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Editor’s note: For Hawaii’s Nov. 5 General 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 Rosebella Martinez, Democratic candidate for state House District 40, which covers portions of Lower Village and Ewa Beach and Iroquois Point. Her opponents are Republican Julie Reyes Oda and We the People Party candidate Christian Ulufanna.

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

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

People are really concerned about the rising cost of living, environmental safety, and with housing and homelessness.

With the rising cost of living in Hawaii, I voted to pass the biggest tax break for Hawaii’s working families. This is just one step of many that will work to keep our local families not only here in Hawaii, but in their own homes. Everything from working to strengthen Hawaii’s food production industry, to finding ways to make food and medicine cheaper in our stores — there’s a lot more work to be done.

Ewa, being located proximally to Pearl Harbor, has had long time concerns about the safety and well-being of the areas that are in the stewardship of the U.S. military. I will continue to seek answers from them as well as ensuring that they are being good stewards of the land and good neighbors to our communities.

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 supported the legislation that provided the tax cuts in order to give immediate relief to Hawaii’s working families. It is our job to continue a path forward where we can reduce cost of government by increasing efficiency or reorganizing. It’s already challenging with so many of our local families living paycheck to paycheck, we have to go farther still.

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?

I support the ban on fundraisers during the legislative session. I also believe that there’s much work to do in terms of improving ways that members of the public can see our ethics-related filings.

I am in support of stronger ethics and government reform proposals that would help restore the public trust in the Legislature.

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?

Yes. At the end of the day, I am beholden to the many hard-working people in District 40, and will support reform proposals that align with their values.

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

Yes. Participation apathy is a very serious issue facing our state. Lowering the financial barriers of running through some kind of public financing would allow many new types of candidates to run for office, that would be less restrained by the political fundraising mechanisms we currently face.

It would also soften the influence that private interest groups and lobbyists have on the elections, and thus help prospective officials maintain independence and objectivity.

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

Yes. The people should have an opportunity, albeit at a high threshold, to directly challenge or influence the policymaking apparatus of our state.

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?

Yes. I’m open to the idea, but at the end of the day I strongly believe voters should have the final say.

As someone who ran several times against the previous incumbent, I firsthand know the difficulties of mounting a meaningful campaign without self-financing.

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 as mentioned previously, I support banning fundraisers during session, as well as support strong Sunshine Laws. Increasing public participation and oversight can only make our government stronger.

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 support an open and free Capitol and will support any reform that will increase participation or accountability of the public. I would also make it easier for records to be searched and viewed.

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?

Making systemic changes required in order to change course on our local economy.

Despite its tragic impact on our people, the 2020 pandemic elevated the conversation on diversifying the economy, considering the much-depended-upon tourism economy came to a halt. I believe that significant progress can be made in the areas of agriculture, health and other STEM-related jobs.

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?

I think across the entire state people are just struggling to get by. The cost of food, housing, goods – they are all going up and there’s a huge disparity between what people are getting paid and how much its costing local families just to survive. I hope to continue to focus on finding ways to offset this pressure, by looking at making local food cheaper and more readily available.

We also should be exploring new ways to provide housing for our people, by looking into increasing our affordable housing inventory by building smaller transient homes, or new ways of planning communities that could help us house more people.