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The southern half of Hawaii island is home to some of the most impoverished communities in the state. Following last year’s reapportionment process, the remote and rural district I represent (House District 5) is now the largest in Hawaii in terms of geographic size.

A significant portion of the Kau region lacks access to running water, including places like Ocean View and Milolii. Our neighbors live without quality medical and mental health services. Some of our keiki even attend schools that lack functioning fire alarms.

Kona Community Hospital is in dire need of assistance. This year, the hospital was compelled to seek an emergency appropriation to maintain pharmacy operations that provide life-saving chemotherapy drugs.
Without this funding, cancer patients will lose access to vital treatments, which is why West Hawaii legislators made this one of our top capital improvement project requests for the current legislative session.

Public schools, too, struggle with aging infrastructure. Kau High and Pahala Elementary were built in 1881. Naalehu Elementary was also founded in the 19th century. It is the oldest public school in the state and has received few campus upgrades since its establishment.

Flooding plagues schools like Mountain View Elementary that face persistent drainage problems. Uncovered walkways riddle the campus, leaving students at the mercy of the weather. The media and performing arts centers enjoyed by Honolulu schools seem like distant dreams to Hawaii island families.

These are pressing problems. Year after year, however, our island receives a disproportionately small share of capital improvement funds.

In 2021, for example, legislators approved $130 million in facilities funding for Hawaii island out of a total capital improvement budget of just over $1.7 billion.

That equates to roughly 8% of overall capital improvement expenditures for an island that hosts nearly 13% of the state’s population.

‘Rectify The Disparity’

As lawmakers craft a new state budget, we must rectify the disparity in how capital improvement dollars are allocated. Historically, the infrastructure needs of rural and indigent communities have been perennially neglected. To truly advance the goal of delivering prosperity for all, that needs to change.

Capital improvement funds are intended to build the basic infrastructure that enables our community to thrive. While Oahu has a larger overall population than the neighbor islands because of Honolulu’s urban cityscape, rural communities are far more impoverished in terms of aggregate household income and economic growth.

Rather than focusing on population density or political considerations, lawmakers should prioritize equity in infrastructure appropriations. In 2019, the Hawaii Board of Education took this philosophy to heart by adopting a financial planning framework that centers our most vulnerable students.

Lawmakers should prioritize equity in infrastructure appropriations.

Board of Education Policy 301-10 says, “The Department shall strive to ensure that all students have safe, accessible, and supportive school facilities by allocating capital improvement program and repair and maintenance resources equitably, effectively, and transparently. This equitable allocation must take into account the socioeconomic and academic needs of each school’s student population.”

If legislators follow this policy, then schools serving financially disadvantaged communities will receive the funding necessary to support those who are forced to sit on the economic sidelines. That is a principle that should guide state spending on all matters, from public health to emergency preparedness to our children’s learning system.

The famous Greek historian Plutarch once said, “An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.”

To that end, we should build a capital improvement budget that extends compassion to the communities that are most in need of a helping hand.