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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 Sean Quinlan, Democratic candidate for state House District 47, which includes Waialua, Haleiwa, Kawailoa Beach, Waimea, Sunset Beach, Waialee, Kawela Bay, Kahuku, Laie, Hauula, Punaluu, Kahana. His opponent is Republican Johnny Aguirre.

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?

Traffic from overtourism and the condition of our highway. We must diversify our inbound visitor market. The average North American traveler spends less money and utilizes more public resources than visitors from other places. The weakness of the yen has proven challenging for us, but continuing to rely on North America for 85% or more of our tourism is dangerous from an economic standpoint and is killing our quality of life.   

This year I appropriated $3.5 million for the Hawaii Visitor Mobile App, the first of its kind in the nation. Instead of tourists driving up and down Kamehameha Highway looking for parking, they will have a paid-for, confirmed, time-limited reservation at a beach park. It is critical that as we implement this model we reserve a significant portion of free parking at those beach parks for local residents only.  

At the same time that we are dealing with the weight of millions of visitors per year, our transportation infrastructure is crumbling before our eyes. The state Department of Transportation commissioned a study in 2018 that identified the 20 most critically endangered stretches of state highways — eight of the top 20 are between Haleiwa and Waiahole. We need a comprehensive plan to save our highway.

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 that we have significantly reduced the income tax burden on our citizens, which was previously the second-highest in the nation, and will be the fourth-lowest in the nation when the plan is fully implemented five years from now.

It’s important to note that a more accurate way of describing it is not as a tax cut, but rather moving the brackets upward. As wages increase over the next decade, we anticipate people moving into higher brackets, which is good for the individual and good for our revenues.

Site-specific revenue generation from tourist visits, green fees and increasing the transient accommodation tax are all on the table to balance our budget and preserve services.

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 think we can improve our current system of partial public financing to make it more accessible and less cumbersome.

Restricting all fundraising during the legislative session is another popular notion that deserves consideration, as well as stricter disclosure requirements for lobbyists.

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?

We recently passed 20 of the 31 proposals put forth by the Campaign Spending Commission and the Foley Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct, which is a good start.

I voted in the affirmative on every one of those measure which hit the floor, and in my time in the Legislature I have never been pressured by leadership to vote no on any reform legislation.

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

I support a partial public financing option, but I have deep concerns about taxpayer dollars funding political speech — from either of our two major political parties.  

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

Yes, provided there are substantial guardrails to prevent an influx of out-of-state dark money from overwhelming the process.

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 am open to the idea, but have mixed feelings about term limits based on the data from other states. The largest and most rigorous study on term limits concluded that there was no statistically significant change in the composition of term-limited legislatures in terms of age, ethnicity, gender, professional background and personal wealth.

The study also concluded that term-limited legislators spent less time on district casework, constituent issues and district-specific funding.

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?

We need to find a better way to present testimony to the public in a timely and accessible fashion. Adding more “recess” days to session could give the public more time to submit, access and digest testimony on bills.

Applying the Sunshine Law to a body of 51 members would be incredibly difficult to implement and enforce. I am generally not in favor of unenforceable mandates; they don’t solve the problem.

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?

It is my understanding that conference committee hearings are already open to the public. I often see advocates sitting in the room with us.

The move to greater digitization has been a real boon to rural and neighbor island communities; my constituents no longer have to be at the Capitol in person to testify, and all our hearings are available live and archived on YouTube.

I support stricter disclosure requirements on paid lobbyists, but we should be careful not to impose such requirements on unpaid advocates.

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 answered half of the question in my first answer, so I’ll just speak to the diversification portion. High labor costs, difficulty attracting talent because of housing costs and our geographical remoteness in the global supply chain are all constraining factors.

We should continue to take bites of the apple in areas where we have strengths — marine technology and research, value-added agriculture and dual use (civilian/military) technologies that take advantage of our military presence.

There is so much we could be doing for tropical and subtropical agriculture, water and energy conservation; even building materials suitable for climates similar to ours.

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?

In 2017 we created the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and subsequently made it refundable. We have also moved the tax brackets upward to reduce the tax burden on all of our citizens.

The key is to address the inequities in our housing market by reforming the definition of “affordable housing” to be truly affordable.

We must also disincentivize real estate speculation, increase the conveyance tax on luxury homes and have a robust vacant home tax.