We want to hear from you!

I am working with my team at Think BIG, Ke O Mau Center, UH's CTAHR, and other partners to educate people about growing local crops that want to grow here, and can provide food forests, without a lot of work. We need choke papaya, ulu, lilikoi, mango, all over Puna and the Big Island! Let's get planting. 

I wrote a bill in 2026 that would require the state to establish a Strategic Food Reserve on each island that can feed that island in the event of serious manmade or natural disasters. It didn't pass. this year but when I'm in the House I will make sure it passes in 2027! The bill would also require a % of local food production for each reserve, that grows over time, and before food expires it must be rotated into local food baskets. What's not to like? 

We need more food hubs and affordable commercial kitchens to support local food preparation and businesses. Far too much food sold here isn't grown or prepared here. New cottage food laws make it easier for local businesses to prepare and sell food at local markets of all kinds -- we just need the infrastructure to allow it to happen. 

The solar future is here! Solar has become incredibly cheap and easy to install on homes, businesses, parking lots, government buildings, big box stores, etc. Rooftop and parking lot solar can provide almost all of our power needs when combined with battery storage and baseload geothermal power.  

Electric vehicles (EVs) are here now and are increasingly affordable. They are amazing cars, quiet, powerful, very clean, and with far less maintenance required than gas or diesel cars. We need more public charger options around our island and our state. And we need to bring back EV purchase rebates so that all income levels can get into an EV. 

Along with solar power, the battery storage revolution is transforming the world in real-time. Costs have come down dramatically in the last ten years and it is now very cost-effective to use battery storage to "firm" renewables like solar and wind. 

Kauai showed over 20 years ago that creating a co-op to take over power for that island led to not only more renewables but also much lower costs. Should Big Island follow their example? 

Puna is well-suited for using solar power for farming ("agrivoltaics"), which allows growing crops and grazing animals below solar panel canopies, and vertical farming more generally, which uses technology to improve yields and profits. Land is more affordable than other regions. The year-round warm climate is a significant competitive advantage—unlike temperate regions that must invest heavily in heating for vertical farming or that dont't have as much sun for solar power as we do. 

If we can allow for innovation zones to try new local materials for building ohanas and workforce housing, we can not only green up our building industry, we can also create new jobs and more affordable housing. It's yet another win/win/win, which is a key aspect of my platform. We have abundant high quality wood, bamboo, lava rock, and other local materials we can use for affordable housing. Let's get on it! 

Even though I am a strong advocate for better AI safety standards here in Hawaii and at the federal level, I also recognize that AI can and is leading to new opportunities, new industries, and new jobs in some areas. By creating education and training programs for people of all ages we can harness the better aspects of the AI age. 

We are almost unique in the world in living next to a highly active volcano! I know first hand how powerful Pele is because I lost my house in Leilani Estates in the 2018 lava flow. It doesn't make sense to require the same level of building codes for homes in lava zones 1 and 2, where Pele could come crashing through at any time. We should allow landowners more leeway to experiment, within certain guidelines, in these zones. And these experiments could provide good examples and data for other  

Hemp can be used to create many different building products including hempcrete, which is fireproof, light, easy to work with, and doesn't mold. Bamboo can grow very well here and it is incredibly strong. Combining hempcrete for walls with bamboo for structural support might be the best of all worlds. Architects like Deborah Todd are pioneering this technology on our island. Building codes and other rules need to catch up with innovative and sustainable materials like hempcrete and bamboo. 

Recent zoning changes at the state and county level have allowed us to build up to three ADUs ('ohanas) on each lot, if existing services and infrastructure allow it. This may be our most powerful tool to build new affordable housing because an 'ohana is the cheapest option for new permitted buidlings since they take advantage of existing driveways, roads, electricity, sewer, water, etc.