When we look back on the politics of 2025, it will be difficult to quantify what happened. The helter-skelter edicts from the federal administration are stress-provoking and intentionally so with their chaotic impacts being felt throughout the country and world.

Hawaiʻi is not immune and has responded with a mixed bag. Our people have taken to the streets weekly it seems, if not more often, marching, rallying and protesting the federal government’s draconian immigration, anti-DEI, anti-education and anti-science policies. The people of Hawaiʻi, including some of our elected officials, have not been shy about voicing their displeasure with the federal administration’s actions.

Gov. Josh Green flew to Washington, D.C., to lobby against the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services at the start of 2025, but has since gone mostly silent.

Hawaiʻi Attorney General Anne Lopez has continued to file and has joined multiple lawsuits challenging the federal government’s actions of mass firings of federal probationary employees, defunding medical and public health research, unlawful delegation of executive power to Elon Musk, and more.

Where Was The Legislature?

But what are our elected state legislative officials doing in the face of massive federal overreach? The 2025 state legislative session has just finished. What message are state legislators sending to the federal government upon seeing the anger and unrest among the populace?

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy,” is how Martin Luther King Jr. put it.

The federal administration has Title IX in its crosshairs for being “woke” and supportive of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. There were bills (House Bill 758 and Senate Bill 1010) during the 2025 session to clarify and strengthen Title IX protections, including those based on gender identity or expression and sexual orientation, in public schools and at the University of Hawaiʻi system, which did not even receive a hearing.

No opportunities were taken to shore up Title IX protections championed by Hawaiʻi’s own Patsy Mink.

There were bills to amend the state constitution to ensure due process and equal protection (Senate Bill 1284), the right to reproductive freedom (House Bill 728 and Senate Bill 297), and the right to obtain and use contraceptives (Senate Bill 350).

These bills all died during the 2025 session as well, even though reproductive freedom and right to due process are being eroded in this country at an alarming pace by a federal administration that seems intent to roll back progress to a time when some were only three-fifths of a person and women could not vote.

All the bills related to immigration (House Bill 438 and Senate Bill 816, House Bill 440 and Senate Bill 818, House Bill 457, House Bill 1349, Senate Bill 775 and Senate Bill 794) died during the 2025 session from concerns about poking the federal bear. This may have been a pragmatic and strategic decision, except for the fact that the Hawaiʻi attorney general has been out front suing the federal government and our populace is constantly, loudly protesting federal actions.

The 2025 Legislature did adopt a judiciary budget that provides “$750,000 for legal services for immigrants in each of the next two years,” due to the support of Senate Ways and Means Chair Donovan Dela Cruz and Senate Judiciary Chair Karl Rhoads.

Time To Lead

Thus, the question again is: What are our elected state legislators, especially those in leadership, doing during these uncertain times? The 2025 legislative session started with immense promise with the election of Hawaiʻi’s first female House speaker. However, it failed to deliver on the protections needed in the face of federal threats.

Yes, some money was provided, but leadership is not always about money. It is also about taking a stand. It is about taking action in the face of the existential threats to what people hold dear in Hawaiʻi — our tolerance, our acceptance our aloha. People want action, demand action and deserve action. Now is not the time for business as usual and going along to get along. Now is not the time to cower.

The upcoming special session will be another opportunity to demonstrate true leadership.

It is time to lead. We need champions who are not afraid to speak truth to power. We need leaders whose actions would comfort us during these uncertain, anxious times.

It is not time to sit back, waiting to see what the politically expeditious thing to do is. It can no longer be the status quo, because the status quo may not exist in the near future.

The expected upcoming special session will be another opportunity to demonstrate true leadership, hopefully focused around sustainable revenue generation to support much-needed programs harmed by the federal administration, such as health care, food security and education.

It is time to be courageous. It is time to act.