 Aloha and welcome back to Politics in Hawaii with Dennis Esaki on Think Tech Hawaii. Today we'll be speaking with Jill Tokura, a former state senator and chair of the Powerful Ways and Means Committee as well as other key committees. Jill is currently running for the office of Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii. Jill, welcome to Politics in Hawaii. It has been said- Thanks for having me. Yeah, thank you. It has been said that you went into politics because of your uncle, please tell us about it, who Jill Tokura is and what you're doing now. Jill? Well, thank you. Well, definitely, you know, in our family, we weren't necessarily a political family, but my uncle Sam Kokazu was very active in the Democratic Party and, you know, took me under the wing when I joined the party in a very early age, when I was 16 or so. But I will tell you who the honest inspiration was that got me interested in politics was Patsy Mink. I still remember catching the bus to Kapilani Park to watch her at a rally, and it was like she was lifting herself up off the ground with all of the passion and emotion. And I remember thinking, I want to be a part of that. You know, that's something right there. The ability to move people to feel passionate about something. I want to join what she's involved in. And that got me involved in the Democratic Party and the elections from that point. And I've never looked back since. It really has been about how to best serve the public and give back to a community and to people who've given so much to me. So quite the journey so far. Yes. Yeah, Patsy Mink sure was a powerful force. Of course, of nature. Yeah. Yeah, you've been on some other key committees in the chair of the committees in the Senate. What were they? You know, for the 12 years that I was very fortunate to represent the windward side of Oahu in the Hawaii State Senate, I did share some amazing committees that really gave me insight into people and families throughout our state. You know, I was the education chair for both higher and lower education. I'm a proud public school graduate of Castle High School, our kids school there right now. And, you know, it was always about how to support our schools and prepare our children for the careers of the future. I was the agriculture and Hawaiian affairs chairperson, a really critical industry. You know, I'm here on Kauai right now. And our family has roots and Puhe camp as so many do plantation camps around the state. We have agricultural roots and it's important that we really look at how we can sustain and diversify agriculture from the land, the water, the capital, but especially nowadays the labor force as well and create viable sustainable jobs in that particular area too. And ways and means obviously was one that was a really big lift. It was a huge challenge, but such a humbling experience for me. You know, I often tell the story about how you know, my kids were little at that particular time and we would sit at the dining room table and I would be helping them with their homework. And so, you know, addition, subtraction, lots of pencil erasing going on. And mommy had her homework too. And so I had these huge stacks of binders with the state budget in it, just 16 billion dollars or so. We were looking at and it really hit me that if we don't add right, if we don't subtract right or we subtract the wrong thing, then we're really eliminating the chances, you know, subtracting those opportunities our own children have to sit at kitchen tables of their own to be able to raise a family here in Hawaii, you know, to call this place home to see a future for themselves. And so the decisions that government makes every day, especially as it deals with the finances and good policy, we have to think that it's not just the short term, it's the long term. Are we creating a viable opportunity and a future for our kids here in Hawaii? And so that really, really hit it home for me in terms of the need for strong leadership that gets it, understand what family struggles are going through at the highest levels of government. And so that also was a very critical point in my time during the Senate to be able to chair the Ways and Means Committee, but especially humbling to be able to then go through all of our communities across the state and see the different needs. But quite frankly, the inspirational opportunities we all have as a result of our people and what they're willing to step up and do too. Yeah. If I'm mistaken, you're carrying your pregnant with your children while you're in office, they must have been pretty hard. Both babies were born in the state capitol so far as I can tell no long-term emotional effects of being raised up in the state Senate. But literally, my first, I was pregnant during my first chair ship when I had Ag Hawaiian affairs and it was really difficult. I was a first trimester and we were battling important Ag lands legislation and we passed that, which was historic. It took 30 years to do that. We also had seated land settlement discussions during that time. But I do think that again, you look at it from the perspective, the decisions you're making, you understand that it's your child's future. It's other children's future that you're fighting for as well. And so that really made the difference. And our son, Aiden, was born during session. It was everyone jokes about when you should be having kids relative to the legislative calendar. Well, we just had Aiden and it was a total blessing. Both babies were, they were our little miracles, if you will. And so gave birth to Aiden and three weeks after he was born, he was a little premature. He came in every day with me and we led committees and we took votes and negotiated and he was right there in his stroller by my side. So for me, it was a really amazing experience to be