Lawyering for Social Justice
Grassroots Institute’s Keliʻi Akina interviews Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s Gavin Thornton on the work Appleseed does to help low-income families find the legal resources needed to navigate the inequities and power imbalances of our current socioeconomic system.
Give low-income workers tax break
After years of putting it off, the legislature finally approved an important measure to help Hawaiʻi’s working poor—a state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), based on the federal credit.
Advocates fear Hawaiʻi’s sick leave bill abandons workers in need
But industry groups say bills that mandate paid sick leave for workers and expand the state’s current family leave law will push prices higher.
Hawaiʻi debates progressive taxes, Oʻahu ferry, green fuel
A tax bill aimed at helping the islands' most economically vulnerable would raise taxes for wealthier families while giving tax credits to those with lower incomes.
Will this be the year for tax breaks for the poor?
Bills that have sailed through the Legislature so far would boost taxes on the wealthy to pay for tax breaks for low-income families.
Should we change the minimum wage to a living wage?
Hawaiʻi’s minimum wage workers are faced with an impossible challenge: dealing with the biggest gap nationally between a state’s minimum wage and the basic earnings required to meet the local cost of living.
Town Square: debt and taxes
With Hawaiʻi’s cost of living and many families and low-income individuals living paycheck to paycheck can policies be restructured to provide fairness to all?
How to achieve economic justice under the new administration
Victor Geminiani joins Maryann Sasaki on Life in the Law to discuss methods for achieving social justice under the new administration.
Bills to raise Hawaiʻi’s minimum wage are non-starters
A measure to establish a $15 per hour wage by 2021 did not get a hearing in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
The Hawaiʻi Tax Fairness Initiative and SB648
Roger Epstein and Gavin Thornton visit Community Matters with Jay Fidell to talk about Tax Fairness and the work being done by the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice on SB648 to help the working poor with working family, renters and food credits.
Working Family Tax Credit rewards hard work for low pay
We all agree self-sufficiency is better than merely depending on handouts. We all agree that a willingness to work should be encouraged. Let’s further both by passing, this legislative session, the Working Family Tax Credit.
Hawaiʻi Can: Episode 33 Moving Forward in 2017
AiKea Movement interviews Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s Nicole Woo and UNITE HERE! Local 5’s Paola Rodelas about upcoming people first advocacy efforts in the 2017 legislative session and beyond in the wake of the election of Donald Trump as president.
Trump immigration ideas worry Hawaiʻi families
It’s estimated that undocumented immigrants in Hawaiʻi contribute about $30 million in state and local tax revenue
Judge torn on fate of nuke victims’ care
A group of 7,700 Pacific island migrants in Hawaiʻi who suffer from the long-term effects of U.S. nuclear testing await a federal judge’s ruling on a request to dismiss a class-action lawsuit that seeks to restore their medical benefits.
Suit seeks restored health benefits for Pacific migrants
A class-action federal lawsuit was filed yesterday in an attempt to restore health benefits to Sound and about 7,500 Pacific island migrants in Hawaiʻi.
Lawsuit: state discriminates in care for Micronesians
New cuts to medical benefits for low-income residents based on nationality amount to discrimination, according to a federal class action lawsuit filed Monday against the state of Hawaiʻi on behalf of disabled Micronesians.
Federal judge has granted TRO to Micronesians over health care plan
A federal judge has blocked cutbacks to state-funded medical care for about 7,500 adult Micronesians from taking effect today.
Health plan faces legal challenge
Lawyers for Equal Justice is considering legal action to delay implementation Tuesday of a new state health plan key legislators say “could be a death sentence” for some residents.