Lift the barrier on Cabinet appointments

The state Constitution should be amended to lift the rule requiring that the governor can select only Cabinet members who have lived in Hawaii for a year preceding the appointment. The rule was outlawed years ago as discriminatory when it came to hiring typical state and county workers, but has stayed on the books regarding gubernatorial appointees at the director level. Now it has cost Gov. David Ige a promising pick as state labor director. Although Elizabeth Kim grew up here and her parents still live here, she has worked in Washington, D.C., for years, most recently heading a high-level team in the U.S. Department of Labor.

Legislators should put the repeal of this rule on the ballot, and let the electorate vote to lift an unfair barrier. Hawaii needs more talented people willing to enter public service, homegrown or otherwise.

It’s costly to be poor in Hawaii

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ranks Hawaii No. 2 on its list of states where taxation drains a larger share from the poor than other income groups; only Washington state has it worse.

Here, wage earners in the bottom 20 percent pay the largest share of income in total taxation, mostly because this group also pays the largest share in the "sales and excise tax" category. The state’s general excise tax hits everything, including essentials such as food and drugs, the biggest chunk of expenditures by the poor.

It’s a safe bet that a perennial proposal will resurface at the Legislature this session: elimination of the GET on food and drugs.