Civil Beat has asked candidates for the primary election to answer a survey about where they stand on various issues and what their priorities will be if elected.

The following comes from David Tarnas, Democratic incumbent for state House District 8, which includes Hālaula, Waimea, Mākahalau, Waikii, Waikōloa, Kawaihae and Mahukona.

He is running unopposed in the Democratic primary and will face the winner of the Republican primary in November.

Go to Civil Beat’s 2026 Elections Guide for general information, and check out the other candidates on Civil Beatʻs 2026 Hawaiʻi Primary Ballot.

Why are you best suited for the job? And why do you want the job?

I am best suited for the job of State Representative for House District 8, North and South Kohala, because I have lived here for 40 years, raised a family here, and built a solid reputation as an honest and diligent legislator who works hard on behalf of the people of Hawaiʻi. My professional experience in private business and as a state legislator gives me the experience to know how to work well with others to pass sensible and effective legislation to address today’s priority issues.

What is the biggest issue facing your district, and what is the first thing you would do to address it in the first six months after being elected?

The biggest issue facing us is the high cost of living and housing. I will work to pass legislation to (1) provide sustained annual funding for DHHL to build more housing for Native Hawaiians; (2) maintain the tax code changes that provide substantial tax relief for working families; (3) provide more funding for infrastructure development for affordable housing projects; (4) provide more funding for public preschool facilities and programs; and (5) exempt health care services from the GE tax.

Here’s one question from your constituents: Do you support maintaining a monopoly for interisland shipping?

No. I would welcome another company competing in the interisland shipping market. The challenge is to ensure that interisland shipping services are affordable and maintained to all the neighbor island ports. Unfortunately, it costs more to maintain shipping services to some of the neighbor island port destinations than the revenue generated by the business at these ports. That’s why I would be supportive of providing a state subsidy for interisland shipping of food and agricultural products.

What do you think were the most important bills to come out of the 2026 Legislature? What failed that should have passed? What passed that you wish had failed?

The most important bills include SB 3125, which adjusted income tax brackets to maintain tax relief for working families; HB 1548, HB 1838, HB 1839 and SB 2057, which limit state involvement in federal immigration enforcement, protect immigrant rights and protect the constitutional rights of Hawaiʻi residents; and SB 903 to give $55 million to OHA for programs where federal funds were cut, clarify the ceded land inventory, and establish how each agency calculates their annual payment to OHA.

The 2026 session was also overshadowed by an issue of public trust: $35,000 in the brown paper bag given to an “influential” state lawmaker. What do you think the Legislature needs to do going forward to rebuild public confidence in state government?

The Legislature has taken important steps to rebuild public confidence in state government by passing bills that strengthen our statutes to prevent public corruption, improve campaign finance disclosures, prohibit lobbyist contributions to legislators during session, prohibit state agency directors from campaign fundraising and limit corporations from making campaign contributions. Next, the legislature needs to pass a bill to prohibit government contractors from giving campaign contributions.

In recent years, Hawai’i has experienced a series of damaging and dangerous weather events that have exposed weaknesses in our planning, preparation and response. What could you as a lawmaker do to help your district be better prepared?

I support policies and programs that require public and private landowners to better manage their lands to reduce wildfire risks. I support more funding to improve wildfire prevention and response and to help facilities like hospitals to harden their buildings and infrastructure to withstand natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes and floods. I support state funding to match county funding and private funding to build emergency evacuation centers in communities throughout the state.

What would you do in office to address the here and now of climate change? And how would you address the costs to taxpayers, property owners and businesses to adapt?

I support updating the state’s Natural Disaster Economic Recovery Strategy, and instituting the policies, programs and funding to implement its recommendations. This helps residents, property owners and businesses improve their resilience to respond and recover after natural disasters, such as hurricanes, wildfire and flooding. I support funding to improve our ability to prevent and respond to wildfires and flooding and to help public agencies equip facilities to withstand natural disasters.

Over 3,000 bills are introduced every session and there is always frantic horsetrading in the final days of session. Do you think there should be a limit on the number of bills introduced to enable more meaningful debate?

The state House has addressed this issue by limiting the number of bills that can be introduced by each Representative. The Senate has no limits and should consider instituting them. As Chair of the House Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, I work hard to hear as many good bills as our schedule allows, and to conduct hearings to ensure there is time for the public and agencies to provide testimony and for members to engage in meaningful debate on all the bills.

Hawaiʻi lawmakers are often in the dark about how much a piece of legislation will cost because the Aloha State is the only one in the nation that doesn’t require a fiscal analysis for bills. Should lawmakers be forced to put a realistic price tag on the legislation they introduce?

During the 2026 session, the House carried out internal testing of a fiscal impact analysis methodology to estimate the fiscal impact of selected bills. Based on the experience of this pilot project, the House will continue to refine the methodologies and determine how to build the legislative capacity in the House and Senate to implement it in future sessions. I support providing the fiscal impact analysis of each bill before it is considered by the final committee in each chamber.

There are no term limits for state legislators in Hawaiʻi, so incumbents tend to win. Would you seek to change that? Why or why not?

The legislative process benefits by having experienced and knowledgeable legislators and committee chairs. If a legislator is effective and responsive to constituent concerns, voters should be able to re-elect them. For this reason, I do not support term limits which would effectively disenfranchise constituents who wish to re-elect a long-serving legislator. Term limits decrease the power of elected officials and increase the power of unelected agency officials, staff and lobbyists.

What would you do to help improve the state’s public school system?

I will continue to support increasing pay for our public school teachers, including additional salary increases for hard-to-fill teaching positions in rural schools, Hawaiian language and special education jobs. I will also continue to advocate for additional funding to improve our public school facilities, many of which are in serious need of maintenance and repair. I also support more technical programs for high school students who wish to enter the workforce instead of going on to college.

Hawaiʻi is heavily reliant on tourism. What would you propose to diversify Hawaiʻi’s economy?

To diversify our economy, I support expanding astronomy and promoting emerging economic sectors such as knowledge-based industries and ocean tech industries, including marine biotech, autonomous remote sensing platforms, ocean-based mariculture, and offshore wind power generation. I also support the legalization of adult use of cannabis, which would support an entirely new legal market with business opportunities in production, processing, analytical lab services, distribution and retail.

An estimated 60% of Hawaii residents are struggling to get by. It’s a problem that reaches far beyond low-income folks and into the middle class, which is disappearing. What would you do to help?

I will work to reduce the rising cost of living in Hawaiʻi by continuing to provide income tax relief to working families, continuing the incremental increase in the minimum wage, expanding public preschool programs, increasing support for kūpuna care services, expanding workforce development in high schools and community colleges, and expanding affordable housing. I also support redistricting some agriculture land to rural to allow more housing, and exempting healthcare costs from the GE Tax.