Hawaiʻi Appleseed announces its legislative priorities for the 2024 session.

Every year at the Hawaiʻi State Legislature, from January through the very beginning of May, advocates, lobbyists and lawmakers work to advance (or stop) policy proposals with a range of impacts on Hawaiʻi’s people, its land and resources, and the way our society is organized. Some of these policies have the potential to lift tens of thousands of struggling Hawaiʻi families out of poverty, to improve the quality of life for us all, or to ensure consistent public revenue streams to address our biggest problems, such as our lack of affordable housing.

In selecting which of these policy proposals Hawaiʻi Appleseed will champion, we look for solutions that have the potential for broad, systemic improvements to society, that have support within the community, and—ideally—those that are politically viable. It’s a calculation that helps us focus our limited energy and bandwidth on policies that, we hope, can make big improvements in the lives of everyday folks living, working and surviving here in Hawaiʻi. This doesn’t mean we won’t be supporting other policies championed by our friends and allies in the advocacy space—we’ll be playing a support role in those efforts as well. But for the upcoming 2024 legislative session, here are the policies on which we’re looking to focus our full attention.

Affordable Housing

1. Reforming the state’s conveyance tax

   The conveyance tax is a one-time sales tax on the transfer of property from one entity to another. Hawaiʻi’s conveyance tax has two dedicated funding pots in which its revenue is deposited: the Rental Housing Revolving Fund (RHRF) and Land Conservation Fund (LCF). As currently written in statute, Hawaiʻi’s conveyance tax allocates $38 million or 50 percent of its revenue (whichever is less) to the RHRF—which is the primary financing source for affordable rental housing in Hawaiʻi. Raising the conveyance tax rates on high value homes and non-owner occupied investment properties represents an opportunity for the state to raise significantly more revenue to fund the creation of the affordable housing Hawaiʻi’s residents need. Done in combination with removal of the caps on the RHRF and LCF, these enhanced rates on the sale of luxury property could bring in up to 300 percent more revenue for both special funds.

2. Rent relief and landlord-tenant mediation

   Our proposal to provide a combination of rent relief with a properly-funded mediation program for struggling tenants at-risk of eviction is modeled after Act 57 (2021), which required landlords-tenant mediation before eviction filing and tied rent relief to the mediation services. This program helped to stabilize renters in their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and allowed for renters and landlords to meet on a fair negotiating field. Act 57 has been recognized as a national success in securing renters and distributing relief payments. In researching the impacts of Act 57, Hawaiʻi Appleseed determined that a big reason for the success of its landlord-tenant mediation program was that parties could count on rental relief payments as part of the mediation process. With the expiration of Act 57 in 2022, there is currently no protection for tenants to keep them out of the harmful eviction process, and no source of funds to make landlords whole. Appleseed wants to see a permanent rent relief and mediation program established in the state.

Anti-Hunger

1. Universal Free School Meals

   Universal Free School Meals (UFSM) is a critical initiative that recognizes the significance of school meals as essential tools for our keiki’s academic success and overall well-being. Research unequivocally demonstrates that access to nutritious breakfast and lunch at school significantly improves student attendance, academic performance and health. These meals bridge the nutritional gap between children from lower- and higher-income households and, in many cases, provide the healthiest meal of the day for students. Despite this, Hawaiʻi’s keiki currently face inequitable and revocable access to this essential school supply, with as little as a $5 meal debt putting them at risk of going hungry and making it harder to learn. The implementation of UFSM represents an opportunity to promote equity, economic justice, and combat childhood food insecurity in Hawaiʻi. Drawing upon the legacy of community-based initiatives and learning from the success of states that have already embraced UFSM, Hawaiʻi can take significant steps toward ensuring that no child experiences hunger at school. This policy investment ensures that all keiki have equal opportunities to succeed and thrive, regardless of their family's economic circumstances.

Taxes & Budget

1. The Keiki Credit

   Tax credits such as the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) are crucial lifelines for low-income families, helping to reduce racial and economic disparities by providing direct economic assistance to working families struggling to make ends meet. In 2021, the federal government temporarily expanded the CTC, which resulted in a historic decrease in child poverty by 40 percent between 2020 and 2021. While the federal government failed to reenact this expansion (and poverty shot back up as a direct result), many states are stepping in to fill the gap by creating their own state-level child tax credits. Hawaiʻi now has an opportunity to prioritize the health and well-being of our keiki by investing in its own state-level CTC. This “Keiki Credit” would assist more Hawaiʻi families in covering essential expenses like food, housing, school supplies and childcare, while setting our most precious resource—our keiki—up for economic and personal success throughout their lifetimes.

2. Capital gains tax reform

   To create a more fair tax system in Hawaiʻi, capital gains—the profits from selling assets like stocks and real estate—should be taxed at the same rates as regular income from work. Currently, long-term capital gains are taxed at a flat rate of 7.25 percent, regardless of the taxpayer’s income. This means wealthier individuals—who own the vast majority of these capital gains—pay a lower tax rate on their capital gains compared to their regular earnings, which are taxed at a maximum marginal rate of 11 percent for those earning over $400,000. This contributes, in part, to a lower overall effective tax rate on Hawaiʻi’s wealthy than on its struggling families. In 2020, more than $3.9 billion in capital gains income was claimed by residents and non-residents in Hawaiʻi. Over 77 percent of these gains went to the wealthiest individuals earning over $400,000. Reforming Hawaiʻi’s capital gains tax so that it mirrors the same progressively-increasing marginal rates applied to regular income from work would generate an additional $87 million in revenue for 2024.

Transportation Equity

1. Creating a “Freedom to Walk” law

   Hawaiʻi Appleseed is advocating for Freedom to Walk legislation to remove legal penalties for pedestrians who cross streets outside of designated crosswalks or against traffic signals. This effort seeks to reduce traffic violence and over-policing. Nationally, jaywalking citations have been found to disproportionately impact people of color. Advocating for this legislation will generate important discussions on how public resources can be shifted away from penalizing people walking and rolling, and be redirected towards addressing the root causes of traffic violence: mainly speeding and distracted driving.