Education:
Education leads the way from pre-K to post-graduate for our current and future generations. If we want a more vibrant economy, clearer environment, and a variety of job opportunities, we need to support a public school system that will develop the leaders and shakers of our Hawaii. This means supporting teachers and students with the necessary funds, structures, supplies and equipment that puts them at the fore-front. It is my job in the State legislature to put forth legislation to insure that this occurs.

Environment:
We must protect the islands and its natural resources, which includes smart growth and sustainability. This runs the gambit of fostering forests, agriculture, new developments, and alternative energy resources. We must protect our beaches and access to those beaches. Each project and piece of legislation dealing with our environment must be reviewed to see how its benefits or hurts its people and aina.

Energy:
We must move faster at delivering alternatives to fossil fuels. Each alternative should have active projects. We know geothermal works but has not been expanded – being sensitive to cultural issues. We are finally expanding our wind farms and slower than it should have been. We have talked about wave energy but are lacking in this area. We should be developing the crops that provide alternative fuels for oil. Fuel cell development, solar and photovoltaic need support through tax credit and financing support to expand their use on all islands.

Economy:
We need to continue to work on diversify our economy. We know our two major sources are tourism and the military. Although tourism can and should be modified and appropriately expanded, we must also work on other areas. This includes our agriculture development of at least a portion of the 53,000 acres available just alone on Oahu. We must look to the sea as another source to expand our economy through aquaculture and various seafood resources. The recent development of building electrical cars needs to be expanded. The use of technology to recycle materials in dumps would allow not a reduction in landfills but provide additional recycled materials and energy through being able to use the majority of the waste as fuel for H-Power. We must strive to look over other sustainable activities that will create jobs and help Hawaii in a variety of ways.

Public Safety:
We need to continue to review our policy of putting drug users in prison instead of focusing on their rehabilitation. We need to get these types of individuals out of prison. This also means that those who are a threat to society are appropriately incarcerated for their crimes against humanity. If there is a need for additional prison space, it should be at home. We do not need to send our people to the mainland. Of course the goal is to reduce the need for prisons by insuring there is a real effort to assimilate people back into society. This means training and jobs so people do not need to go back to their old ways.

Transportation:
We need to work on several fronts. First, the Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Committee (made up of State legislators and City Councilmembers and the Chairs of the State and City Transportation Departments) must recommend to the Governor and Mayors, the roads that need to be maintained by which jurisdiction so we eliminate unnecessary overlap. Besides upgrading road and building new roads throughout the islands, we need to continue our efforts for alternatives. This includes transit project, which may vary from Oahu’s rail to expanded bus systems on neighbor islands. We must also expand our bike ways and continue our pedestrian friendly efforts. People who are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act must see their services improved. Our
harbors and airports must be developed that support the needs of the people and companies using them. It must always be done at an ethnical manner.

Hawaiian Issues:
I will work with the various groups to get their positions and support the will of the Hawaiian people.

Taxes and Fees:
This is an area that must be reviewed annually as well as long range. We know there must be a balanced budget. A majority of the budget is to pay for the State services provided to the citizens. We need to keep services and also find ways to pay for them. Although taxes and fees are the first to be considered, there must be out of the box thinking to see how else these needed services are provided without unnecessarily taxing those who may be overtaxed at this time.