Name on ballot:

OZAWA, Alexander Kekuanao’a

Running for:

State House – District 38

Political party:

Democratic

Campaign website:

alexozawa.com

Current occupation:

Student, Candidate

Age:

19

Previous job history:

Permanent Budget Analyst, State Senate; City Carrier Assistant, United States Postal Service

Previous elected office, if any:

n/a

Please describe your qualifications to represent the people in your district.

After graduating from Mililani High School in 2022, I worked for over two sessions as a permanent staffer in the State Senate for the Committee on Ways and Means, where I learned an incredible amount about the State, the legislature, and the inner workings of our executive branch. I have also served on the Mililani/Waipio/Melemanu Neighborhood Board since 2022, working directly with community leaders and members. I want to use what I have learned to help my hometown and the rest of our state.

What is the most-pressing issue facing residents in your district and how would you address the problem?

I am told time and time again by my neighbors that their biggest issue is our cost of living. Every facet of our lives are impacted by the high costs on the islands. From housing to healthcare, education to transportation, food to utilities, the high cost to live in paradise stretches our families thin and forces them away from home for better opportunities elsewhere.

What would you propose to be done at the state level to help residents cope with Hawaii’s high cost of living?

The State can enact laws to promote the development of affordable and sustainable housing in our urban core, increasing supply, and decreasing the cost of housing for our families.

Food is also a big part of our everyday costs. We have to change and grow our agricultural sectors so that we can produce more locally-grown produce. We should support our farms and ranches of all sizes to reduce our imports, and, vitally, keep our dollars in Hawaii.

Transportation is also a huge part of our cost of living. In fact, transportation is the second largest cost to our families. Expanding access, reliability, and convenience of transit systems could go a long way to help our struggling families.

What can the state Legislature do to help Hawaii home and condo owners with rising property insurance rates?

The issue of rising property insurance rates is quickly becoming one of the biggest issues that the 2025 legislature will have to work to solve. It is a complex issue that I had the pleasure of learning about through working with SB3234 from this past legislative session. It, among other things, would have expanded the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund, and impose new taxes on vacation rentals, with the purpose of stabilizing the insurance market and encourage the repair and maintenance of condominium buildings.

Since it did not pass, more work has to be done urgently to find a solution that does not pass costs down to our families.

Can Hawaii’s tourism-dependent economy be diversified, and, if so, what can state government do to support the effort?

Yes, it can be diversified. It will take work, and no single thing is going to be able to completely “replace” tourism in our economy, but through supporting our other sectors, such as agriculture, fishing, or certain industrial sectors, we can reduce our dependence on tourism without seeing an impact to the economy or state services. It won’t happen overnight, but we find that tourism has too big an impact on our lives and our islands, so I am happy to work on ways to build a brighter future for Hawaii.

What would you propose to help increase affordable housing in Hawaii?

The State can effectuate laws to promote affordable and sustainable housing developments in our urban core. For example, one idea that has been discussed is the conversion of unused or vacant office spaces in downtown Honolulu to affordable housing.

I also believe that there is also an opportunity that the State has to spend unused funds left in the Rental Housing and Dwelling Unit Revolving Funds under the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to further promote and encourage developers to construct more affordable housing. According to DBEDT, the Rental Housing Revolving Fund alone was estimated to begin this fiscal year with $631 million, while only spending $89 million. We can certainly find a better way to use these funds to help our citizens.

What can state government do to better support and improve public education in Hawaii?

A huge step in improving our public education system is ensuring that we can attract and maintain quality educators. We can be addressing teacher shortages and turnover by offering competitive salaries, benefits, and creating a more supportive work environment. We should also be investing in modernizing school infrastructure, including technology upgrades to ensure all students have access to digital learning tools.

Should the state continue to pursue building a replacement for Aloha Stadium in Halawa? Please explain.

I support the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District (NASED) project. Funds have already been appropriated for the project, which would not just be limited to a new, more realistically sized stadium, but also feature a mixed-use district for housing and businesses, where a usually-empty parking lot is currently located.

Should members of the state Legislature have term limits like Honolulu’s mayor and City Council members?

There are plenty of valid reasons for term limits. I see some concern that it would prevent legislators from having a ton of experience to best help their constituents, and that it could prevent a community from electing someone who truly represents them and their needs best, however. I would be open to real discussion about term limits, but it may be more effective to have term limits for certain positions of power within the legislature.

What reforms, if any, would you propose to make local government more transparent to the public?

I support increasing efforts to report the legislature’s actions to the public, strengthening good-goverment laws and transparency, and reforming our election process to make sure zero opportunities are given for corruption, especially during legislative sessions. I, in my own capacity, commit to being extensively communicative and transparent as to what I support, what I don’t support, and what I am doing with my time at the Legislature to make positive change.

I would also like to work on de-obfuscating the budgeting and spending of the State. Currently, there is a decent amount of information available, but it’s often hard to find or understand. Work can and should be done to give taxpayers an easy way to find where their precious tax dollars are going.

What will be your top priority if elected?

My biggest priority would be communicating to my district what progress I am making to lower the cost of living for our families. I intend on being very transparent with how I am spending my time as their legislature, which proposals I support or oppose and why, and keeping everyone informed on the latest developments to keep our friends and family on the islands.

Is there anything more that you would like voters to know about you?

If elected, I am also very motivated to work on advancing and updating laws and policies on technology. We need to have clear, robust, and up-to-date laws protecting our people from some of the threats that certain technologies face, whether those technologies be new, old, or still unheard of. We also need to work on updating some of our state’s information technology systems to better suit the needs of our people as we move further into the digital era.