Name on ballot:

Ikaika Lardizabal Hussey

Running for:

State House – District 29

Political party:

Democratic

Campaign website:

ikaika.house

Current occupation:

Community-based renewable energy developer; decarbonization entrepreneur

Age:

46

Previous job history:

Budget Analyst, State House Finance Committee
Committee Clerk, State House Education Committee
Publisher, Summit Magazine
Organizer, UNITE HERE Local 5
VP Development, Shake Energy Collaborative

Previous elected office, if any:

Delegate, ʻAha Hawaiʻi ʻOiwi; Member, Kalihi Valley Neighborhood Board

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

‘Aina Aloha Economic Futures / Treasurer
Kamehameha Federal Credit Union / Board President, 2017-2023
Men’s March Against Violence / Chair, 2017 & 2018
The Arts at Mark’s Garage / Board of Directors, 2018-2020
Kalihi Valley Neighborhood Board, 2017-present
Hanahauoli School / Board of Trustees, 2001-present
KAHEA / Vice-President, 2012-2014
Domestic Violence Action Center / Board of Directors, 2013-present
Hawaiian Journalists Association / Founding Board of Directors
Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action / Founding Board, 2014-present

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

Our leaders have left Kalihi behind.

Kalihi has a long list of unfinished and unresolved problems — the lack of sidewalks, the non-functional recreation center at Kalihi Valley Homes, the lack of bus service in Kamanaiki valley. The parents at Kalihi Waena Elementary are raising their own funds to pay for bathroom repairs. Farrington doesn’t have AC in half of the classrooms.

Our neighborhood is forced to play host to numerous homes for individuals in recovery from drug abuse, incarceration and homelessness, but we receive no financial benefit to offset this burden. There is a basic issue of fairness.

To make matters worse, Kalihi residents pay proportionally more in property taxes than wealthier neighborhoods. On an assessed-value basis, Kahala Avenue is paying less in taxes per square foot than Kalihi Street. The working people of Kalihi are subsidizing the luxury estates of Kahala. This is fundamentally unfair, and can be resolved by comprehensive changes to our tax code designed to make Hawaii work better for local people.

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

Instead of a tax cut, I’d prefer an EITC (or what Milton Friedman called a “negative income tax”), which would rebate to workers a higher amount than they would have contributed in taxes, with the goal of raising them to a sustainable level. To quote my union: One job should be enough to live in Hawaii.

Also, our current tax policies leave a lot of money on the table, especially around tourism. Lawmakers should be assessing all of the ways profit is made off of us, our land and our culture, and ensure we are collecting a fair fee on those transactions. One example I’m thinking about is all the tourist-generated social media content, which Meta and other companies monetize through advertising. Those advertising dollars should be treated as income generated in Hawaii, and taxed accordingly.

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

I support measurers to rein in excessive attorney fees charged to owners, create an ombudsman to help resolve disputes and make it easier to vote out board members by allowing electronic and mail-in voting.

In addition, the state should examine the creation of a captive insurance entity to fill in market gaps. This entity could be the vehicle which provides low-interest loans for the critical repairs and upgrades which we need for fire safety and climate adaptation.

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

We should tune our market positioning to aim for higher-dollar, higher-quality, lower-quantity, regenerative tourism.

The root of our economy is our people, and we should invest accordingly. Our education system should lead the world, as it did in the 19th century. We can do it again.

Local and global tech companies look at a variety of factors to decide on where to set up a headquarters. One of the key factors is quality of life. The harsh reality is that Hawaii’s quality of life is currently quite poor for most people.

The knowledge economy requires the same ingredients that all local people need: good schools, walkable communities, affordable housing, clean water and good food. If we maintain our focus on the basic needs of our communities, we will be able to establish Hawaii as a good place for 21st century business.

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

I’m really interested in the Vienna approach to housing. Vienna (in Austria) is widely regarded as one of the best cities in the world, where remarkably 40% of the 1.9m residents live in what we would call public housing. The difference between Vienna’s public housing and what we have in Kalihi (KPT, Kalihi Valley Homes and Meyers St) is that Vienna designs and builds its housing so that it’s really nice and pleasant. As a result, most people in Vienna want to live in their public housing. There’s a lot of info online for those who are curious, but one way to think of it is that good, Vienna-style public housing policy would be demanded in Kahala; bad public housing policy will get relegated to Kalihi. I want public housing that we’d all want to live in.

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

Public education is the most important job of the State. We need to make the 2024 tax cuts revenue neutral so that education cuts aren’t necessary in the future. The starting pay for teachers is still too low; at $62k, it’s $12k less than the pay for a legislator. Our priorities are upside down. And we need to make budgetary and procurement reforms that allow for the backlog in physical plant repairs and maintenance to be resolved not in months, not decades.

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

Per a July 26 story in the Advertiser, the stadium authority is moving forward with vetting the only remaining proposal for NASED. I’m very concerned that there’s only one proposal. And I’m also concerned about the structure of the State-backed financing of the initiative. How does the $350m appropriation interact with the other major public programs that we need to consider, including a Lahaina settlement, climate adaptation, AC for our schools, and budget cuts due to the ill-conceived 2024 tax cut? The most important job of the Legislature is the $19B state budget; that’s the lens through which we should be considering the stadium.

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

Yes.

A firm term limit – perhaps 10 for the House and 12 for the Senate – would improve Hawai‘i’s political culture. It would create a sense of urgency to follow through on important matters. For politicians, term limits would create a narrative for transitions in their careers; for political parties, it would facilitate upward movement for younger or newer advocates; and for voters, term limits would give them more choice in entrenched districts. If you have little or nothing to show for your first 18 years on the job, then why should you have more time?

Similarly, we need to reexamine multi-member districts. Forty years ago, multi-member districts allowed many new names to come into politics, as the second or third choices in larger districts. This is another good way to cultivate a more dynamic political system, and minimize political gridlock.

Finally, I’d also like to see neighborhood boards be more empowered with their own resources and dedicated funding (perhaps from Restricted Parking Zone revenue and other local fees). Neighborhood boards provide a key opportunity for direct democracy where community leaders can affect the quality of life in their own communities.

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

In the era of the Internet, all documents should have a URL. Citizens shouldn’t have to file UIPA claims to access public documents: everything should be a click away to a hypertext document on the public web. Citizens should be able to open requests for service on public websites, and be able to track that request visually as it moves through the bureaucracy. I’m tired, as our many of my constituents, by the need to know a classmate or relative who happens to work in government in order to get something done. The age of small-town, nepotistic and corrupt politics needs to be ended. We need a clear, simple, transparent government that works well for everyone.

What will be your top priority if elected?

The 2024 tax cuts need to be made revenue-neutral, and I propose that we do this via new taxes on the ultra-rich. Without new revenue sources, future Legislatures will be forced to make large cuts to key programs such as education, climate mitigation, and infrastructure funding. And with a proposed $4B Lahaina settlement on the table, cuts to state revenue make zero sense.

For example, Larry Ellison bought the island of Lanai without paying conveyance taxes. What other loopholes are the billionaires exploiting? Billionaires are turning Hawaii into their private paradise; I want to fight for those of us who see Hawaii as our home.

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

I have a strong point of view – but I’m quite easy to get along with! I look forward to working with my 50 colleagues in the House, 25 in the Senate, and of course the Governor’s office, to achieve a better future for Kalihi and all of Hawaii.