I feel Hawaiʻi’s high cost of living every day, both in my business and at home. As the owner of a retail cabinet business, nearly everything costs more: freight, materials, rent, utilities, insurance, payroll, and other operating expenses continue to rise, and those costs ultimately affect what local families have to pay.
At home, my family faces the same pressures as everyone else: high grocery prices, fuel costs, electricity, healthcare, housing, and everyday necessities. Even families who work hard and manage their money carefully can struggle to keep up.
I have also seen how the cost of living separates families. Young adults move away because they cannot afford housing, while parents and grandparents remain here without the support of their children and grandchildren. Local families are often forced to choose between staying near their ʻohana and finding a place where they can afford to live.
For me, affordability is not an abstract policy issue. It affects the decisions I make every day as a small business owner, wife, mother, and caregiver. Hawaiʻi should be a place where local families can work, raise their children, care for their elders, and remain connected to their communities without being priced out of their own home.
We need to move more of Hawaiʻi’s housing inventory out of the hands of investors and into the hands of local families. Working people cannot build a future here if they are continually competing with corporations, speculators, and off-island buyers who have greater purchasing power.
Homeownership is one of the primary ways families build stability and generational wealth. When local residents can purchase a home, they are more likely to remain in Hawaiʻi, raise their children here, care for their elders, and invest in their communities.
We should examine policies that discourage large-scale investor ownership of single-family homes while creating meaningful advantages for owner-occupants and first-time local homebuyers. We also need to reduce the regulations, permitting delays, infrastructure barriers, and construction costs that make it difficult to build attainable housing.
Housing, however, is only part of the solution. We must also create an environment where small businesses can grow, wages can rise, and young people can pursue skilled trades, professional careers, and entrepreneurship without believing their only path to success is leaving Hawaiʻi.
Restoring optimism requires more than telling local families we want them to stay. We must change the policies that are pricing them out. Hawaiʻi’s homes and economic opportunities should serve the people who live, work, raise families, and contribute here—not primarily outside investors.
I support a multipronged approach focused on education, durable career pathways, and housing stability.
First, our schools must restore critical thinking, problem-solving, financial literacy, and practical preparation for adult life. Students should graduate prepared to adapt, make sound decisions, and compete in a changing economy.
Second, we need stronger pathways into skilled trades and other careers that will remain essential as artificial intelligence changes the workplace. Hawaiʻi needs electricians, plumbers, carpenters, mechanics, healthcare workers, technicians, and other skilled professionals. We should expand vocational education, apprenticeships, employer partnerships, and opportunities for students to begin career training before graduation.
Third, we must move more of Hawaiʻi’s housing inventory from investors to local families. Higher wages will not create lasting security if workers still cannot afford a home. Homeownership helps families build stability, generational wealth, and a reason to remain in Hawaiʻi.
Our goal should not simply be to create more jobs. We must prepare people for careers that offer long-term value, reduce the cost of building a life here, and give working families a genuine opportunity to succeed without leaving the islands.
We need to develop more than job seekers; we need to develop problem-solvers, builders, and entrepreneurs.
Our schools should teach creative thinking, critical thinking, financial literacy, communication, and the practical skills needed to identify a need and build a solution. Keiki should understand that economic opportunity does not always begin with finding an employer. It can also begin by recognizing a problem in their community and creating a product, service, or business to meet that need.
The State should expand career and technical education, apprenticeships, mentorships, and partnerships with local businesses. Students should have opportunities to learn directly from tradespeople, farmers, healthcare professionals, technology workers, and small business owners before they graduate.
We should also reduce the regulatory and financial barriers that make it difficult for young people to start and grow businesses. That includes simplifying licensing, improving access to small-business training and capital, and reviewing rules that unnecessarily discourage entrepreneurship.
Living-wage employment will remain important, but government cannot create enough opportunity through public programs alone. We must equip young people to create value, build businesses, employ others, and strengthen Hawaiʻi’s economy from within.
We need to address both housing supply and who is purchasing it.
First, we should move more single-family homes from large investors and corporate owners back into the hands of local families and primary residents. I support stronger ownership transparency, incentives for investors to sell to owner-occupants, and higher conveyance taxes on additional investment properties, while protecting local families who may own one or two rentals.
Second, we must reduce the cost and time required to build housing. Hawaiʻi’s permitting process is slow, expensive, and unpredictable. Streamlining permits, reducing unnecessary regulations, and expanding opportunities for accessory dwelling units and multigenerational homes would allow families to create housing more quickly and affordably.
Third, the State and counties must take responsibility for providing and maintaining the infrastructure needed for housing. Roads, water, wastewater systems, and other public infrastructure should not be pushed onto individual homeowners or small builders in ways that make attainable housing financially impossible.
