Behind the scenes: How Policy in Perspective tells the story of a legislative session

Every year, Hawaiʻi Appleseed releases Policy in Perspective, our annual report on the legislative session’s wins, losses, and lessons learned. But what you might not know is that the report doesn’t appear out of thin air—it’s built from a year’s worth of writing, analysis, and advocacy that unfolds in stages.

Here’s a peek behind the curtain at how it all comes together.

The Pre-Session: Framing the Stakes

Before the Legislature even gavels in, our issue area teams are already at work, publishing analysis that sets the stage for the battles ahead. These pre-session reports, policy briefs and blogs don’t just preview our policy proposals—they ground them in the larger economic and social picture facing Hawaiʻi families.

The backdrop of this year’s session was particularly grim. The Trump Administration’s H.R. 1 budget—the “One Big Beautiful Bill”—threatened to rip hundreds of millions of dollars from Hawaiʻi’s economy, targeting lifelines like Medicaid and SNAP that over 400,000 of our neighbors rely on. 

Meanwhile, the state’s own tax policy, in the form of Act 46 (2024), was set to drain more than $1 billion annually from state revenue by 2031. The law gradually increases standard deductions and expands tax brackets over seven years, with the largest benefits flowing to higher-income households.

Our pre-session writing sounded the alarm: if we proceed with additional state tax cuts while the federal safety net is being shredded, we’d be forcing an impossible choice—inflict deep wounds on essential services, or pass the bill to our children through more state debt.

The message was clear: the state budget was on a collision course with disaster, and lawmakers had a choice to make.

During the Session: Beating the Drum

Once the session began, our writing shifted to advocacy mode. We published analysis on specific bills, made the case for our priority legislation, and kept the public informed as proposals moved—or stalled—through the process.

The Tax & Budget team made the case for pausing Act 46’s tax cuts for the wealthy, publishing an op-ed co-authored by Hawaiʻi Appleseed Executive Director Will White and Governor Josh Green that argued, “Pausing is the smart, compassionate and necessary step we must take to ensure that in a time of federal retreat, Hawaii does not retreat from its people.”

The Transportation Equity team highlighted the urgent need for pedestrian safety measures, noting that “fatalities are rising, our most dangerous intersections remain unfixed, and the people most affected—keiki, kūpuna, people with disabilities, and low-income families who walk out of necessity—continue to bear the heaviest burden.”

The Food Equity team tracked progress on SNAP access, school meals, and farm-to-family programs, while the Housing team pushed back against parking mandates and ADU restrictions that add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of a single home.

Throughout the session, we also rolled out new data tools to empower public participation—including the Hawaiʻi Budget Tracker, which allowed anyone to compare budget proposals from the Governor, House, and Senate side-by-side, view allocations by department, and track changes in real time. Honolulu Civil Beat called it a crucial resource for “regular folks” trying to decode the opaque budget process.

After the Session: Reflection and Scorekeeping

When the session ended, we turned to reflection. Our post-session blogs assessed what passed, what failed, and why.

The results were mixed. Senate Bill 3125 (Act 24) partially paused Act 46’s tax cuts for high earners and added a surcharge on income over $1 million—a real victory. But broader reforms, including closing the capital gains loophole and taxing investment income like work, didn’t cross the finish line.

The food equity team celebrated landmark wins: SB3245 simplified SNAP recertification for kūpuna, and HB1518 created a pre-release SNAP application for incarcerated individuals. But the transportation team watched Pedestrian Head Start, jaywalking reform, and Keiki Ride Free die in conference without explanation. 

Housing reforms that would have challenged the interests of existing property owners stalled, while a conveyance tax bill that would have provided $60 million annually for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands died in conference.

The Report: All the Stories, in One Place

Policy in Perspective collects these stories—the pre-session framing, the in-session advocacy, the post-session reflection—and organizes them into a single, easy-to-reference report.

Each issue area section provides:

• A brief narrative of how this session’s advocacy efforts played out;

• A scorecard of priority bills, tracking what happened to each and the volume of supportive and opposition testimony they received; and

• A snapshot of the key pieces of writing—reports, policy briefs, op-eds, earned media, and blogs—that helped shape the conversation.

The report also provides overarching analysis of what worked, what didn’t, and what lessons we can carry forward, along with additional coalition and community engagement highlights.

Policy in Perspective creates the opportunity to take a step back and look at the legislative session from a bird’s eye view. At that level, patterns that persist year after year become apparent. 

Across issue areas, we see the same dynamic: reforms that would rebalance power or resources away from those with established influence consistently fail. Tax fairness stalls. Housing reforms stall. The proposal for universal free school meals is shelved again. Pedestrian safety measures stall. The state continues to spend billions on expanding roads while underinvesting in the alternatives that would make Hawaiʻi more affordable and sustainable.

Policy in Perspective is the final chapter of a year-long storytelling process that begins with the new fiscal year. But it’s never really the end—because the cycle begins again, and the work of building a more just Hawaiʻi continues.