Editor’s note: For Hawaii’s Aug. 10 Primary Election, Civil Beat asked candidates to answer some questions about where they stand on various issues and what their priorities will be if elected.

The following came from Tanya Yamanaka Aynessazian, Democratic candidate for State House District 2, which covers Hilo. Her primary opponent is Susan Lee Loy.

Go to Civil Beat’s Election Guide for general information, and check out other candidates on the Primary Election Ballot.

1. What is the biggest issue facing your district, and what would you do about it? 

Health care, the economy and homelessness are top issues I hear about from voters. Access to health care, especially specialists and issues related to aging and senior services, is increasingly important.

In my recent capacity in serving kupuna and caregivers, I created partnerships that resulted in new programs, including free family caregiver counseling, life coaching, education and support for caregivers and an overarching training program for paid and family caregivers in East Hawaii to get certified dementia training.

I will work hard for additional resources for kupuna and caregivers and fight for additional funding for our community health centers, Medicaid services and increasing access to doctors, nurses and specialized care providers. 

We can create a local care corps and work with UHH or HCC to offer certification programs around caring for keiki, kupuna and specific chronic and/or autoimmune disorders, to provide ground up learning and expertise to take care of each other. By  introducing students to positions like nurse assistants, elderly companions, activity leaders, personal assistance, etc., we can lead them to pursue entry level health care positions including CNAs and MAs, and even nursing school, nurse practitioner degree or attend medical school. 

2. How do you feel about the massive income tax cut just approved by the Legislature and the governor? Do you have any concerns that it will force reductions in state services in the years to come?

I have concerns about the tax cut, which reduces revenues to the state at a time when we need to increase services and outcomes. In addition, I believe I read that 43% of the tax breaks went to those making over $300,000, and those who make less than $53,000 received 15% of the tax relief. I feel like the governor and legislators who took credit for this tax cut, along with some media stories, misrepresented the tax relief that the majority of taxpayers will actually feel.

And yes, this tax cut may force reductions in some services in the future. In fact, one legislator I called about the clean elections bill this past session told me that he didnʻt support it because the state didnʻt have money to support such an influx of candidates on public financing. Then the Legislature moved forward with the estate tax bill and the income tax cut. Makes you go hmmm.

3. Hawaii continues to struggle with pay-to-play politics and corruption in government. What meaningful reforms do you think would change state government for the better?

We need primary election reform, ranked choice voting and an independent redistricting commission, along with publicly funded elections. We also need to find more ways to hold representatives and bureaucrats accountable, and this can take the form of community-directed meetings and forums in which representatives must attend.

There must be two-way communication and ways that the community can inform its elected representation, vs representation relying on individuals to contact them. We need inspired and inspirational leaders, who want to be held accountable and want to speak truth to power respectfully, objectively and transparently. 

4. Candidates often say they will support reform proposals in the Legislature. And yet major reform proposals don’t pass. Will you back good-government proposals even if it means going against leadership? If you are an incumbent, can you point to an example of a reform that you supported?

Absolutely. I have a curiosity that compels me to understand situations before going along with the crowd on its solutions.

I have the compassion to see things from multiple perspectives and the courage to make an independent move that goes against the grain, if that is the right thing to do. I have an internal compass. 

5. Do you support comprehensive public financing of elections for candidates who choose to participate? Why or why not?

Yes. We need to even the “play-to-get-paid” field so that more regular folks can run for office. In business, we often sign conflict of interest disclosures to minimize public perception of conflicts. We should be doing what we can to increase trust in government and especially in our election process.

Groups with the deepest pockets should not influence elections or the legislation process the most; we must do what we can to elevate the voice of the people and broader public interest over special interest lobbying and super-PAC purchasing power. Public financing of elections is just one way to reduce corruption and the appearance of corruption. 

6. Hawaii is the only Western state without a statewide citizens initiative process. Do you support such a process? Why or why not?

Yes. Hawaii Countyʻs citizens initiative process has been shown to work. I fully support a statewide version, which would also increase engagement.  

7. Thanks to their campaign war chests and name familiarity, incumbents are almost always reelected in Hawaii legislative races. Should there be term limits for state legislators, as there are for the governor’s office and county councils? Why or why not?

