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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 Laura Acasio, Democratic candidate for state Senate District 1, which includes Hilo, Paukaa, Papaikou and Pepeekeo. Her primary opponent is Lorraine Inouye.

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 rising number of individuals seeking shelter on Hilo streets is the issue most often raised by District 1 residents and business owners when I ask them to share their concerns. Over the past two years, I, in conjunction with a broad range of stakeholders, have attended regular community meetings convened to solve this problem. Noticeably absent from these meetings are the district’s elected state officials, including its current senator and the three representatives from overlapping house districts. They do not attend nor do they send staff. 

Given Gov. Green’s commitment to make homelessness and related issues a priority, this lack of engagement by state elected officials creates a huge disadvantage for our community. The governor’s Kau Hale program has a great deal to offer. If elected, I will continue working at the community level while opening channels with the Green administration to develop a District 1 Kau Hale project.

At the same time, I will focus on building a firewall against future homelessness by working to develop programs that help those most at risk of falling into this debilitating situation. Re-entry programs for those exiting the criminal justice system and support services for veterans are sorely needed.

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?

With the rapidly rising cost of living, this tax relief doesnÊ»t go far enough to help our lower income families and our working class. Additionally, there are a number of concerns with this tax cut. Experts anticipate a $1.4 billion dollar revenue loss by 2031, which we will be burdened to make up somewhere. Unfortunately, the first priorities often cut with these losses are social services, education, affordable housing for the exact folks this new tax structure is claimed to help, all of which need full funding. 

Secondly, I have deep concerns that the entire story isnÊ»t being told in that the greatest benefit to House Bill 2404 is to the wealthiest among us and that many sweeping changes happened at the 11th hour conference committee without public input and scrutiny. Tax policy experts claim the top 1 percent wealthiest households would receive a tax break of over $6,000 on average, while those in the bottom 20 percent of households would only get $335.  Lastly, I am aware that some of our prominent labor unions have concerns that it may actually hurt our working class in the long run, rather than help.

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?

My experience in politics has taught me that there are two basic kinds of elected officials, those who engage in politics to benefit themselves, their friends and their donors, and those who use public office to serve their communities. Passing laws or changing rules will never stop conniving politicians intent on gaming the system. The power to end corruption rests with voters. 

Citizens who compare campaign promises with voting records, who track contributions, who cultivate the sensibility that allows them to differentiate between self-serving political hacks and selfless public servants, these are the people who will end pay-to-play politics. 

While the political mechanisms needed to end corruption already exist, I do agree that much more can be done at the state level to increase transparency and promote the civic engagement I just described, with much of this achievable at the personal level. As a senator, I was pleased to learn how easy it was to stand up for the public good. The hard part was how often I stood alone.

Hawaii could end pay-to-play politics in a single election. I invite your readers to join me in making this election be that one.

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?

My wholehearted answer is yes! It is one of the main reasons compelling me to run. Although the ultimate power to end corruption rests with voters, there is much the Legislature can do to thwart it, particularly through increased transparency and accountability. I will champion and work to pass clean elections proposals in order to level the playing field and help usher in a wave of community-based servant leaders dedicated to good policymaking, civic discourse and working for the people. 

I have always, and will always, backed good-government proposals, even if it means going against leadership. At the state Capitol, the most corrupt practices are found in the respective rules the Senate and the House adopt to conduct their business, with these rules designed to grant inordinate power to a handful of legislators who can then wield that power to make fellow legislators do their bidding.

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

Yes, I fully support campaign finance reform and comprehensive public financing for candidates who choose to participate because it breaks up the pay-to-play model that has had a stranglehold on Hawaii politics, with corporate sponsored politicians, for far too long.

Currently, long-time incumbents have a significant advantage in retaining office due to the fact that they often have large sums of money in their campaign coffers. As seen in Civil BeatÊ»s recent articles, we have a record number of incumbents running unopposed and a great need to encourage and support qualified candidates to run for office in order to help keep incumbents accountable and relevant to the communities they represent. When we have incumbents running unopposed, we don’t have choice, therefore an ailing democracy. Instead, the healthier the competition, the healthier the democracy.

Additionally, I support policies like campaign expenditure limits, capping the amount of monies that can be amassed and rolled over into future campaigns, prohibition on sitting legislators donating to candidates, and stricter laws for donations from lobbyists and family members of lobbyists. I support comprehensive campaign finance policy that gives more power to the voters and the people instead of only those who can afford to pay-to-play.

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

Yes, I support a statewide citizens initiative process. It is important to have a mechanism for citizens to influence policy and law, exercising political will, outside of the current legislative process allowing for a check on legislative and executive power. However, I believe this would not be nearly as necessary if we had publicly funded elections or comprehensive campaign finance reform.

