The to-do list for the 2018 legislative session
What should be at the top of the to-do list for Hawaiʻi’s legislators this session? From our high cost of living, to affordable housing, to climate change, the breadth of issues could make this one of the most pivotal years for lawmakers—or it could be politics as usual.
Ige seeks pay raises for foster parents amid legal battle
A drawn-out legal battle over how much families are paid to care for foster children is headed to court, where attorneys say the dispute could end up costing the state significantly more than a multimillion-dollar settlement that was rejected last year by the legislature.
Health and human services providers gearing up for legislative session
A $15 an hour minimum wage and an increase in the low income renter’s credit will help struggling families.
Gavin Thornton: Hawaiʻi Appleseed co-director helps the poor, aims to untangle the state budget process
Thornton serves as a co-director of the Honolulu-based nonprofit that advocates on behalf of low-income individuals, families and communities.
Safety net must be strengthened
Should the ax fall hard, local and state government must be prepared to quickly and efficiently assess need and absorb some of the lost funding.
Nonprofits plan for potentially deep cuts
The Hawaiʻi Community Foundation today will bring together more than 200 island nonprofit organizations to prepare for potentially devastating cuts in federal funding under the Trump administration.
Help for those who are elderly and poor
One in six residents in Hawaiʻi relies on Social Security benefits. But many of the elderly recipients live on the borderline of poverty and homelessness and need public assistance.
Women majority of elders in poverty, UH finds
Women being less financially secure in old age stems from lifelong pay and opportunity inequalities between the genders.
Hawaiʻi’s child well-being 17th in latest national rankings
High housing costs remain a significant challenge in our state. When families spend so much of their income on housing, they have fewer resources to meet other basic needs.
How house leaders scuttled better pay for foster parents
House Speaker Scott Saiki said attorney fees were too high in a multi-million-dollar settlement of a lawsuit challenging foster care payment rates.
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.