Monique Perreira
Office: House District 8
Party: Republican
Like most local families, my family feels the high cost of living every single day. I'm a small business owner, a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. I see the rising cost of groceries, electricity, fuel, insurance, and housing. Every bill seems to go up while working families are expected to just make it work.
What concerns me most is watching so many of our children and grandchildren leave Hawaiʻi because they don't see a future here. They want to stay close to family, but the cost of living makes that harder every year. That is a loss for our communities, our workforce, and our future.
Running a small business has also shown me how difficult it has become. Between taxes, regulations, shipping costs, and the overall cost of doing business, it is getting harder for local businesses to survive, let alone grow.
These are not statistics to me. They are real experiences that my family, my neighbors, and I live every day. That is one of the reasons I decided to run for office. I believe government should be making life more affordable, not more expensive. We need practical, common sense solutions that help local families stay in Hawaiʻi and build a future here.
We have to start by being honest. When local families feel they have a better chance at thriving somewhere else, that is a failure of our state, not of our people.
I've watched too many friends and family leave Hawaiʻi because they simply couldn't afford to stay. After the Lahaina fires, we saw many displaced families rebuild their lives on the mainland. They opened businesses, bought homes, found good jobs, and their children gained opportunities they couldn't find here. I'm happy they are succeeding, but it's heartbreaking that they had to leave Hawaiʻi to do it.
We restore optimism by making Hawaiʻi a place where hard work is rewarded again. That means lowering the cost of living, reducing unnecessary regulations that drive up the cost of housing and doing business, supporting local agriculture, creating better paying jobs, and making it easier for small businesses to grow. We also need an education system that prepares our young people for successful careers right here at home.
Our goal should be simple. A young family should be able to work hard, buy a home, raise their children, and build a future without feeling they have to leave the islands they love. I believe Hawaiʻi can be that place again if we start putting people ahead of politics and make decisions that strengthen working families instead of making life more expensive.
I agree that the problem is bigger than just the cost of living. The real issue is that wages have not kept up, and too many good jobs have disappeared. Hawaiʻi has become a place where it is easier to get by somewhere else than it is to build a future here.
Government cannot simply mandate prosperity. It has to create an environment where businesses can grow, invest, and hire. That starts with reducing unnecessary regulations, streamlining the permitting process, lowering the tax burden where possible, and giving small businesses the confidence to expand. Small businesses are the backbone of Hawaiʻi's economy, and they create many of the jobs our communities depend on.
We also need to strengthen industries that make sense for Hawaiʻi, including agriculture, ranching, construction, technology, and skilled trades. Our education system should better prepare students for these careers so our young people can find good paying jobs without leaving the islands.
Finally, every bill that comes before the Legislature should be viewed through one simple question: Will this make life more affordable and create more opportunity for local families, or will it make it harder? If the answer is the latter, we should not be passing it.
The goal should be a Hawaiʻi where working hard allows you to build a good life, own a home, raise a family, and stay in the place you call home.
Workforce development has to start with a simple question. Why would our young people stay in Hawaiʻi if they can earn more and afford more somewhere else?
One of the biggest challenges on Hawaiʻi Island is housing. Many workers cannot afford to live near their jobs, so some spend hours every day driving more than 100 miles round trip just to get to work. That is time away from their families and money spent on fuel instead of their future.
The state needs to focus on creating the conditions for good paying jobs by supporting small businesses, agriculture, skilled trades, construction, healthcare, and technology. We also need to expand apprenticeships, career and technical education, and partnerships between our schools, community colleges, and local employers so students graduate with skills that lead directly to good careers.
Just as important, we need more workforce housing where people actually work. Building housing closer to employment centers reduces commuting costs, improves quality of life, and makes it easier for employers to attract and keep qualified workers.
The basic problem is supply and demand. As long as we do not have enough housing, prices will remain high. We cannot keep expecting different results while doing the same things.
One area where we can make real progress is the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. Thousands of Native Hawaiians have been waiting years, and in some cases decades, for homestead awards. That is unacceptable. We need to hold DHHL accountable for getting people onto available land and into homes faster. As more families move into DHHL housing, it helps increase overall housing inventory and eases pressure on the rest of the housing market.
We also need to streamline permitting, cut unnecessary regulations that drive up construction costs, and encourage more workforce housing where people actually work. Too many families are forced to live hours away from their jobs because they cannot afford housing nearby.
Housing should not be treated as a political talking point. It is one of the biggest reasons local families are leaving Hawaiʻi. The goal should be simple: build more homes, reduce unnecessary barriers, and make homeownership attainable again for the people who live and work here.
I don't believe local families should have to compete with investors who see Hawaiʻi as just another place to park their money. Our homes should first and foremost be places where people live, raise families, and build communities.
Instead of trying to ban out of state buyers, which raises constitutional concerns, we should make it less attractive to buy homes that sit vacant or are held purely for speculation. We should review our tax policies to ensure they encourage owner occupied housing instead of rewarding properties that contribute little to our local communities.
