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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 Scott Saiki, Democratic candidate for State House District 25, which covers Ala Moana, Kakaako and Downtown Honolulu. His primary opponent is Kim Coco Iwamoto.

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?

Income tax relief: The Legislature approved the largest income tax cut in history. Kakaako is home to many young persons and families. Take-home pay will increase beginning Jan. 1, 2025. A family of four with a household income of $90,000 will see a $20,000 tax savings over the next seven years.

GET relief for doctors and medical professions: This is another historic bill. Doctors and medical professionals who treat Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare patients will be exempt from the GET. This will lower the cost of practice and provide greater access to medical. 

Ensuring safe roads for pedestrians and cars: Following the tragic death of a McKinley High School student, I worked with the Hawaii Department of Transportation and the Honolulu Department of Transportation Services to install speed humps, raised crosswalks and red-light cameras on the highly trafficked roads surrounding McKinley.

Homelessness: I have worked with HPD, the city and the state homeless coordinator to treat, divert and house homeless persons. The Legislature approved a law that expedites the process to commit incompetent persons. In April, a new triage center opened in Iwilei to treat mental health and medical patients. This program is located in a city facility and is funded by the state government.

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 May, the Legislature approved the largest state income tax cut in history. This tax cut is extraordinary. It moves Hawaii from the second-highest to the fourth-lowest income tax rate in the U.S.

This income tax cut will result in higher take-home pay and provide relief to hundreds of thousands of children and their parents. The tax brackets and standard deduction had not been adjusted in several decades. This tax cut is truly historic and it will help many, many families cope with the cost of living in Hawaii. 

This is why many organizations supported this legislation, including AARP Hawaii, Catholic Charities of Hawaii, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, Hawaii Family Caregiver Coalition and Hawaii Primary Care Association.

I am confident that the state will withstand any revenue loss. The historical trend of increased GET and TAT collections will likely continue and offset revenue loss from the income tax cut. The governor also has the flexibility to reallocate funds if there is a shortfall within any program area. 

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?

The House was the first to act following the indictment of two former legislators on bribery charges. In addition to publicly condemning their conduct, the House created an independent commission to assess and recommend improvements to our ethics laws. The creation of a commission like this was unprecedented and reflected the House members’ conviction to reform government.

The commission was chaired by Judge Dan Foley and consisted of representatives of the League of Women Voters, Common Cause Hawaii, the State Ethics Commission, the Campaign Spending Commission, the former U.S. attorney for Hawaii and former House GOP leader Barbara Marumoto. This commission is now known as “the Foley Commission.”

The Foley Commission made 31 recommendations to improve ethics, campaign finances, lobbying and related matters. Within one legislative session, the Legislature adopted 22 of the recommendations through new laws or internal rules. This included a ban on holding campaign fundraisers during legislative sessions, increasing penalties for campaign finance violations and strengthening gift and lobbying laws.

As Judge Foley stated:  “the Legislature did a most commendable job in hearing and acting on the commission’s bills and their counterparts. Hawaii will have more transparent and accountable government as a result.”

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?

As speaker of the House of Representatives, I have made clear to House members that I expect them to exercise their independence and to vote their conscience on legislation.

It is not the role of the House leadership to dictate how they vote. 

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

In 2024, Sen. Karl Rhoads and I introduced legislation to fully fund a comprehensive public financing program for state and county candidates. In the end, the proposal was not successful after objections were raised by the Campaign Spending Commission primarily due to the lack of funding and staffing for the program. This legislation will surely be introduced in the next session and the public should weigh in on the merits and cost of this proposal. 

Public financing is a voluntary program and the state’s ability to regulate campaign finance and spending is limited by several rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court that prevent states from limiting the amount of money that a candidate can spend on his or her election, enable PACs to make independent campaign expenditures on behalf of a candidate, and authorize unlimited corporate contributions. 

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

I do not support an initiative process that would allow a majority to extinguish the rights of minorities, similar to a situation where five judges can unilaterally vote to end women’s rights and civil rights in the United States.

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?

There are pros and cons to legislative term limits, as evidenced by the difference of opinion within the Hawaii Democratic Party. I have seen firsthand how term limits affect other states — legislators basically cycle through their terms and take turns serving in leadership positions without having an incentive to develop themselves. Especially in states with lower limits, it seems that there is no continuity or depth of experience, resulting in a diminished, transient Legislature.

On the other hand, there is value in having a system that allows for more and new participation while also allowing legislators to serve in different leadership roles. Term limits should be reasonable and allow legislators to learn and grow. Every effort needs to be made to ensure that the Legislature is an independent and strong body that can serve as a check within and outside of government.

I have introduced term limit legislation in the past and look forward to further exploring this proposal.

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?

The Legislature banned campaign contributions from lobbyists during legislative sessions. The House formed the Foley Commission to come up with recommendations with respect to accountability and transparency. There is always room for improvement and we continue to discuss and evaluate its recommendations.

At some point, the Sunshine Law will have to be evaluated in terms of its potential conflict with cultural values. In the 2024 legislative session, I introduced legislation at the request of the Mauna Kea Authority to partially exempt the authority from the Sunshine Law. Importantly, kupuna requested this exemption because they felt that the strictures of the Sunshine Law prevented them from engaging in deliberations that touched upon very personal, cultural beliefs.

We should think about whether the Sunshine Law advances the current effort to incorporate more cultural deliberation in our decision-making process. 

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?

The House has demonstrated its commitment to opening up the process, allowing for greater public participation, and improving how we make decisions. 

Following the pandemic, the Legislature continued to hold virtual public hearings, which allow for long distance participation. The House also took significant steps to amend its rules to strengthen voting procedures in committee hearings, conflict and recusal standards and explanations of bills prior to their being voted upon at conference committees. 

There is always room for improvement and the House will continue its work to improve our decision-making 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?

Efforts are underway to improve tourism’s impact on our residents, culture, and natural resources. It is obvious that there are limitations to the number of tourists that can be accommodated at any given time. It may be useful for an agency like the Hawaii Tourism Authority to conduct an assessment of the state’s visitor carrying capacity and the visitor population’s impact on our environment and economy.

The state needs to facilitate diversification by ensuring that Hawaii offers sufficient workers, capital and infrastructure. Hawaii needs to be viewed as a stable place to do business. This requires continual improvement of our taxation, land use, permitting, laws, courts and educational system. 

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?

The Legislature took cost of living head-on in the 2024 legislative session in two important areas: taxation and housing, both of which have caused residents to leave Hawaii.

As discussed above, the state income tax will dramatically decrease for Hawaii families.

The Legislature also approved two housing bills that are unprecedented in addressing the zoning backlog that we see at the county level. The two bills set state policy in two areas — that two ADUs may be built on residential lots deemed appropriate by the counties and the inclusion of residential housing in commercial zoned areas.  

The ADU bill does not preempt the counties. It preserves home rule by allowing counties to set the standards for ADU development and to consider such factors as infrastructure, setbacks and parking. Counties retain the authority to approve and deny ADU permits. 

The state and local governments are not always in a position to fund housing development. Therefore, it was important that we addressed the zoning backlog. Counties will have two years to adopt their standards and I am confident that more units will be built as a result.