able to be constantly reminded with my children present what we fight for, why the decisions we make, they're not just about us. They're about our kids and their future and what they will inherit as a result of our decisions. Great. I'm sure they learn a lot by osmosis. I hope so. I hope so. Although I don't know that they're going to politics. You mentioned Patsy Mink and her fight for, you know, was it Title IX and all that? I don't know. You're a part of the Women's Legislative Caucus or something like that? Can you tell us about that? Yeah, no, I think the Women's Legislative Caucus really is kind of a really cool thing. I will say that. It's a bipartisan group of women lawmakers, including some council members as well and working closely with the Women's Caucus, which includes advocacy groups throughout the community. And it's really about how do we push forward those issues that are of importance that impact women and families? And if you think about it, women are caregivers, you know, women are running households, they're running businesses, though, they're leaders of industry as well. So while it's called the Women's Legislative Caucus and there is some gender bias to it, the reality is the issues that the Women's Legislative Caucus fought for really transcended gender. It lifted, it was a tide that rose all ships, if you will, understanding that as a community, we've got to fight for these things that our families need, that our workers need, that in many cases are basic human civil rights that don't just support women, it supports us all. And so it was really inspiring to be a part of a group of women who cared passionately about things. And let's be real, it's bipartisan. We don't agree on absolutely everything. But we get that there are things so important, like be able to assure basic civil liberties and rights of women and young families and children that we've got to come together. And we've got to work through that and make sure that we fight for those things. The Caucus has been involved in not only women's rights, but you take a look at the history of, you know, fighting domestic violence and family violence, and really looking at various labor issues and supporting that to make sure there's equity there in both pay and anti-discrimination. So it was wonderful to be a part of that. But quite frankly, let's be real here, the work is not done. We've still got a lot more to do and we're never going to take it for granted that we have all that we need. So the fight continues. Yeah. Yeah. I remember it made news when your caucus set up a meeting with the police chief and it didn't show up or something. Was it ever, did you guys meet later on? You know, there was a meeting, but, you know, that was even before really, there were issues nationally in terms of how police were handling various crimes and whether or not there was a gender bias in the case where the victims were women and, you know, the, you know, the attackers, the assailants, if you will, were either men and or police officers as well. And so very sensitive issues. But at the same time, we really wanted to raise the issue that oftentimes domestic violence, family violence is grossly underreported. You know, we report what's a priority when we see it, we react to it, but DV and family violence were just not getting, you know, quite frankly, the attention or the tracking that it needed to so that we could really start to address it systemically, both in making sure that we have strong laws in place, training in place, protocols in place, because family violence, domestic violence, it impacts every one of us. But that has no gender bias as well either, right? It goes both ways and making sure that law enforcement recognized the importance of being able to accurately account for that so we can address it as a community. So it was a, you know, work that the women's legislative caucus did and quite frankly continue to do in terms of making sure that there's accuracy in reporting and solid training and quite frankly, representation on those decision making boards that are sensitive and understanding to the kind of inequities that exist, the biases that exist as well. So we can start to address this in the present, but especially going forward in terms of decisions and laws made. Yeah, thanks. Let's see, you've received a lot of awards, including the Legislative of the Year in different organizations, such as the Farm Bureau, I guess, were you in charge of the Agriculture Committee? And can you mention some of the things you've done with agriculture? And would you see it going? No, absolutely. You know, I'm very humbled, you know, to be able to get these these recognitions. And quite frankly, for me, the real reward was being able to work closely with our farmers and the Hawaii Farm Bureau and other advocates to be able to support an industry that has such deep roots here in Hawaii. And every one of us are connected in some way. But quite frankly, too, is how do we build that sustainable future? We want to not only feed ourselves, but we want to ensure that there are livelihoods for producers. We want to make sure that there's good jobs for our children. And jobs, and I quite frankly, are changing, just as agriculture itself is changing and a lot more in terms of processing and value added and, you know, where they're able to actually send out their produce and their products as well. Those are those needs support. You know, it is not an easy industry to sustain yourself in, but it's so critical. You wouldn't know if the farmers stopped growing your food, if it was no longer available. And yet, you know, the infrastructure to support them, whether it be capital or land or water is very difficult. And so those are some of the things that I fought for, especially passing the important ag lands legislation. It