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Editor’s note: For Hawaii’s Aug. 10 Primary Election, Civil Beat asked candidates to answer some questions about where they stand on various issues and what their priorities will be if elected.

The following came from Lisa Marten, Democratic candidate for state House District 51, which includes Waimanalo, Keolu Hills, Lanikai and a portion of Kailua. Her primary opponent is Hopena Pokipala.

Go to Civil Beat’s Election Guide for general information, and check out other candidates on the Primary Election Ballot.

1. What is the biggest issue facing your district, and what would you do about it?

My constituents’ biggest concern is mental health-related homelessness. We need to address their trauma and mental illness earlier in life.

Last year I funded a mobile crisis service specifically for children and their families or caregivers to stabilize crises, and then follow up for two months with counseling, skills training and referrals so caregivers can better manage the children. Operations start in July.

To improve Child Welfare Services, I helped secure an operational audit, a working group, and increased payments to their contractors. Now, as Human Services chair, I worked with the courts to require health and school data of permanent guardians receiving foster care payments, and secured ongoing funding to incentivize adoptive parents to do so.

For adults, I deployed office resources last year for full-time outreach in the district to connect people to services. I connected all local service providers with each other and trained them on programs to get severely mentally ill people (who do not know they are ill) on medical care. I have worked on a permanent state lease for one homeless facility in Waimanalo, and am working on expanding capacity at another. I funded a program at Windward Community College to train mental health workers.   

2. How do you feel about the massive income tax cut just approved by the Legislature and the governor? Do you have any concerns that it will force reductions in state services in the years to come?

In one fell swoop the cuts significantly increased the income of our impoverished families and working families and they will feel the benefits next year. It is an astonishing achievement. 

While the reductions for higher income families are much smaller percentages, because they provide the bulk of revenue from income taxes, it could diminish collections by the state.

Leadership claims this cut is the first phase, and targetted adjustments will follow. These could target wealth in a way that does not have the unintended consequences we face now with among the highest income taxes for the wealthy but the lowest property taxes. That incentivizes people to pay income taxes in another state while they monitor the number of days spent in Hawaii. It also incentivizes non-residents to invest in property in Hawaii, driving up prices and leaving homes vacant.

To know what the shortfall its, we need to see if there is an increase in high income families that choose to pay income taxes here. We also need to see how much our economy (and therefore taxes) is stimulated when lower income families spend all their saved taxes locally.  

3. Hawaii continues to struggle with pay to play politics and corruption in government. What meaningful reforms do you think would change state government for the better?

This valid concern — splashed across the headlines my first few months in office — has caused residents to lose faith in government. However, the public should know that the current Legislature has taken steps to address some of the serious problems.

The House formed the Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct as a result of the scandals. The commission made 31 recommendations for reform, and by the end of the 2023 session 22 of them were addressed through new laws or internal rules. The legislation was varied, though all measures sought to address corruption in one way or another. 

The reforms target a range of issues, including lobbyists, disclosure, nepotism, fundraising practices and stiffer penalties for corruption.

To be honest, nothing changed for me as I was not involved in any now-banned activities. However, I appreciate that no colleagues hold fundraisers during session and that lobbyists will not be able to donate to them during session.

The reach beyond the Legislature is exemplified in the passing of an internal legislative rule to prohibit hiring relatives to work in oneÊ»s office. Banning this existing practice paved the way for a new anti-nepotism law for all state employees. 

4. Candidates often say they will support reform proposals in the Legislature. And yet major reform proposals don’t pass. Will you back good- government proposals even if it means going against leadership? If you are an incumbent, can you point to an example of a reform that you supported?

I supported every single bill that came out of the Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct or was introduced by the Ethics Commission. I voted for the ones that passed in the end and also for the ones that did not.

I must confess that leadership in the House has never tried to influence me not to vote for these issues, so it has never been an act of defiance. 

5. Do you support comprehensive public financing of elections for candidates who choose to participate? Why or why not?

I have voted for proposed public financing legislation, but I have been very uncomfortable with the specifics of the proposals. I would prefer to reduce money spent on elections by everyone, rather than flood it with taxpayer dollars.

The amounts proposed were very high relative to what I spend, and I would frankly not want to spend that much. It would translate into way too many signs, mailers, intrusive phone calls, etc. Having interested voters tap into online information, watch public debates on Olelo or attend community events seems a much better way to know candidates and is virtually free. 

6. Hawaii is the only Western state without a statewide citizens initiative process. Do you support such a process? Why or why not?

No. In other states it is well-funded interest groups that spend big money to shape public perception and push ideas through.  I am open to introducing legislation through our existing process for anyone with good ideas they want considered. 

