David A. Tarnas

Office: House District 8

Party: Democrat

www.votetarnas.com

Hawaiʻi’s affordability challenges affect nearly every aspect of daily life, from housing and education to healthcare, transportation, and childcare.
What are your personal experiences with the high cost of living in Hawaiʻi?

I have personally experienced the challenges of providing for my family's needs of food, housing, healthcare, and other necessities. My wife and I both work full time and live simply, sometimes depending on family to help out when things got tough.

Many local residents leave or are considering leaving Hawaiʻi because they can no longer afford to stay, or because they seek greater economic opportunity, and according to the 2020 Census, approximately 55% of Native Hawaiians now live outside of Hawaiʻi.
With negative net migration continuing to drain Hawaiʻi of its local population, how can we restore optimism and convince local working families and young professionals that they have a viable economic future in the islands?

The legislature has taken some steps to help address this, including providing income tax relief to Hawaii's working families (SB 3125 CD1), providing annual salary step increases to public school teachers (HB 1890 CD1), investing $250 million in affordable housing development (HB 1800 CD1), and giving incentives for affordable housing projects that include deed restrictions prioritizing Hawaii residents. I pledge to continue this work in future sessions.

I will continue to support the incremental increases in minimum wage that the legislature approved a couple years ago. I will also continue to support economic diversification programs and expansion of Career and Technical Education programs at our public high schools and community colleges.

Many employers report difficulty finding qualified workers, while many residents struggle to access career pathways that provide long-term financial stability. It is estimated that in the next decade, 170,000 keiki will enter the workforce, but only 100,000 living wage jobs will be available for them.
What are ways the State can improve workforce development efforts and ensure that enough living wage jobs will be available for youth entering the workforce?

I will continue to support economic diversification programs such as expanding the film tax credit (SB 2580 CD1), expanding the types of businesses which qualify for benefits in the Enterprise Zone Program (SB 2360 CD1), and promoting the expansion of other economic sectors to diversify our economy, such as ocean science and technology (SB 2907 CD1).

Housing experts recommend that a household spend no more than one-third of its income on housing costs. In its 2025 Employee Affordability Survey, Holomua Collective found that most local working families identify housing as the main driver of Hawaiʻi’s high cost of living. Most local families also said they are spending more than half of household income on housing costs.
What practical and actionable solutions do you have to lower housing costs?

I will continue the work done by the legislature this past session to address this issue, including appropriating more funds for affordable housing development ($250 million in HB 1800 CD1), authorizing the counties to issue bonds to finance infrastructure for affordable housing projects (SB 3219 CD1), and clarifying allowable uses within agricultural districts with respect to farm dwellings and farm employee housing (HB1737 CD1). I will also support additional recommendations from other representatives who are more knowledgeable in this area, such as the Chair of the Housing Committee in the House.

Hawai’i’s housing market is impacted and constrained by out-of-state and speculative buyers. A variety of solutions have been proposed to dedicate housing for local working families.
How do you propose we dedicate housing for local working families over out-of-state or speculative buyers?

I will continue to support innovative bills proposed to address this situation, such as HB 1740 CD1 which provides incentives for affordable housing projects that have deed restrictions to prioritize Hawaii residents over out-of-state residents and speculative buyers.

Hawai‘i needs tens of thousands of new homes, and every year we fall further behind, more local families are forced to leave.
What will you do to ensure the State quickly builds more housing for local working families before they are priced out of Hawai‘i?

I will continue the work done by the legislature this past session to address this issue, including appropriating more funds for affordable housing development ($250 million in HB 1800 CD1), authorizing the counties to issue bonds to finance infrastructure for affordable housing projects (SB 3219 CD1), clarifying allowable uses within agricultural districts with respect to farm dwellings and farm employee housing (HB1737 CD1), and providing incentives for affordable housing projects that have deed restrictions to prioritize Hawaii residents over out-of-state residents and speculative buyers (HB 1740 CD1). I will also support additional recommendations from other representatives who are more knowledgeable in this area, such as the Chair of the Committee on Housing.

Nearly one in three Hawaiʻi households experience food insecurity. More than one in five households report skipping meals or going entire days without eating because they cannot afford enough food. With grocery prices 30–40% higher than the continent, many families are struggling to meet their basic needs.
How do you propose we reduce everyday living expenses like groceries?

I will continue to support innovative legislative proposals to expand agricultural production and agricultural processing in the State, and subsidize the cost of interisland shipping of agricultural products.

Hawaiʻi families face some of the highest early childcare and education costs in the country, with center-based infant care averaging more than $24,000 annually. These costs often prevent parents from returning to work and pose a significant barrier to economic opportunity for working families.
How can the State make childcare and education costs more affordable?

I will continue to support the appropriation of funds to develop more early childhood education programs and facilities, such as the $20 million appropriated in the 2026 session in HB 1800 CD1. I will also continue to support sufficient legislative appropriations to the public school system to provide high quality education at no cost to Hawaii residents.

If you could change one aspect of Hawaiʻi's tax system to improve affordability for local working families, what would it be and why?

I strongly support SB 3125 CD1 which changes the tax system to provide additional tax relief to Hawaii's working families. I will continue to support these tax cuts in future sessions.

Hawaiʻi ranks 49th overall nationally in America’s Top States for Business 2025. Local sentiment underscores this ranking, with Holomua Collective’s 2025 Employee Affordability Survey finding that only 19% of respondents believe Hawai‘i is a good place to do business.
Why do you believe Hawai‘i is seen as such a difficult place to do business, and how would you improve conditions for local businesses?

The primary complaint I hear from businesses is that Hawaii has too many regulatory barriers. To address this, I support bills proposed by the collaborative effort facilitated by the House Economic Development Committee called the SPEED Task Force, which stands for "Simplifying Permitting for Enhanced Economic Development."

In a 2025 survey by Holomua Collective, only 20% of local working residents said that they had confidence in state and local government to do right by the people of Hawaiʻi.
What reforms would you support to improve transparency, accountability, trust, efficiency, and public confidence in state and local government?

In the four years I have served as Chair of the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee, I have taken the lead to pass major legislation to improve transparency, accountability, trust, efficiency, and public confidence in state government. Passing these bills has helped to improve public confidence in our State government. This includes passing bills that strengthen our statutes to prevent public corruption, improve campaign finance disclosures, prohibit lobbyist contributions to legislators during session, prohibit state agency directors from campaign fundraising, and limit corporations from making campaign contributions. Next, the legislature needs to pass a bill to prohibit government contractors from giving campaign contributions to government elected officials who can determine who gets those contracts.

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David A. Tarnas

Hawaiʻi’s affordability challenges affect nearly every aspect of daily life, from housing and education to healthcare, transportation, and childcare.
What are your personal experiences with the high cost of living in Hawaiʻi?

Hawai’i’s housing market is impacted and constrained by out-of-state and speculative buyers. A variety of solutions have been proposed to dedicate housing for local working families.
How do you propose we dedicate housing for local working families over out-of-state or speculative buyers?

Hawai‘i needs tens of thousands of new homes, and every year we fall further behind, more local families are forced to leave.
What will you do to ensure the State quickly builds more housing for local working families before they are priced out of Hawai‘i?

If you could change one aspect of Hawaiʻi's tax system to improve affordability for local working families, what would it be and why?

Related Candidates

Hope Alohalani Cermelj

Monique Perreira

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Advocates for an affordable Hawai‘i