Introduction

Out of all the archipelagos in the world with a significant population, Hawaiʻi is the most isolated. Perhaps for this reason, our need to come together as a community and to support one another is more apparent than elsewhere. This is not a weakness. In fact, it is a strength: it means Hawaiʻi’s people have more opportunities to work together. That ability to problem-solve collectively means that we have a chance to create a Hawaiʻi in which everyone can thrive. But good public policy that moves us in that direction is not a guarantee. 

By some metrics, Hawaiʻi appeared to be doing well prior to the COVID-19 pandemic—we had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation in 2019, for example. However, this data point is deceiving, as it hides the fact that many in Hawaiʻi were working two or more jobs. 

And yet even with so many people working, close to half of Hawaiʻi’s households still weren’t earning enough to make ends meet. Because of inequitable policy choices that have been made over the course of decades, a person can now work a full 40 hour week in Hawaiʻi and still not make enough to cover their most basic needs. 

Hawaiʻi’s upside down tax system takes a larger share of income from struggling families than from wealthy investors. A minimum wage worker in Hawaiʻi needs to work 114 hours a week—the equivalent of almost three full time jobs—to afford rent on a modest two-bedroom apartment. Our housing policy encourages speculation and investment, while deprioritizing the sheltering of families. Policymakers have shaped an economy that relies far too much on extractive tourism that provides little to residents in return and fails to adequately steward Hawaiʻi’s precious—and limited—natural resources. 

These policies are making it harder each year for Hawaiʻi residents to succeed. Hawaiʻi’s population is declining, in part, because an increasing number of residents are leaving the state for more affordable locals. This is especially problematic for the indigenous people of Hawaiʻi. In part because of living costs, Native Hawaiians are steadily migrating away from their homeland. In 2010, about 227,000 or 45 percent of Native Hawaiians (alone or in combination with another race) lived outside of Hawaiʻi. In 2018, about 310,000 or 50 percent of Native Hawaiians lived outside of Hawaiʻi, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

To reverse these trends, we need a dramatic shift in our public policy that is capable of bringing forth transformational change in our economic and social systems. 

When the pandemic hit our islands, people came together to help one another. Neighbors, churches, and community groups reached out to people in need. Mutual aid groups were established almost overnight. Many businesses that weren’t severely disrupted by COVID-19 took on the kuleana of helping their employees and community weather the financial hard times and, in turn, community members made concerted efforts to patronize struggling local businesses. 

Nonprofits and essential government workers doubled their efforts to try to meet the massive increase in need for their services. People donated time and money. The philanthropic community mobilized quickly to provide desperately needed resources as Hawai‘i waited for federal relief money to arrive. Different sectors came together to collaborate and problem-solve in a way that is emblematic of Hawaiʻi’s proud tradition of alu like—of “striving together.” 

Yet, in the legislation that policymakers passed during the 2021 legislative session, this spirit of alu like was largely absent. The legislature did make an important and successful effort to preserve critical services using federal relief funds—a priority for both lawmakers and Hawaiʻi Appleseed. But at the same time, the past legislative session represents a serious missed opportunity for addressing the deep flaws in our system. The pandemic-recession may have thrown into stark relief the impacts of these flaws on working families, businesses and the economy as a whole—but these are flaws that have existed for decades. 

Hawaiʻi’s people are depending on us to do better, and we can. We can build on our strengths and come together—just as we have in addressing the immediate concerns of the pandemic—to address systemic inequity, injustice and racism, and to rebalance and transform our vulnerable economic system. We can learn from past mistakes, identify injustices, and work to remedy them.

It is in that spirit that this legislative summary tracks the outcome of the bills and resolutions Hawaiʻi Appleseed supported during the 2021 legislative session. Some of these bills represent relatively small changes—but taken together they constitute a significant effort to move toward the kind of system Hawaiʻi’s people need to thrive in this unique and special island chain. Unfortunately, many of them were shelved, some without having so much as a hearing.