7. Thanks to their campaign war chests and name familiarity, incumbents are almost always reelected in Hawaii legislative races. Should there be term limits for state legislators, as there are for the governor’s office and county councils? Why or why not?

I do support term limits. I think the terms should be long and the exact length should be the subject of public debate.

Effective legislators need to become knowledgeable about a wide range of issues and it takes time on the job to do so. Within a term there is an opportunity to vote out incumbents every two or four years. This year 19 of 51 House members were new, so there is definitely turnover, though less so in the Senate.

Despite existing high turnover in the Legislature, one reason I support term limits is to discourage career politicians. I worry that elected officials who do not have other professional credentials or career options may be too desperate to hold on to their jobs and be more likely to be for sale to interests that will help keep them in office.  

8. What will you do to ensure accountability at the Legislature? Do you support ideas such as requiring the Sunshine Law to apply to the Legislature or banning campaign contributions during session?

I do oppose campaign contributions during session. I supported a 2022 law to ban fundraisers during session. I also supported a 2023 law which prohibits lobbyist contributions and expenditures, and promises of contributions or expenditures, to any elected official, candidate, candidate committee, or individual who is required to file an organizational report with the Campaign Spending Commission during legislative sessions. This bill should help reduce undue influence and its appearance. I would not oppose extending this ban during session to all sources of contributions.

As for the Sunshine Law, it will make it harder for legislators to work together on shared areas of interest, which is something I currently enjoy. However, the benefits might outweigh this inconvenience. Both the public as well as members of the Legislature itself might better understand how and why legislation was developed if those conversations happen during hearings and floor sessions rather than behind the scenes.

9. How would you make the Legislature more transparent and accessible to the public? Opening conference committees to the public? Stricter disclosure requirements on lobbying and lobbyists? How could the Legislature change its own internal rules to be more open?

I hope the tone of these questions does not dissuade readers from taking advantage of the opportunities to participate. Hawaii may be the only state with a staffed Public Access Room that provides residents with education, computer access and other resources.

Online testimony has improved public access for residents from neighbor islands, those who work, those who care for others, and those with disabilities. More should take advantage of it. The records of hearings are available on YouTube. Members of the public can witness the hearing for a bill they might learn about only after it passed out of committee.

Conference committees are already open to the public, though no testimony is received. This year we had new internal rules that required us to verbally describe the bill and any changes being made. That increased transparency as otherwise even those in attendance in the audience might not know what is in the proposed amended conference draft.

Disclosure requirements for lobbyists actually were made stricter with Act 123 of 2023. Legislators must name lobbyists with whom they have a relationship, including spouses, business partners, employers, officers and directors of the employer, and lobbyist clients that paid the lawmaker at least $5,000.

10. Many people have talked about diversifying the local economy for many years now, and yet Hawaii is still heavily reliant on tourism. What, if anything, should be done differently about tourism and the economy?

I support fostering a range of sustainable industries, but I would start by making tourism itself more sustainable. Two years ago the Legislature motivated the Hawaii Tourism Authority to move from marketing toward management of tourism by making its funding contingent on legislative approval.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources is also moving toward active management of its attractions. It has reservation systems in place on Maui, Kauai, Daimond Head, and we are working on a similar system for over-utilized attractions in Kailua. We want to reduce the number of tourists and target high-spending tourists.

The other industries I am focused on by writing and supporting legislation and funding is renewable energy and agriculture. We can stop sending what we earn with tourism and other industries right back out of the state through purchase of imported fossil fuels and food.

I actively support through legislation our transition to local, renewable energy which will keep money and jobs here. I also support an increase in agricultural production for local consumption. We need to invest in farm infrastructure and create opportunities for young farmers to access land. Producing our own energy and more of our own food makes us more secure, healthier and keeps the dollars and jobs here.  

11. An estimated 60% of Hawaii residents are struggling to get by, a problem that reaches far beyond low-income and into the middle class, which is disappearing. What ideas do you have to help the middle class and working families who are finding it hard to continue to live here?

This is a really challenging problem. Some measures I have supported to increase income since I have been in office (just four years) include: raising the minimum wage, making the earned income tax credit permanent and refundable, giving some of our surplus back to people in the form of a rebate, creating a retirement savings program for people who work for small businesses, making the earned income tax credit permanent and refundable, and passing a significant income tax reduction while increasing the standard deduction.

Other measures have been to address the largest expense for most households: housing. Since I have been in the Legislature, we have put well over $1 billion into affordable housing, including for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. We also passed legislation to allow counties to reduce vacation rentals, including ones that sued the city to allow themselves to write contracts for vacationers once every 30 days. Hopefully this housing stock will come back into residential use and housing prices will come down, or at the very least stop going up.

For the future, I would like to exempt food and medication from general excise taxes, and to continue to fund and build more affordable housing.