The 33rd biennial session of the Hawaii Legislature opened Wednesday at the state Capitol with the usual pageantry and entertainment, but also unusual displays of internal discord on both the House and Senate chamber floors.
Hawaii government policies and leadership long dominated by Democrats were criticized in a floor speech by Sen. Brenton Awa as the new leader of the three-member Republican Senate caucus, while newly elected Rep. Kim Coco Iwamoto voted against her fellow Democratic colleague Rep. Nadine Nakamura becoming House speaker.
“I don’t want to do this,” said Awa (R, Kaneohe-Laie-Mokuleia) in prefacing his speech as Senate minority leader.
Awa then railed against luxury real estate development, the high cost of health care and coronavirus vaccine mandates, along with other things he said Democrats were responsible for, including big pay increases for the Honolulu City Council, the head of the state Department of Education and a new University of Hawaii president.
“I realize this is getting long,” he said. “I could go on and on about the policies we’re pushing. But historically, because of a lack of (political party) balance in this state, the Legislature does not pass bills from our side.”
For the last two years, there was no minority leader in the Senate to give a speech on the opening day of the legislative session because Awa and Sen. Kurt Fevella (R, Ewa Beach-Ocean Pointe-Iroquois Point) could not agree on who would lead their two-member caucus in the 25-member Senate.
This year, newly elected Sen. Samantha DeCorte (R, Nanakuli-Waianae-Makaha) broke the stalemate.
During his Senate floor speech, Awa used a Hawaiian term that appeared to refer to Iwamoto (D, Ala Moana-Kakaako-Downtown), Hawaii’s first openly transgender state legislator.
Iwamoto’s defeat of former House Speaker Scott Saiki in last year’s Democratic Primary cleared the way for new House leadership at the start of this session.
“Scott Saiki used to own the House, but the mahus changed his pronouns to ‘has been,’” Awa said.
In the House, Iwamoto rose to make her first floor speech — in opposition to Nakamura (D, Hanalei-Princeville-Kapaa) becoming the next speaker to replace Saiki.
Iwamoto told her House colleagues and a packed House gallery that she would vote against Nakamura because Nakamura’s committee assignments and selection of committee chairs “violate existing House rules, specifically those related to proportionality and the need to limit the power of the vice speaker.”
In particular, Iwamoto said that a House rule limits the vice speaker — who is now Rep. Linda Ichiyama (D, Fort Shafter Flats-Salt Lake-Pearl Harbor) — from voting on any standing committee.
But, Iwamoto said, “Speaker Nakamura assigned the vice speaker to three standing committees as a voting member.
“Speaker Nakamura’s response was to double down,” Iwamoto said. “She did not believe she violated any rules and she would address my concerns by changing the rules to clarify that she was in compliance.”
Iwamoto then represented the lone vote of opposition to Nakamura becoming speaker of the 51-member House.
Nakamura later told reporters that she respected Iwamoto’s position and acknowledged “inconsistencies” in some House rules that the Democratic caucus continues to work to update.
In her first speech as Hawaii’s first female House speaker, Nakamura then detailed the hardships of her 97-year-old mother’s generation and described each of the 11 freshman representatives in sometimes inspiring, sometimes funny and sometimes historic ways, including Iwamoto as Hawaii’s first openly transgender state legislator.
Nakamura called Rep. Ikaika Olds (D, Moiliili-McCully) “a father, a combat veteran, and a social service worker, committed to addressing homelessness, crime, education, and affordable housing. He also likes long walks on the beach, heavy metal music and quantum mechanics.”
She then followed by describing Iwamoto as “a public interest attorney, community activist, and small-business owner who has served on the Board of Education and the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission. She is our first openly transgender legislator in the state of Hawaii.”
Nakamura described Rep. Shirley Ann Templo (D, Kalihi-Kalihi Kai-Hickam Village) as “a second-generation Filipino-American born and raised in Kalihi. She is the first female to be elected in District 30 and has served nearly a decade in the City and County of Honolulu and State of Hawaii.”
Rep. Julie Reyes Oda (D, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point) teaches math and social studies at Nanakuli High and Intermediate School “and is a staunch advocate for the students of the Leeward Coast,” Nakamura said.
At the start of her speech, Nakamura introduced former governors, county mayors, Council members and other dignitaries but stumbled by introducing Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi as “Mike.”
Nakamura acknowledged her mistake and told reporters that in her first speech as House speaker before a packed House, “I was really nervous.”
In their press conference following the opening-day ceremonies, House leaders vowed to do more to help working families but several variables remain, including how the Southern California wildfires will affect West Coast travel to Hawaii, a reliable segment of Hawaii’s tourism industry.
The other unknown remains how the state Supreme Court will rule on the insurance industry’s request to still be able to sue Maui wildfire defendants, including the state.
The state has pledged to contribute $800 million toward a $4.037 billion deal to settle 650 federal and state lawsuits. A ruling in favor of the insurance industry could lead to millions of dollars more for the state through future lawsuits.
The Legislature’s 60-working-day session runs through May 2.
Sen. President Ron Kouchi (D, Kauai-Niihau) highlighted priorities for Senate leadership in his party to address this session. The first issue he mentioned was skyrocketing prices for homeowner insurance policies due to a flurry of natural disasters around the globe — a crisis that is expected to worsen given the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles.
”This is a national problem,” Kouchi said, “and it may take us working with the federal government to come up with a solution so that we can afford to insure our homes, protect our investment and continue to choose to live in a beautiful place like Hawaii and not with insurance premiums that are so high that we can no longer choose to live here.”
One action lawmakers are expected to take up this year is to have the state fund sell general property and hurricane insurance coverage for Hawaii homeowners.
Kouchi also mentioned a top priority is to reduce wildfire risks statewide in the wake of the Aug. 8, 2023, disaster that burned down most of Lahaina and killed 102 people.
One way to do this, Kouchi suggested, is investing state funds that result in crops replacing dry invasive vegetation on fallow agricultural lands.
In a press conference after Wednesday’s opening ceremony, Kouchi said one possible source of funding wildfire mitigation work is the state’s Emergency and Budget Reserve Fund.
About $1.5 billion exists in this “Rainy Day” fund.
The chronic short supply of affordable housing in Hawaii also is high on the priority list for continued action by lawmakers this year.
Kouchi said during the press conference that he’d like to see more than $250 million appropriated to help finance affordable-housing development.
