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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 Susan Lee Loy, Democratic candidate for State House District 2, which covers Hilo. Her primary opponent is Tanya Yamanaka Aynessazian.

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?

The high cost of living and lack of housing options. 

East Hawaii has a high concentration of retirees or those approaching retirement. Government solutions to aid and assist those on or approaching fixed incomes would be to tackle tax reform for our seniors/kupuna and minimizing tax on medicine and medical care for retirees.

Government should also explore and champion prioritizing the development of senior housing that is in alignment with retirees’ incomes. This spectrum of housing product styles for seniors to downsize would be a solution in partnership with the ongoing development of multigenerational-style housing product types.

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?

I’m proud of the legislative leadership and their work to support and prioritize local families.

The next heavy lift for the Legislature and ongoing legislative sessions will be to shift and have nonresidents and our wealthiest residents fill in with support. Cutting core government services is not an option and solutions would be to shift taxation toward nonresidents and visitors.  

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?

When we know better we can do better and one solution would be to allow candidates to minimize the amount of funds that can be advanced from one election cycle to the next.

In addition, having ongoing workshops and educational training with local ethics professionals on all sides of debate could be explored.

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?

Good policy is good policy. Being prudent about all legislation and evaluating all the impacts is the charge.

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

While running for office is a public process, individual candidates are dynamic and bring multiple skill sets, accomplishments and abilities.

Supporting public financing is possible if it does not limit candidates’ unique abilities to message or delete options to provide constituents information.       

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

I support citizen initiatives and processes for community-driven ideas to be evaluated by the voters.

During my time on the Hawaii County Council I authored a ballot initiative to provide additional transparency in the area of wages for cabinet, elected and appointed staff, and saw 80% approval from the electorate.

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?

As a current member of the Hawaii County Council I have a deep appreciation for term limits. It pushes policymakers to be effective during their time in office.

Term limits are worth exploring for legislators with a goal to strike the right balance between the development of legislation, the commitment of funding and resources and the execution of projects and programs. 

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.

Again, as a current member of the Hawaii County Council we are subject to the Sunshine Law and value the transparency it provides to the electorate.

The council works year-round and hearing proposals for the legislators on this issue may need to consider lengthening the legislative session by eight to 12 weeks.

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?

All of the aforementioned ideas are sound places to start. During the pandemic all boards and commissions made great strides in using technology to allow for public input and testimony.

An area the Legislature could work on is the agenda notification process.

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?

The conversation on diversifying the economy and the heavily reliance on tourism often starts with a one-for-one swap; to find an equal or similar industry to replace tourism.

The work to support our destination management plans should continue while building incentives that promote small business opportunities in and around our destinations area could be explored.

Job creation around destination education, stewardship and/or alakai programs would be a pathway to help manage and diversify tourism. Working on tailoring our economy to encourage buying local is another area to explore.

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?

Tax reform with better tax resource oversight; a multipronged approach and work on tailoring all types of taxing in areas from outside investors, visitors and other taxes while directing those funds to aid and offset the high cost of living in areas like housing and transportation could be explored.