was one of the first big bills that I passed and negotiated as agriculture chair when I first got into office. But quite frankly, it's a continuous battle that we fight to make sure that our lands are viable. But more importantly, we understand by listening to our farmers, what do they really need to sustain? What would they need to be able to feel comfortable passing on the business to the next generation. So it's not farming as usual, but it really is listening to farmers and understanding how we look at farming into the future as well. You've got automation, you've got so much other adaptations and improvements innovations through science. At the same time, you got a lot of federal regulations coming through. So it's very difficult to be a farmer. And so for me, it really always has been about listening and understanding how we can support them. One of the early concept that I pushed, a lot of people are talking about farm to school. My whole dream when I was ICOIN affairs chair and education chair was I wanted farm to state. State is a large consumer of food, whether it be schools, whether it be looking at our correctional facilities, our hospitals. To me, how can we leverage the purchasing power of the state and other governments like the county to be able to support our farmers in meaningful way? They need a guaranteed market so they can put the crops into ground and then be able to sell it at a consistent price point. So that has been something I've pushed for quite some time now. It's really great to see farm to school taking off in the schools. But to me, we can go bigger than this because it is again about creating some sustainable marketplaces, ensuring that capital flowing through our farms to really make sure that they have the viability to stay in business. Yeah. Talking about farm, I grew up on a farm in the 1950s. I was expected to take over the farm when I got out of college in the early 70s. But frankly, I was bored and I moved to Honolulu, got it to surveying. My brother ended up taking it over and busting his butt, raising bananas. He's finally figured now he's got to go and value add it. As you mentioned, one of the things they got to do. But I've noticed in the good of farmers market here, I'm not saying it's bad, but they're mostly first degree immigrants of first generation immigrants and they're hard workers. Or the big seed companies are doing ag. Like I said, their ag is ag, but it's not the diversified ag as we grew up in before, when the long ago in the 50s when the state awarded in 20 acre ag lands with that. It was tough work. And even recently, I think you may have been out on the legislature already. I think the water co-op, 75,000 to fix the irrigation ditches for the farmers in the legislature didn't give it to them. So to say screw that, we're not going to take it out irrigation ditches anymore. So they went into the farming in the East Kauai area. So there's a lot of things going on at the legislature. I know that while I was in office, East Kauai irrigation was a funded priority as well. Again, recognizing the need to be able to have access to water as well as lands as well. But also what we do know the difficulty and the heavy cost to maintain that kind of infrastructure is not easy, especially for farmers to go it alone. I think it's difficult. And you mentioned your brother took over the banana farm. I remember meeting him for the very first time when Bunchy Top just hit and hit really hard. And I think that's a reminder too that the threats to agriculture are so many. It's natural, it's disasters, it's floods, it's hurricane, it's drought, it's pests that see a year-round breeding ground here in Hawaii. And so continuously being able to support how we're going to be able to help our farmers thrive as a business. If you're constantly bombarded by those things without support, it's very difficult to consider staying in the industry and the business. Let alone pass it on to your children as well. I've been really inspired to see a lot of innovation, a lot of value added and new ways of doing business in some of the farms. But it is very, very, very difficult. And you're having to compete with markets well outside of Hawaii as well. And that price point is hard sometimes to make it viable for you to keep selling and keeping your roof over your head and seeds in the ground. Yeah, I go to a lot of the big stores here. I see a lot of the produce imported from Mexico, some other countries that we could theoretically grow it here and we have in the past. But I guess the price dictates that. Moving on to some other topics. I'm sure you're involved with housing. Homelessness is a big issue. Long time ago I was on the State Housing Finance and Development Corp. That's right. Part when we started Kapolei and all that. What do you think about housing and what can the state be doing? That's a tough one. Since about the beginning of the year, I've been working to set up community action teams on the Winward side of Oahu to actually help families, individuals struggling right now to draw down on the hundreds of millions of dollars coming into our state from the federal government for emergency rent and utility support. As the pandemic has hit everyone hard, especially those that have been unemployed or underemployed, being able to continue to pay the rent. And with the eviction moratorium lifted, the urgency is even greater. I know Representative Nakamura here on Kaua'i has taken a lot of leadership. Representative Hashimoto from Maui to put the eviction mediation program in place, which is amazing. But it is really about how are we looking at this first and foremost of keeping people in homes right now, right, really utilizing the hundreds of millions from the federal government to keep that roof over people's head. But my big concern is also the