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?

The most compelling argument I can make in favor of term limits is that they act as a flushing mechanism for the factionalism and grudges that accumulate in our political system to the detriment of our entire state. Although I entered politics well aware of the many ways the process can get corrupted, nothing prepared me for the number of times I heard a bill wouldn’t pass or a funding request wouldn’t get approved simply because someone didn’t like someone else.

Every time I was forced to accept this felt like a gut punch. It happens regardless of how good the bill is or how much the appropriation is needed; it happens between representatives and senators elected to serve the very same communities.

Not everyone at the Capitol behaves in this way, and while I do believe there are incumbents who have served Hawaii well for decades, I know there are countless ways for term-limited legislators to continue serving the public beyond the confines of the Capitol.

In addition to the many other ways they deter corrupt practices, term limits provide the benefit of flushing the system of petty personality conflicts that prevent progress on key issues.

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?

Yes to Sunshine Law requirements. Yes to banning campaign contributions during the session. As a sitting senator, every time I joined colleagues to conduct state business in a space where there was no public presence, I felt like I was betraying the public trust. This happens far more than most people realize – during caucus meetings and impromptu conferencing outside committee hearings – all of which is permissible under rules legislators adopt for themselves.

I will ensure accountability by first holding myself and my staff accountable. I am open and honest in my communications with colleagues and constituents, and this will never change. When I see or experience something that does not seem right, I say something about it. This too will never change.

Beyond the personal level, I will continue advocating for reform to the conference committee process, which, as it currently operates, has the potential to undermine everything else legislators do in public prior to conferencing. Legislators have fallen into the habit of attaching bad dates and blank funding amounts to every bill as a way to send them to conference where they can get killed behind closed doors in a process with little-to-no accountability. This needs to stop.

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?

When the Legislature first convenes post-election, House and Senate leadership have the ability to write their own set of rules regarding how each chamber will conduct its business. From that day forward, the great effort made to ensure equal representation in the voting process is potentially overridden by unregulated, insider agreements that give power to a select few, namely the committee chairs, with the House Finance and the Senate Ways and Means chairs given authority rightly described as dictatorial.

This can only be changed by replacing the leadership that engages in and perpetuates this corrupt system. This can only be done by electing majorities devoted to transparency and the public good to both houses. Until that day comes, I will continue to serve my community in a transparent and ethical manner.

If elected, I will work with groups like Common Cause to introduce and move forward bills that require stricter disclosure for lobbyists and prohibit practicing attorneys from hiding behind attorney-client privilege as a means to conceal retainers that effectively serve as bribes. I will continue to speak out against practices like requiring all bills to pass through Finance and Ways and Means, whether they include appropriations or not.

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?

Diverting resources from a bloated state tourism budget to the development of regional economic models is a primary step justified by the unnecessary duplication of promotional efforts made by private sector, county and state bureaus. Moving forward, we need to focus on attracting visitors who stay longer and do less damage under a model called regenerative tourism.

District 1 is a hotbed of innovation around two additional, highly promising models –regenerative agriculture and waste-to-wealth. The first increases profits and reduces the costs associated with food production by enhancing soil fertility. The second diverts valuable resources headed to landfill or incineration into wealth-building programs.

Realizing the potential of these models requires an investment in capital improvements. Entrepreneurs capable of succeeding at these ventures need access to agricultural lots, commercial real estate and warehouses. Too many privately and state held assets are falling into blighted conditions when they should be put to use instead.  

Another important way to improve Hawaii’s economy is to create strategies that keep tourism dollars in the state. Currently most of it leaves the economy either directly through offshore ownership of tourism assets or indirectly when industry workers spend their paychecks on imported goods.

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?

Hawaii’s over-reliance on tourism and military spending has yielded enormous benefits to a select few while leaving the rest of us to fend for ourselves. Our natural resources continue to be hijacked in ways that profit outside interests based on the promise that somehow the small percentage spent here will make everything okay. It’s sad it’s taken so long for the voting public to understand and speak out against such falsehoods, but better late than never.

Economic policies aimed at building wealth in disenfranchised communities are gaining momentum at all levels of government. Although it takes time for policies to generate tangible results, this shift is underway, unstoppable and nothing less than revolutionary.

When I served as District 1 senator, our office acted as a driving force for the values embodied in this shift. In every instance where a bill or an appropriation would lead to a stronger local economy and more opportunity for residents, we supported it. There is no lack of viable ideas on how to build wealth at the community level; what’s lacking is a will to support them. If I’m elected, our office will once again be a driving force for just economic policies.