Candidate Q&A: State House District 35 — Ikeda Rahman Perreira

Editor’s note: For Hawaii’s Aug. 10 Primary Election, Civil Beat asked candidates to answer some questions about where they stand on various issues and what their priorities will be if elected.

The following came from Ikeda Rahman Perreira, Democratic candidate for state House District 35, which covers portions of Pearl City and Waipahu, and Crestview. His primary opponents are Cory Chun and Domineque Bonifacio.

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

1. What is the biggest issue facing your district, and what would you do about it?

Our district is very diverse and there are specific issues to each area in Waikele, Crestview/sea view, East Waipahu, Manana Pearl City. Generally issues such as homelessness, infrastructure repair, speedy driving, loud vehicle noise late at night have remained the same or gotten worse.

In Waikele, burglary is on the rise. In East Waipahu speeding, loud noise, homelessness and crime are common complaints. In Pearl City, common complaints are speeding, homelessness in certain areas as well as high property tax and high property insurance. In Sea view and Crest View, speeding and high property taxes are major complaints. These are only few among several other issues.

In all areas, high property taxes and high property insurance rates are very often a strong complaint. 

If I get elected, I will introduce bills with the consent and help of the respective community to resolve each issue related to each area. 

2. How do you feel about the massive income tax cut just approved by the Legislature and the governor? Do you have any concerns that it will force reductions in state services in the years to come?

I support the income tax cut as it will empower people to have more money to meet the high cost of living in Hawaii. In addition we need to reduce the property tax which in turn will reduce the rents. 

Regarding reductions in state services, we should think of bringing efficiency, transparency and getting rid of duplication and waste. We should make it easier for small and large businesses to do business and let them prosper, which in turn will contribute to a booming economy in the long run. 

3. Hawaii continues to struggle with pay-to-play politics and corruption in government. What meaningful reforms do you think would change state government for the better?

We should have laws or administrative rules to have quarterly or yearly job performances of all the employees to a certain standard. Ethical education and training should be mandatory for all government employees, just like it is done at Veterans Administration hospitals and other related facilities. There should be warnings, fines and other strict consequences for noncompliance. 

There should be term limits for the state House and Senate just like governor, council members and mayor. This will help legislators to do their job more efficiently instead of catering to special interest groups for donations. 

Again I want to stress efficiency, transparency, accountability, reducing waste and making sure there is a balanced budget every year.  

4. Candidates often say they will support reform proposals in the Legislature. And yet major reform proposals don’t pass. Will you back good-government proposals even if it means going against leadership? If you are an incumbent, can you point to an example of a reform that you supported?

Yes, it is true. Even if the bill passes through different state House and Senate committees, it fails in the conference. I strongly believe that if the creator of the bill talks to colleagues and leadership in advance, explaining its benefits to community, it will pass. 

As a legislative assistant, I was responsible to work on a bill with Rep. John Mizuno to give tax breaks to those health care providers who accept Medicaid and Medicare. It was well-supported but It did not pass last session. However, it did pass this session with modification. It is a good bill but it still needs work to make it better. 

5. Do you support comprehensive public financing of elections for candidates who choose to participate? Why or why not?

Yes I do. It gives control to public to make legislators responsible and accountable. It also decreases corruption. 

6. Hawaii is the only Western state without a statewide citizens initiative process. Do you support such a process? Why or why not?

As I understand it more, I support statewide citizen initiative process and referendum by people.

People elect legislators and should have the power to make or reject laws enacted by legislators, which they collectively or by majority feel are not good for the society.  

7. Thanks to their campaign war chests and name familiarity, incumbents are almost always reelected in Hawaii legislative races. Should there be term limits for state legislators, as there are for the governor’s office and county councils? Why or why not?

Yes, there should be term limits for legislators to reduce corruption or favoritism as I mentioned above in question No. 3. 

8. What will you do to ensure accountability at the Legislature? Do you support ideas such as requiring the Sunshine Law to apply to the Legislature or banning campaign contributions during session?

I strongly support the idea of no contributions or any promise to contribute during session. Laws should always be passed for the good of the people and society instead of special interest groups. 

9. How would you make the Legislature more transparent and accessible to the public? Opening conference committees to the public? Stricter disclosure requirements on lobbying and lobbyists? How could the Legislature change its own internal rules to be more open?

Yes, all the above are necessary especially in light of what happened couple years ago. There must be transparency, openness and accountability in Legislature to gain back public trust. 

10. Many people have talked about diversifying the local economy for many years now, and yet Hawaii is still heavily reliant on tourism. What, if anything, should be done differently about tourism and the economy?

Tourism is important for Hawaii as it is a major source of income and jobs. We should promote tourism but there should also be other things to rely on. We have already learned the hard lessons after 9/11 and during the Covid pandemic. 

We should promote our local products, crafts and natural resources such as energy from sun, wind and water. We should make it easier to operate small and large businesses and reduce unnecessary regulations and duplication of requirements. 

Most important is that legislators should act upon quickly what they promise to do. 

11. An estimated 60% of Hawaii residents are struggling to get by, a problem that reaches far beyond low-income and into the middle class, which is disappearing. What ideas do you have to help the middle class and working families who are finding it hard to continue to live here?

Yes, people of Hawaii are struggling due to multiple factors. High property taxes, high insurance rates, high interest rates, high cost of health care and food, lower income requiring two to three jobs, rising crimes and theft and work force shortages as the working class continue to migrate to the mainland, just to name a few. 

We must make it easier for people in Hawaii live here comfortably. Beside boosting the economy, reducing taxes including property taxes and increasing government efficiency and transparency, we must make it easier for small and large businesses to do business and create more jobs, support local products and craft and rely on alternate energy. 

Our school system seems to be improving. However, we need to increase the salaries and benefits of our good teachers and supporting staff to retain them. We need to have a world-class educational system to produce the leaders of tomorrow.