Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s legislative priorities for the 2026 Hawaiʻi State Legislative Session.

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Affordable Housing

Strengthen Tenant Protections: Codify into law tenant protection measures, such as: 

  • Just Cause Eviction, which clarifies the different scenarios under which a tenant can or cannot be evicted; and 

  • Right to Return, which provides payment to renters who are displaced by new developments or allows for them to return to redeveloped projects. This practice is already used by HHFDC around 201H projects but it is not encoded in HAR or HRS.

Create Locals-Only Housing: Using deed restrictions to facilitate the creation of housing reserved for qualified residents at a scale which would create a secondary market tied to local wages. A deed restriction program of the required scale can be done through: the 201H alternative pathway; grant money for ADU construction in exchange for deed restriction; or county deed restriction programs to reserve existing housing stock.

Reform the Conveyance Tax: Increase the conveyance tax on non owner-occupied housing to raise revenue for both the general fund and a new special fund to finance housing development through the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. This proposal would create a marginal rate structure for residential properties only. The resulting rate structure would actually reduce the tax owed by the average owner occupant while increases the tax owed on second properties and luxury housing.

Maximize TOD Density: Create high minimum density requirements to support Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) and public transit projects and remove barriers to constructing dense housing in TOD districts.

Reduce Minimum Lot Sizes: Require counties to reduce and standardize minimum lot sizes. Smaller lot sizes allow for smaller development and better utilization of the State Urban Land Use District.

Food Equity

Strengthen SNAP: Require that the state Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) office apply for the Elderly Simplified Application Project (ESAP) and the pre-release waiver. 

The Elderly Simplified Application Project (ESAP) extends the recertification period to every 3 years and allows kūpuna and adults with disabilities to waive recertification interviews. Implement a prerelease waiver allowing eligible incarcerated individuals to apply for SNAP benefits before release.

Expand Free School Meal Access: We continue to look for opportunities to expand free school meals to all students in Hawaiʻi, including charter school students, as well as making Act 139 permanent. 

Implement Medicaid Direct Certification: Implement a direct certification process that automatically qualifies children receiving Medicaid for free or reduced-price school meals, even if they don’t fill out an application.

Fund Farm to Families/SEFAP: Provide funding for food banks in the wake of federal cuts through investments in the State Emergency Food Assistance Program (SEFAP). Build on the success of the “Farm to Families” model.

Tax & Budget

Reform the Capital Gains Tax: Capital gains are the profits made from selling assets like stock, antiques and real estate. In Hawaiʻi, they are taxed at a maximum rate of 7.25 percent, which is lower than the tax rate applied to income from work for many high-earners. 

This creates a loophole that wealthy residents with assets can exploit to lower their overall tax rate. Closing the loophole by taxing capital gains at the same marginal rates as ordinary income would generate badly-needed revenue for the state while increasing fairness within the tax code.

Freeze Act 46 Tax Cuts: Stopping the implementation of Act 46’s broad and sweeping income tax cuts after 2025 would allow the state to recapture some of the vital revenue the 2024 law is projected to lose the state over the next six years. 

The long-term goal is to adjust Act 46 to reduce its benefit for high-income taxpayers, while preserving the benefits that the law distributes to lower-income households so that it can function as a tax fairness boost without absorbing too much of the state budget.

Create a State Child Tax Credit: Create a state-level Child Tax Credit that delivers a sum of money (e.g. $250 per child each year) to low- and middle-income households. This program is a proven strategy to help low-income families afford the cost of basic necessities, which improves their economic security while generating economic activity, and therefore tax revenue, for the state.

Transportation Equity

Strengthening SNAP with ESAP & Incentives: Require the state Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) office to apply for the Elderly Simplified Application Project (ESAP) and the pre-release waiver. The Elderly Simplified Application Project (ESAP) extends the recertification period to every 3 years and allows kūpuna and adults with disabilities to waive recertification interviews. Implement a prerelease waiver allowing eligible incarcerated individuals to apply for SNAP benefits before release.

Let Youth Ride Free: Incentivize the counties to establish free transit programs for youth (under 18), through allocation of the General Fund, State Highway Fund, or the development of a new continuous funding source.

Fund Pedestrian Head Start Upgrades: Require that the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation (HDOT), in coordination with the county transportation departments, install leading pedestrian intervals (LPIs) at a certain number of intersections each year, and where signals are installed/replaced. 

Signal improvements should also include Accessible Pedestrian Signals to accommodate low-vision pedestrians.

Reduce Pedestrian Fines: Decrease jaywalking fines as a way to reduce the cycle of debt that results from traffic fines and fees imposed on pedestrians.

Reduce Costly Parking Mandates: Cap the amount of parking that counties can impose on new housing and commercial development, and require the elimination of parking mandates for certain uses, such as ADUs, affordable housing, senior housing, housing for people with disabilities, child care facilities, etc.

Standardize Police Data Collection: Require police enforcement to collect certain socio demographic data for all stops, and provide yearly reports. 

The goal of this policy is to increase transparency of policing in Hawaiʻi, and to better understand racial biases that exist in local policing, particularly traffic enforcement.