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“That’s just the price of paradise.” It’s a dismissive refrain that fails to capture the true burden of Hawaii’s steep cost of living, and there are very few phrases that annoy me more.

Yes, we are lucky to call this place home. But the inflated costs that permeate daily life in Hawaii can make the “paradise” label feel a bit hollow.

We know the statistics. Hawaii residents pay more for housing, food and just about everything else. In the City and County of Honolulu, residents spend nearly 55% of their income on housing and food compared to the national average of 46%. When you factor in expenses like transportation, insurance, pension contributions and health care, these costs account for 87% of a Honolulu resident’s annual spending – leaving little room for much else.

As the most isolated population center in the world, we can reasonably expect to pay more for our imports and limited land. But sometimes I think we’re too quick to accept being priced out of paradise. It’s not an inevitability forced on us by mysterious global market forces. There are things we can do.

Admittedly, tackling broad inflation and living cost increases can prove difficult for state legislators. The root causes of inflation are often national or even global. Supply chain disruptions, energy prices, trade policies and federal spending decisions can all play a role, and a single state has limited influence over these factors.

States also have limited tools. They can’t directly control interest rates or the money supply, which are federal levers for managing inflation. States are also subject to the Commerce Clause in the U.S. Constitution which hampers our ability to pass legislation to prioritize in-state interests — like a restriction on out-of-state homebuyers.

This doesn’t mean states are powerless. Reviewing regulations that restrict housing supply, investing in crucial social programs and offering tax breaks for essential goods are all potential avenues to improve Hawaii’s affordability. But progress requires legislative action.

Let’s start with housing. State and local governments have significant control over land use laws that have a direct impact on housing supply and cost. Apartment buildings, the most affordable option per unit, are often limited by zoning restrictions. Further regulations like minimum lot sizes and area per unit all contribute to a smaller housing supply. This limited supply, coupled with a lengthy and complicated development process, creates a situation where builders can’t keep pace with demand, leading to ever-increasing housing costs.

, which is awaiting a hearing in the Senate Ways and Means Committee, would exempt certain affordable housing projects from environmental impact statement requirements. The bill is part of Gov. Josh Green’s effort to ramp up affordable housing production by, in part, identifying unnecessary regulations. , which will be heard in a joint House committee on Monday, could also increase Hawaii’s housing stock by allowing for smaller lots and smaller homes in urban districts.

While speeding up construction and growing our supply of affordable units will help, the state government can also help subsidize homeownership for lower-income earners and ensure renters who are housing insecure receive housing vouchers to keep them from falling into homelessness. These programs already exist in Hawaii, but it is up to the budget committees to fully fund them along with programs like the Hawaii Healthy Food Incentive Program that ensure Hawaii’s vulnerable residents have access to food.

Legislators can also consider targeted tax reductions or credits. Last year, lawmakers doubled the state’s refundable earned income tax credit, which was a long overdue move to take advantage of one of the most effective methods to reduce poverty.

This year, , which will be considered on Monday in the Senate Ways and Means Committee, could be another game changer for Hawaii’s Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) households. The bill provides for cost-of-living adjustments to income tax brackets, personal exemptions, and deductions to ensure people don’t face higher taxes simply because everyday items cost more. Additionally, an enhanced child and dependent care tax credit would provide more breathing room for working families.

In its current version, the bill also makes changes to the tax code by that would overwhelmingly benefit the top 20% of Hawaii’s income earners. So, if Ways and Means is looking for a way to slim down this bill so it fits into the state’s financial plan, the committee should start by reinstating those limits.

And this brings me to my main point.

Given that Hawaii’s high cost of living is top of mind for most voters, why isn’t the Legislature flooded with bills to fix it? After combing through hundreds of bills, why are these the best I found? Because passing them is messier and more complicated than other legislative decisions.

New tax credits, tax reductions and investments in social programs all impact the state budget. And, while our budget isn’t as tight now as it was in previous years, we have limited resources and a lot of priorities. If lawmakers want to pass tax relief for ALICE households, they’ll need to decide what to sacrifice to make up the lost revenue. Most budget-related choices are a series of either/or propositions that ultimately indicate what the state chooses to value most.

Streamlining housing also requires an uncomfortable weighing of choices that most of us would like to believe we value equally – protecting our environment, cultural heritage, and vulnerable residents. In House Bill 2358, I think the governor’s draft is trying to strike a balance between the three, but opposition from groups like the Sierra Club of Hawaii suggests not everyone thinks he’s gotten it right.

These are all hard choices. We don’t want to choose between equally valuable programs, goals or constituencies. Sometimes it’s easier to avoid tackling the tough economic subjects at all and pretend our exorbitant costs are “just the price of paradise.”

But I’m pretty over that approach. Our high cost of living is not an unfixable problem.