Editor’s note: For Hawaii’s Nov. 5 General Election, Civil Beat asked candidates to answer some questions about where they stand on various issues and what their priorities will be if elected.

The following came from Luke Evslin, Democratic candidate for state House District 16, which covers Wailua, Hanamaulu, Kapaia, Lihue, Puhi and a portion of Omao. His opponent is Republican Steve Yoder.

Go to Civil Beat’s Election Guide for general information, and check out other candidates on the General Election Ballot.

1. What is the biggest issue facing your district, and what would you do about it?

The cost of housing is by far the most pressing issue facing Kauai. Most of my work has focused on reducing the cost of housing. While on the County Council I introduced and passed legislation to:

Eliminate all permitting fees for affordable ARUs;

Provide Kauai homeowners with free septic systems;

Allocate 2% of real property tax revenue annually toward affordable housing;

Create a tiered tax structure to allow increased tax rates on high value vacant houses and vacation rentals to fund affordable housing and incentivize those units to convert to long-term rentals.

While in the Legislature, I introduced and passed legislation to:

Allow multigenerational housing statewide, reduce impact fees for small units and increase the speed to subdivide a lot;

Allow residential uses in all commercial areas and reduce barriers to converting commercial buildings to residential use;

Reduce the regulatory barriers for those who perform work on their own properties.

In the next term, I will continue to focus on infrastructure funding and reducing regulatory barriers similar to that outlined above to encourage housing for residents within and around our town cores.

2. How do you feel about the massive income tax cut just approved by the Legislature and the governor? Do you have any concerns that it will force reductions in state services in the years to come?

Before the tax cut, Hawaii had the second-highest income tax burden of any state in the country. According to the Department of Taxation, Hawaii’s marginal tax rates increased quickly and at a low level, meaning that low- and middle-income earners were being squeezed much more than in other states.

With the cost of housing decimating household budgets, we need to do all we can to put money back into the pockets of working-class families. House Bill 2404 will reduce income taxes for these families by 71%. It is critical to ensure that local families can remain and thrive in Hawaii.

Rather than fund the bulk of our government from income taxes paid by a struggling middle class, I think we should shift the tax burden as much as possible to visitors and overseas investors.

The transient accommodations tax (TAT), property taxes and conveyance taxes are a simple way to target vacant investment homes and visitor accommodations. I do not think the tax cuts will force us to reduce state services; I think the tax cuts will force us toward a more equitable tax system.

3. Hawaii continues to struggle with pay-to-play politics and corruption in government. What meaningful reforms do you think would change state government for the better?

While I do not doubt that there are some elected officials whose decisions are influenced by campaign contributions, and there have certainly been some high-profile cases of corruption (often leading to jail time, as accepting a bribe for legislative favors is already very illegal), in my experience that is certainly not the norm in Hawaii.

But I fully admit that elected officials in Hawaii and around the country are failing to build trust from the public on this front. It’s on us to better communicate why and how we make decisions.

The only time that I’ve seen an elected official vote or act against their own conscience is when it’s electorally necessary (i.e. their personal view is different from the view of the community they represent, and so they act against their personal view).

Sometimes, this discrepancy between what an elected official believes and what their community believes is based on misinformation spreading in both the media and social media. In this regard, I think it’s critical to have a strong, fair and informed media that can act as a middleman to help explain and fact-check policy debates.

4. Candidates often say they will support reform proposals in the Legislature. And yet major reform proposals don’t pass. Will you back good-government proposals even if it means going against leadership? If you are an incumbent, can you point to an example of a reform that you supported?

I have never been pressured by leadership to vote a certain way on a bill. If there’s a good-government proposal that I think will be helpful, then by all means, I’ll support it. I supported Senate Bill 1493 (to prohibit lobbyist contributions during the legislative session).

While it was passed before I was appointed to the Legislature, I also support Act 283, which prohibits fundraisers during the session.

I’m also a strong supporter and utilizer of partial public funding, which means that I commit to staying within the expenditure limits and then receive a dollar-for-dollar match from the state on all qualifying contributions under $100. I think it’s a critical tool to help ensure that people can run competitive campaigns without spending too much time fundraising.

As a former council member, I think that some aspects of the Sunshine Law are incredibly detrimental to good policymaking (especially the requirement that no more than two councilmembers speak on a potential policy subject). So, while this wouldn’t be popular, I would support a proposal to loosen some aspects of the Sunshine Law for county government to make the councils more effective at legislating.

5. Do you support comprehensive public financing of elections for candidates who choose to participate? Why or why not?

No. I strongly prefer spending public money on things that produce a public benefit, such as housing, universal pre-K, or almost anything else, rather than helping politicians pay for yard signs and mailers.

I also think that it would set up a political arms race of campaign spending. Like many others, I have always spent very little on campaigns. But if I knew that my opponent was spending $50,000 on campaigning and I knew that I could easily access the same pot of money, it would be hard not to spend it all down. The result would be a mass proliferation of unwanted political advertisements using taxpayer funds.

I have never seen a candidate make a policy decision based on soliciting campaign contributions. Are there some bad politicians who literally break the law and take bribes or accept outlandish gifts? Yes, but that’s already against the law. I don’t see the benefit of spending significant amounts of taxpayer funding on political campaigns.

6. Hawaii is the only Western state without a statewide citizens initiative process. Do you support such a process? Why or why not?

