Making Change Together
"To ensure the people of Kauai, my people, my community, my Ohana that I want to make things better. I will work with you to make things better. Small business is the lifeblood of our community. So are the healthcare workers, police department, fire department, and especially our teachers that are pushing our Keiki to the next level of learning. We need, love and support all of you."
Robust Sustainable Economic Recovery
DIVERSIFY THE ECONOMY
Revitalizing and diversifying local business for our local community
Even before the COVID-19 crisis, Kauai was already dealing with a stagnant economy. If we do not properly address Kauai’s needs soon, a catastrophic economic meltdown is imminent. Throughout my campaign, I have been stressing the importance of a robust economic recovery plan for Kauai. If you are not familiar with my economic recovery plan, it focuses on several basic, but effective ways we can boost Kauai’s economy as detailed below.
Incumbent District 14 Representative Nadine Nakamura’s legislative record has done little to achieve our goals as noted above and is devoid of any tangible action taken to spur economic recovery on Kauai. We are living in turbulent and uncertain times which require a steadfast resolve to maintain our way of life while at the same time promoting a vision for the future. Nadine Nakamura clearly lacks such a vision and is unable to articulate any coherent plan or road-map for our economic recovery. As such, this is arguably one of the most important election cycles in recent history, and one in which you will be asked to make a choice concerning our path moving forward. The stakes now are far too high to maintain the status quo while traveling down the same path of inaction. I ask for your support of my candidacy with the aim of taking us down a new and different path toward economic recovery and opportunity for all residents of Kauai.
SMART KAUAI
Creating and inviting a local “work from home” culture.
A “Smart Kauai” is our community built on a foundation that our kids will remain on the island. We are already teaching our kids “STEM” from Kindergarten, and they are competing in robotics in High School. These high paying computer jobs are work from home jobs. Generations of Kauai Ohana can stay at home with good paying computer jobs.
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture: Initiate legislation to support local farmers through tax incentives to grow organic and sustainable food, thus reducing the 85-90% of food which is now imported. This will provide us with the ability to feed the people and our Keiki with quality food. As a result, there will be more jobs and we will be providing our people and Keiki with healthier, quality food.
HEMP
The Hawaii Senate recently approved growing legal industrial hemp. I will form an exploratory committee whose function will be to identify ways to exploit this development as growing and exporting legal industrial hemp presents massive economic opportunities and potential for the people of Kauai.
SMALL BUSINESS
Initiate legislation to provide tax incentives and rebates to local individuals and small businesses who craft unique, one of a kind, products for resale on Kauai and off the island.
We need immediate upgrades to all local restaurant websites to allow for ordering food for pickup and not make a phone call for every order. I will work tirelessly to get grants from our federal government in order to get local restaurants and businesses to upgrade their customers web experience.
OPPOSITION TO SOCIALISM
Socialism is a tyrannical form of government. Since our country was formed in 1776, we have enjoyed liberties that have allowed us to own private property and use our creativity and intelligence to enrich our lives, our families, and our
society; and, Socialism encourages government takeover of industries, going against what our Founding Fathers insisted on: limited government; and, Socialism tends to abolish the ownership of private property; and, in Socialism, rights of individuals and families are subject to state control thus destroying true liberty and violating our personal freedom; and, personal initiative and competition, the fruit of our intellect and free will, is replaced with state control; and, with Socialism, parental rights are taken away because under it the government controls the education of children completely.
SNAP BENEFITS
Raising the standard of living for all Kauai residents through a series of public/private partnerships intended to spur investment and economic growth. For those residents currently receiving SNAP benefits (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formally food stamps), I intend to work in partnership with USDA to enable the loading of snap benefits onto smartphones, thus allowing for easy ordering from local grocery stores and restaurants for curbside pickup, which supports our local economy. There are currently 40 states participating in the SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot program, which allows people to use their SNAP, however Hawaii is currently not one of them.
MANUFACTURING AND JONES ACT
Manufacturing and Spreading Aloha: I will work tirelessly with the State House and Senate as well as the Governor to submit a bill to amend the Jones Act so we can export Kauai products affordably with Aloha.
The Jones Act is an archaic 100-year-old maritime law that restricts the shipment of goods between American ports, allowing only ships that are: American-built, American owned,
sailing under U.S. maritime flag and a crew power of which at least 75% are U.S. citizens or permanent residents; and, all foreign cargo ships entering U.S. space are restricted to one port of entry, and may not travel on to other ports within the U.S., before departing directly away; and, due to the above restriction, foreign cargo ships will choose a port where their
goods can be received and further distributed by ground transportation; and, these conditions of the Jones Act prevent direct trade to Hawai‘i’s businesses, create greatly inflated shipping costs to businesses which further drive costs to consumers; and, the Jones Act directly feeds the State's high cost of living, and is an undue preventable burden on families.