatization where cost effective, eliminating unnecessary government handling and overreach. Working collaboratively on valid ideas to achieve solutions, should take priority over the limitations of a first-term elected official.  A practical realistic goal for my first term would be for me to be a connection to the people, keeping the public informed of the concerns that affect their lives and families. 

…”Of the people, by the people, and for the people!”…

Crime and drug abuse is largely a result of those struggling and stressed beyond their limits with the high cost of living, taking desperate actions to survive or cope. As your Representative my goal would be to accomplish the following.

• A major first step is to bring this situation into the light. Draw attention to and demonstrate the specific problems for everyone to see, be aware of, understand, acknowledge and recognize the seriousness of the situation.

• Enlist the district’s commitment to act and contribute to the solutions.

• This includes individuals, neighbors and communities, as well as HPD, social service agencies, State Representatives and Senators, Councilperson, and any other agency that has jurisdiction and can cooperate in a unified effort to fully address criminal activity.

• This involves education, communication, and enforcement at all levels, so we are all on the same page for unified efforts and solutions.

• Establishing and activating at the community and neighborhood level, such as Neighborhood Security Watch (NSW), Community Associations, Neighborhood Boards, and neighbors and friends helping one another.

• Help promote and encourage individuals to keep alert, documenting to create a record and make a case, communicating dangerous and suspicious activity or concerns to your NSW network, calling 911, and other similar actions.

On a larger, statewide scale, we are seeing more and more criminal charges being brought against government officials, and individuals working illegally with government officials. We see that the saying “absolute power corrupts absolutely” has never been more relevant and truer.