Public funding, tax incentives, permitting advantages, and infrastructure investment should prioritize housing for Hawaiʻi residents rather than projects designed primarily for investor profit. The goal must be attainable homeownership and stable housing for the people who live, work, raise families, and contribute here.
We should prioritize owner-occupants and local working families over large investors and speculative buyers.
I support stronger ownership transparency so we know who is purchasing Hawaiʻi’s homes, along with policies that discourage corporations and large investors from accumulating single-family properties. This could include higher conveyance taxes on additional investment purchases, while protecting local families who may own one or two rental properties.
We should also create meaningful advantages for primary residents and first-time homebuyers, such as owner-occupant preference periods, down-payment assistance, and public-private programs that help local families compete before properties are opened to investors.
The goal is not to prohibit people from moving to Hawaiʻi. It is to prevent local families from being continually outbid by buyers who view our homes primarily as investment assets. Hawaiʻi’s housing market should first serve the people who live, work, raise families, and contribute here.
We should prioritize owner-occupants and local working families over large investors and speculative buyers.
I support stronger ownership transparency so we know who is purchasing Hawaiʻi’s homes, along with policies that discourage corporations and large investors from accumulating single-family properties. This could include higher conveyance taxes on additional investment purchases, while protecting local families who may own one or two rental properties.
We should also create meaningful advantages for primary residents and first-time homebuyers, such as owner-occupant preference periods, down-payment assistance, and public-private programs that help local families compete before properties are opened to investors.
We need to strengthen local food production and reduce the cost of bringing essential goods to Hawaiʻi.
First, I support incentives that help local farmers, ranchers, and food producers put agricultural land into productive use. That includes better access to water, equipment, processing facilities, local markets, and cooperative systems that allow smaller producers to share resources and sell directly to our communities.
Second, I support repealing the Jones Act. Hawaiʻi’s families should not be forced to pay inflated shipping costs because of federal restrictions that limit competition in maritime transportation.
We cannot eliminate every imported food cost, but we can grow more of what we consume locally and remove policies that make shipping unnecessarily expensive. Both are necessary to reduce grocery prices and strengthen Hawaiʻi’s food security.
The State should focus on increasing the supply of affordable childcare rather than simply subsidizing an already expensive system.
I support reducing unnecessary licensing and regulatory barriers that make it difficult for qualified home-based providers, churches, nonprofits, and small childcare centers to open or expand. We should maintain strong health and safety standards without imposing requirements that unnecessarily increase costs or reduce available spaces.
For early education, we should strengthen partnerships with community organizations and existing providers instead of creating a larger, more expensive government system.
I would eliminate the General Excise Tax on groceries and other basic necessities. Hawaiʻi’s GET is imposed broadly on business activity, and its cost is ultimately passed on to families through higher prices. Taxing food places the greatest burden on working families because necessities consume a larger share of their income.
Families should not be taxed simply for feeding their children. Removing the GET from groceries would provide immediate, meaningful relief every time residents shop, rather than requiring them to apply for a credit and wait until tax season to receive help.
Hawaiʻi is difficult for businesses because of excessive regulation, taxation, and the high cost of goods, shipping, rent, utilities, insurance, and labor.
One example is the requirement that businesses provide health insurance once an employee works 20 hours per week for four consecutive weeks. Although access to healthcare is important, the sudden cost increase creates an incentive for some employers to keep workers below 20 hours. Employees receive fewer hours, businesses limit growth, and many workers ultimately remain dependent on Med-QUEST.
We need to reform this mandate so it no longer penalizes businesses for increasing an employee’s hours. Employees should have greater freedom to choose portable, affordable private coverage that is not tied entirely to one employer, and small businesses should have access to more competitive insurance options.
We should also eliminate outdated and duplicative regulations and reduce taxes and fees that disproportionately burden small businesses. Government should protect workers without creating rules that discourage hiring, reduce working hours, and increase dependence on public assistance.
Restoring public trust begins with changing a system in which one party has controlled Hawaiʻi’s Legislature for more than 60 years (even during the eight years Hawaiʻi had a Republican governor). We need genuine political competition, new leadership, and elected officials who are willing to question the status quo.
I support independent audits of government spending, stronger public disclosure requirements, transparent decision-making, and meaningful consequences when officials misuse public funds or violate the public’s trust. Residents should be able to easily see how taxpayer money is spent, who benefits from government contracts, and whether programs are producing measurable results.
Electing more Republicans would provide stronger oversight, healthy debate, and accountability that cannot exist when one party holds overwhelming control. Trust will not be restored by promises from the same leadership that created the current system. It will require transparency, competition, and meaningful change.
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