As a new Congress convenes this year, a newly elected Hawaii representative wants to make sure the Big Island can get more love.
Democrat Jill Tokuda — who grew up in Honolulu and served in the state Senate, representing Kane‘ohe between 2006 and 2018 — had a rocky first week as as representative of Hawaii’s second congressional district, which encompasses the rural parts of Oahu and all of the neighbor islands, after an election for the speaker of the House dragged on for five days.
While the speaker election was undecided, the swearing-in ceremony for new legislators could not take place, so Tokuda and her fellow new freshmen were not officially members of Congress and were unable to begin official business as basic as setting up an office email server.
“It was definitely a surreal first week, which was filled with, I think, more procedural and intense votes than most people have in an entire session,” Tokuda said during a recent interview. “Talking about really testing the mettle right at the very beginning. It was definitely a beginning to the session unlike any we’ve ever seen.”
Tokuda, 46, was finally sworn in on Jan. 7, but she said the strange first week has demonstrated the uphill battle her party will face in the coming years — the Democrats have a minority with 213 seats, against the Republicans’ 222 seats.
“It definitely puts us on notice that this is not going to be easy,” Tokuda said. “No Congress ever is, don’t get me wrong, but this definitely set the bar in terms of what we’re going to be looking forward to. … If there’s a silver lining to anything, it really got all of us to understand the importance of sticking together, that our strength comes from our numbers and our ability to hold the line against what will be repeated attacks on the minority.”
Because of the delayed start to the session, the House has not yet assigned committees to representatives. But Tokuda said she hopes to be assigned to the House’s committees on Education and Labor, Agriculture and the Armed Forces, which together she said can help address issues facing District 2 and the Big Island.
In particular, Tokuda said Congress will vote on whether to reauthorize the 2018 Farm Bill when it expires this year, which will have significant impact on the Big Island, where much of the state’s agriculture is located.
“Agriculture, the farm bill, these are all feeding programs,” Tokuda said. “Housing, rural development, all of these things fall under agriculture. Especially for congressional District 2, we have got to jump on every opportunity to make sure we bring it home for our communities and our people.”
Families were a recurring subject as Tokuda discussed her plans. As a mother of two, she sympathizes with the concerns of families facing a rising cost of living and said she wants to pursue programs that can provide immediate relief to as many struggling families as possible, such as the child tax credit program that was temporarily expanded by the American Rescue Plan Act, which awarded families monthly payments per child throughout 2021.
“That passed when I was not in office. I was in the private sector, working with … nonprofit and community groups,” Tokuda said. “And when that child care tax credit started to roll out, and every month families started to receive a check in the mail, one of the immediate things I saw … was a relieving of pressure. People suddenly felt, ‘Oh, there isn’t this dire, extreme urgency that I need money now or I’m going to get evicted or I can’t pay my electricity bills.’ They started to see a little hope.
“When you make policy decisions like that, that provide substantive relief for families, you’re giving them hope,” Tokuda said.
If she had her druthers, Tokuda said she would reinstate the child tax credit immediately, as well as eviction and rental relief programs started during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Tokuda’s district faces unique challenges. While the rising cost of living is a problem everywhere in the nation, she said in Hawaii the issue is compounded by the additional pressure caused by the effects of climate change. Tokuda noted that, while other states are able to conceptualize climate change as an abstract future issue that doesn’t threaten them immediately, “it is real life in Hawaii.”
To fight the effects of climate change, Tokuda said the federal government needs to provide support to fight invasive species, invest in renewable resources development, mitigate the impacts of drought and flooding, and more.
Tokuda visited the district last week in order to identify needs and problems facing each island. On the Big Island, she took a tour of the Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant, an aging facility she said is in need of improvement — improvement that Congress might be able to support.
“It’s not sexy, it’s not something that people love to talk about, but the reality is that, when you flush that toilet, when something goes down the kitchen sink drain, it goes somewhere, and I got to see where that ‘somewhere’ is,” Tokuda said.
Another part of the island in need of improvement, Tokuda said, is the lease agreement between the state and the U.S. Army for the 23,000-acre Pohakuloa Training Area, which expires in 2029. While Tokuda acknowledged that Hawaii’s location makes it a significant strategic location for the U.S. military, she said any lease agreement must be mutually beneficial for both sides.
“If you asked me if the lease as negotiated previously was mutually beneficial for Hawaii and our people and our communities, I would say no,” Tokuda said. “When we enter into these lease negotiations, at the end of the day, it’s about coming out stronger and better for Hawaii Island — if these leases are to continue at all.”
As for the another controversial land management issue on the Big Island, Tokuda said she ultimately supports the development of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Maunakea.
“I’m not going to try to brush around it, but I support TMT, I support astronomy. I see it as a huge opportunity not just for this island but the entire state, to explore the universe and create a myriad ecosystem of jobs that will help our people and our children stay here in Hawaii,” Tokuda said. “That being said, there has to always be a balance, there has to always be conscious actions to be respectful of culture, and conservation and science.”
Tokuda said she hopes the Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority, which was formed last year to eventually take over management of Maunakea lands including the Science Reserve where TMT is planned to be built, can successfully bring people on both sides of the TMT issue together for an earnest dialogue.
“We sit at kitchen tables, and we talk,” Tokuda said. “We let it all out on the table, and we recognize that that’s where it starts. And until we have those earnest conversations with each other, we can’t get any farther than that.”
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.