Should Hawaii Guarantee Every Resident A Minimum Income?
As technology threatens to eliminate聽jobs, Hawaii may be the first state to seriously study the idea.
Sometimes an idea is so innovative that a government even thinking about it gets a lot of attention.
Such is the case with Hawaii鈥檚 plan to study a system in which all citizens might receive an unconditional sum of money from the government.
A adopted by the Legislature last session calls for a 鈥渂asic economic security working group鈥 to study universal basic income. Although only the germ of an idea, news of the resolution spread nationally this week via online publications like and .
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 been a bit unexpected,鈥 said Rep Chris Lee, who sponsored the measure. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 definitely glad to see a lot of people out there looking at this and asking the same questions.鈥
The broad resolution paints a portrait of the disruption that technology has brought to the jobs market: Airbnb has become the world鈥檚 largest lodging company without owning any hotels; self-driving Ubers are starting to replace taxis in some places; IBM鈥檚 Watson computer can provide basic legal advice faster and more accurately than a human lawyer; and self-checkout lines are replacing human cashiers at stores.
Lee said he tried to put聽such聽real-world examples of changes in the resolution to highlight how innovations聽are starting to take jobs in service industries that have long been insulated from the robots that have done the same thing in the manufacturing sector.
The question, Lee said, is what these changes mean in Hawaii, where the cost of living is high and people often make ends meet by working more than one service job.
鈥淭he whole purpose of this is to get a conversation started,鈥 Lee said. 鈥淭his is really to identify what our options are, what are the mechanisms that can be looked at to improve our situation going forward.鈥
Rep. Beth Fukumoto, a former Republican who was House minority leader when she signed onto the bill, said the need for families to be able to make ends meet is not a partisan issue.
鈥淭he idea that the economy is changing is more of a fact than a partisan talking point,鈥 said Fukumoto, who left the Republican Party after being denounced at the party’s state convention for raising concerns about the racist and sexist behavior of Donald Trump, then a presidential candidate.
The resolution notes that governments of Finland, Uganda, and the Canadian province of Ontario have started pilot projects looking at universal basic income. Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg lauded the idea in his at Harvard University in May.
鈥淲e should have a society that measures progress not just by economic metrics like (gross domestic product), but by how many of us have a role we find meaningful,鈥 Zuckerberg said. 鈥淲e should explore ideas like universal basic income to give everyone a cushion to try new things. We鈥檙e going to change jobs many times, so we need affordable child care to get to work and health care that aren鈥檛 tied to one company.
Hawaii seems to be the first state taking a serious look at the idea.
鈥淲ithout a doubt, this could be the first in the country,鈥 said , a long-time organizer for the now-dissolved Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a collection of community groups that advocated for affordable housing and health care for low- and moderate income families. 鈥淚t鈥檇 be amazing to see Hawaii look at this closely.鈥
“The idea that the economy is changing is more of a fact than a partisan talking point.” — Rep. Beth Fukumoto
When Rathke founded ACORN in 1970, the idea of a guaranteed income wasn鈥檛 only a liberal or progressive idea, Rathke said. Republican President Richard Nixon had proposed something akin to a , eligible even to working persons. The idea of a minimum guaranteed income fell by the wayside in the Reagan era, Rathke said.
Lately, however, the idea has gained currency among corporate executives, labor leaders and policymakers, Lee said. Pierre Omidyar, the publisher of 天美视频, is financing a in Kenya.
The Hawaii working group is to consist of officials from the departments of Labor and Industrial Relations; Business, Economic Development and Tourism; state House and Senate labor committee chairs; the director of the Department of Human Services; the executive director of the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization; and representatives of labor and business organizations.
The proposal has received support from both the and , which represents hotel workers in Hawaii.
Paola Rodelas, a spokeswoman for Unite HERE, said the organization has been concerned for a while about issues like automation taking jobs. Also, she said, the proliferation of online rental agencies like Airbnb have hurt hotel workers by reducing demand for their services and by converting potential homes into illegal short-term rentals.
鈥淥ur mission is really rooted in how do we make Hawaii sustainable,鈥 Rodelas said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 why we supported the resolution: because we really need to take a look at the long-term economic security of Hawaii.”