No. Citizens and stakeholder groups can always find a representative or senator to introduce a bill on their behalf (which is why we have bills “by request”).

But I think it’s important that all possible changes to state law get vetted through the legislative process. There are many possible reforms that sound good on the surface but are either unworkable or downright detrimental once you dive into the details.

7. Thanks to their campaign war chests and name familiarity, incumbents are almost always reelected in Hawaii legislative races. Should there be term limits for state legislators, as there are for the governor’s office and county councils? Why or why not?

I oppose term limits for the Legislature for three primary reasons:

I have long been a proponent of term limits for the county council. I think that the council is a good entryway into government, it’s possible to be an effective council member after just a few months on the job, and it’s important to ensure that council spots are regularly opening up for newcomers. However, the state government is more complex, and it takes years to learn to be an effective legislator. I don’t think it’s in the public’s interest to be removing our most seasoned and knowledgeable legislators. And with 20 first-year members of the House, there is already ample turnover.

Because every island has term limits for its respective county council, there is a regular outflow of popular and experienced individuals who could be viable candidates against incumbent state legislators. Voters should retain the ability to choose the best candidate.

Lastly, when a legislator knows they will lose their job after just eight years, they’re forced to line up another job. This will put more pressure on the legislator-to-lobbyist revolving door. I prefer that legislators focus on a career of public service.

8. What will you do to ensure accountability at the Legislature? Do you support ideas such as requiring the Sunshine Law to apply to the Legislature or banning campaign contributions during session?

We are all accountable to our constituents. We have to be elected to office every two years. Every vote that we take is public, every committee meeting and floor session is broadcast live and stored forever online, and even our emails are all part of the public record.

I am accountable to my community every time I leave my house. It’s not uncommon to get stopped in a grocery store or the surf lineup and asked to explain a vote or a particular policy. I explain myself on social media; I hold regular town halls with my other House colleagues from Kauai; and I send out a regular mailer with legislative updates. I think that communicating with my community is fundamental to the role of being a legislator.

Requiring the Sunshine Law to be applied in the legislature would be damaging to our ability to pass legislation. It cripples the ability of elected officials to collaborate and work together on policy, it’s not conducive to building the types of relationships that are necessary to pass policy, and it would be infeasible given our legislative calendar.

I support a ban on campaign contributions during the legislative session.

9. How would you make the Legislature more transparent and accessible to the public? Opening conference committees to the public? Stricter disclosure requirements on lobbying and lobbyists? How could the Legislature change its own internal rules to be more open?

I believe that transparency and accessibility are part of the responsibility of serving in elected office. On an individual level, I will always accept every constituent meeting, I strive to respond to all constituent emails and questions on social media and as a member of the community I very literally see and interact with my community every single day outside of the legislative session. I have the honor of being paid by the public to represent my community in the Legislature, and it’s my responsibility to inform the public as well as I can.

On a broader level, the House recently increased transparency through significant changes to our internal rules. House rules now include a right for the public to provide oral testimony at any public hearing either in person or remotely, there is a requirement to make testimony available to the public by the noticed time of the meeting, and the rules require that chairs sufficiently explain any decisions made in committee.

In conference committee, which is open to the public, the House practice is for the chair to explain the bill and the proposed amendments before voting on it. And there are strict disclosure requirements for lobbyists.

10. Many people have talked about diversifying the local economy for many years now, and yet Hawaii is still heavily reliant on tourism. What, if anything, should be done differently about tourism and the economy?

Kauai is over capacity for tourists. This degrades our infrastructure, frustrates residents and reduces the quality of the visitor experience. The best way to mitigate the impacts of tourism and fund the transition to other industries is through increased visitor fees, property taxes and the TAT, all of which I have supported in different capacities.

As the Housing Committee chair In the Legislature, one of my legislative priorities was to give the counties the authority to phase out vacation rentals — which we passed in the form of SB 2919.

By raising more money from fewer visitors, we can regain balance in our visitor industry and help fund the transition to a more diverse economy.

Extra revenue derived from the tourism industry should be used whenever possible to help fund grants and subsidies for manufacturing and agriculture.

To ensure that residents can diversify from tourism and take a risk on small business creation, we need to do everything we can to reduce the cost of housing. If you’re struggling to pay your rent or mortgage, then you won’t have the freedom to start a business.

11. An estimated 60% of Hawaii residents are struggling to get by, a problem that reaches far beyond low-income and into the middle class, which is disappearing. What ideas do you have to help the middle class and working families who are finding it hard to continue to live here?

The two most significant costs for Hawaii families are housing and transportation. We need to do all we can to reduce the cost of housing and the amount that people have to drive. We can do this by:

Building more homes in and around our existing towns. This is the first decade since statehood when home construction on Kauai has fallen far below our population growth, and this lack of homes is the driver of our exploding prices. 

Increasing funding for affordable housing and providing low-interest loans to individual households for ADU construction.

Allowing multiple ADUs on all residential lots and continually reducing barriers to their development.

Creating a dedicated source of infrastructure financing, such as an increase to the conveyance tax for high-end vacant homes, as well as a constitutional amendment to allow tax increment financing to build the infrastructure for condos and apartments in and around our job centers.

Supporting and encouraging the counties to increase property taxes on vacant second homes and vacation rentals. Higher taxes will incentivize them to convert to resident housing and help fund the construction of infrastructure and affordable housing.