Term limits are a more complicated solution than I first thought. James Madison introduced term limits for the federal level in 1787 and he was obviously ignored.

Term limits do force turnover and would impede the tendency for elected officials to make a career out of legislative service.

While term limits can reduce corruption and open up elections to new people with new ideas, I believe that we need election reform first to reduce corruption and money in politics, and to increase electoral competition and voter interest. 

8. What will you do to ensure accountability at the Legislature? Do you support ideas such as requiring the Sunshine Law to apply to the Legislature or banning campaign contributions during session?

This past session, I donʻt think I sent in testimony in favor of the Sunshine Law bill, not because I donʻt believe in the intention behind it, but because I am unsure of the full consequences of the bill as it was written, without understanding of how it affects legislators.

Since my own “reconnaissance” on this bill resulted in vastly differing opinions from a variety of past and current legislators, I did not feel I had enough information to move forward assertively; if pushed on a definitive yes or no today, I am in favor of requiring the Sunshine Law with reservations.

Yes, on banning campaign contributions during session, and frankly, perhaps even before session when the bills are already being written and discussed. 

9. How would you make the Legislature more transparent and accessible to the public? Opening conference committees to the public? Stricter disclosure requirements on lobbying and lobbyists? How could the Legislature change its own internal rules to be more open?

We need legislators who want to be held accountable, and have transparency. So cleaning up the election process is paramount. 

Yes, I feel that opening conference committees to the public is critical to a more transparent legislative process. In addition, the legislative session should be extended, so that lawmaking isnʻt so rushed. This is important work. 

We need legislators who know the difference between power and presence. Positional power that comes from a title is less meaningful if you do not have presence at regular community meetings.

If elected, my team and I will come up with a way to interact with the greater Hilo community. I am looking at utilizing conference calls for less tech-savvy folks to reach me. In addition, I am vetting the idea of having a production team create an entertaining way to engage the public in community issues, as well as online technology to gauge the publicʻs concerns and increase options for two-way communication.

10. Many people have talked about diversifying the local economy for many years now, and yet Hawaii is still heavily reliant on tourism. What, if anything, should be done differently about tourism and the economy?

Currently, tourism is a primary driver for our economy yet thereʻs a whole other economy we can prioritize that, rather than caring for guests and visitors, is based on caring for ourselves, caring for each other and caring for Hawaii: our health care and caregiver industry. This was blatantly clear at the onset of the 2020 pandemic.

Our caring-for-each-other industry (the care economy) is made up of parents, grandparents, foster parents, family caregivers, CNAs and even more entry-level health care workers and patient advocates, life and health coaches, nutritionists, nurses, doctors and disease specialists.

The health care industry also includes produce and medicine plant farmers, complementary health practitioners, cooks and chefs, social service providers, activity leaders, sports trainers and coaches, exercise and prevention coordinators, nonprofits like The Food Basket, etc. The list is long of those who make up the care economy.

11. An estimated 60% of Hawaii residents are struggling to get by, a problem that reaches far beyond low-income and into the middle class, which is disappearing. What ideas do you have to help the middle class and working families who are finding it hard to continue to live here?

According to Aloha United Wayʻs ALICE report, nearly half of Hawaiiʻs residents are “struggling,” with 33% identified as ALICE (asset-limited, income-constrained, employed) and 9% living in poverty. We need to raise the Medicaid threshold and get more families and working poor the health and other services they need. 

We also need investment into our education system to increase civic understanding, entrepreneurism and doing what you love, emerging jobs training, and supporting the arts, culture and gig economy, which is another segment of our economy that both residents and visitors love. 

Investment into programs like backyard ag and farming and programs that rescue food at the source: trees and gardens in our neighborhoods, and then they process and deliver food to those in need. 

And we have to tackle the affordable housing issue. Empty homes, empty condos, empty BnBs, empty hotel rooms … and yet we donʻt have enough storage units for people to store their “extra” stuff. This is disheartening. We can start by charging a surcharge on empty homes and increasing property taxes for out-of-state investors and home buyers to increase revenues and support first-time homebuyer programs for residents.