At the same time, we should give local working families an advantage by expanding down payment assistance, increasing workforce housing, streamlining permits to build more homes, and giving priority in state supported housing programs to Hawaiʻi residents who live and work here.
The long term solution is simple. Build more housing, reduce speculation, and make sure public resources are focused on helping local families achieve homeownership, not helping investors grow their portfolios.
For years, the Legislature has talked about the housing crisis, yet it has only gotten worse. More regulations, more red tape, and a permitting process that can take years have driven up the cost of building and made housing even less affordable.
We need to get government out of the way. Streamline permits, remove unnecessary regulations, and hold agencies accountable for delays. We should also look at practical solutions like manufactured and modular homes, which can often be built faster and at a lower cost than traditional homes.
The goal is simple. Build more homes, build them faster, and make sure local working families have a real chance to own one.
Reducing or eliminating the GET on groceries is a good place to start, but it is only part of the solution. Hawaiʻi will never get ahead if we continue importing so much of what we eat.
We should be supporting our local farmers and ranchers by removing unnecessary barriers that make it harder to grow food and raise livestock. The more food we produce here, the less dependent we are on expensive imports and the more stable our food supply becomes.
We also need to take a hard look at the cost of shipping. Every increase in shipping costs eventually shows up on the grocery store shelf. If we are serious about lowering food prices, we cannot ignore one of the biggest costs in getting food to our islands.
Food security is not just about helping families afford groceries today. It is about building a stronger, more self sufficient Hawaiʻi for the future.
The first question we should ask is why childcare costs so much in the first place. If it costs too much to operate a childcare business, those costs get passed on to parents.
Other states have increased the number of childcare providers by cutting unnecessary regulations, speeding up licensing, and helping small providers open or expand. More providers create more competition, and competition helps keep prices down.
I also believe we should encourage employers to partner with childcare providers or offer onsite childcare when possible. That helps working parents and gives businesses a more reliable workforce.
Government cannot solve every problem by spending more money. Sometimes the best solution is removing the barriers that keep good people from providing affordable childcare in the first place.
If I could change one aspect of Hawaiʻi's tax system, I would put local working families first. That starts by eliminating or significantly reducing the General Excise Tax on essential items like groceries, diapers, hygiene products, and over the counter medications. Families should not be taxed just for buying the necessities of life.
I would also support creating a tax credit for people who live and work in Hawaiʻi full time. Local families are the ones keeping our communities, businesses, and economy going, yet many are struggling to stay here. A resident tax credit would reward the people who call Hawaiʻi home and help offset our high cost of living.
Government should be making it easier for local families to build a future here, not taxing them into leaving.
Hawaiʻi didn't become one of the worst states for business overnight. It is the result of decades of policies that have made it harder, more expensive, and more frustrating to start or grow a business. Year after year, lawmakers respond with more regulations, higher costs, and longer permitting times, then wonder why businesses leave or decide not to invest here. Hawaiʻi ranked near the bottom nationally for business in 2025, and many local residents don't believe it's a good place to do business.
As a small business owner, I know what it feels like to navigate this system. Every new mandate, fee, permit delay, or tax increase eventually gets passed on to customers or forces businesses to cut back. Recent increases in the minimum wage, the temporary disability insurance expansion, and the continued complexity of permitting and compliance have added to the cost of doing business, especially for small businesses that do not have teams of lawyers and accountants. Those costs make it harder to hire, expand, or even keep the doors open.
We need a different approach. Before passing any new regulation, lawmakers should have to prove it will not make Hawaiʻi less affordable or less competitive. We need faster permitting, fewer unnecessary regulations, and a government that sees small businesses as partners instead of revenue sources.
Small businesses create jobs, support local families, and strengthen our communities. If we want a stronger economy, we need to stop making it so difficult for them to succeed.
Trust has to be earned, and right now government has not earned it. When only a small percentage of residents believe government is doing the right thing, that should be a wake up call.
For decades, too many of the same politicians have been making the same promises while the problems have only gotten worse. At some point we have to stop accepting the same results. They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Hawaiʻi has been doing exactly that.
I support legislative term limits because public office should be about service, not a lifelong career. We also need stronger financial accountability. Taxpayers deserve to know where every dollar goes and whether it actually improved people's lives. Every major program should be regularly audited, and every bill with a significant cost should include clear performance measures so the public can see what they are getting for their money.
At a time when families are cutting back on spending, state government should be doing the same. Every budget dollar should be treated like it came from a family that worked hard to earn it. Wasteful spending should be the first thing on the chopping block, not the last.
Most importantly, people need to get out and vote. Nothing changes if we keep electing the same people and expecting a different outcome. Research the candidates. Look at their voting records, not just their campaign promises. Elect people who have the courage to challenge the status quo and put the people of Hawaiʻi ahead of politics.