long game. We have the visible homeless that we see on the side of the road, camped out in tents and shelters. But the reality is we have an even larger population of invisible homeless out there. Those that are just either one paycheck away or quite frankly, able to stay sheltered because they're living on the good graces of friends and family members, couch surfing, parked in people's garages and whatnot. And those I really worry about because they're one tow away from really being homeless. And once you fall in that category, it's very, very difficult and quite expensive actually for government to help you now go back into some kind of permanent shelter opportunities. So to me, there are quite a few resources honestly out there right now through homeless programs with the government and the state and the counties have federal monies coming through. Now we've got to execute good strong decisions to make sure that money gets to triage those individuals that are most at risk. So it does mean the chronically homeless that you see on the street now. And those take multiple points of touch to be able to move them into a sheltered environment. But the one I really worry about are the families and individuals right now who are just living right there on the edge and any day now could find themselves homeless, could find themselves affected. You know, it broke my heart a couple of months ago, I was talking to some of our teams in the community and asking how things were going. And they said, hey, you know, we've got all this money here, you know, it's taking a little longer to get the funds to them and to their landlords, but they're giving up, they're just moving away. And it breaks my heart because you know, I remember sitting again at that kitchen table with my kids wanting to make sure that we made good decisions so that they saw a future for themselves here in Hawaii. And too many people right now, even with hundreds of millions of dollars available to help them keep her over ahead, they don't see a future here, they don't see how they can sustain living here. And we got to do something about that. I mean, that's really part of the reason I said, I've got to come back. You know, we've all got to work together and we have to figure out how we roll up our sleeves, do some hard work and get things done. It's fine for many who choose, who want to leave and go someplace else in Hawaii. But what breaks my heart is that there are many families and individuals who feel they have no choice. That living here in Hawaii is just not sustainable. And that really speaks to the affordability of housing, to preventing more homeless from from hitting our streets and making sure that we do have those programs to either subsidize the rental units that they're in, or quite frankly, we do need to increase the units of affordable housing available, truly affordable units for our families and workers. And that's a huge priority. You know, I started working on that while I was in the legislature, looking at mandates so that we get to those particular points, but it really is about action. Yeah, and housing, I guess, the word of the day is like, people are buying it say unseen, you know, like, you know, the local guys cannot compete, guys from around the world are buying up whatever comes on the market, you know, higher than the list price. So this is the competition that we're faced with. And that's tough. I'm sure we're seeing it in every community is, you know, I remember my father was telling me he was just curious, you know, my brothers are looking for for homes and whatnot, possibly they just happened to drive by, you know, one of the open houses on a weekend, there was a line down the street before the open house. And, you know, again, they just wanted to see, okay, what's what's the temperature out there? How much are things costing? And I mean, like you to your point, things are being bought out right now. And so first and foremost, for me, I want to make sure even you know, we talked about renters a little while ago, but homeowners are critical too. We know homeowners are struggling to stay in their homes, you know, one of the things I've been doing is tracking those federal funds. And I know we've got about 50 million coming from the feds to help homeowners that are struggling with both utilities as well as their mortgages. We've quite frankly got to do more 50 million sounds like a lot of money. But a lot of families have been trying to pay as much mortgage as possible, but defaulting on the utility bills or electricity, their sewer, their water. We want to make sure we give every opportunity for our families and, you know, individuals to be able to stay and keep their homes. Once you lose it, like you said, the price will just go up from their price themselves out of this market, quite frankly. So keeping people in their homes with their mortgages is another huge priority. And 50 million is a great place to start from the feds. But even to the extent if it's required, Congress did give quite a bit of discretionary money to both the counties and the states. And I think those types of things, those buckets of money, this just over $2 billion that came into the state and the counties, we need to start looking at them for to triage those areas that are most critical to helping people right now stabilize and quite frankly, now start to recover and look forward and strengthen themselves. Yeah, it's a big issue in Hawaii right now. I don't know if we get time for all the rest of it. You know, it's tied in with they get a raise money for the rail, you know, for property tax or something. Since I mentioned the rail, you got any reds on the rail? Oh, that's a loaded question right there. And you know, definitely when I've been involved, and I think at the end of the day, taxpayers are just looking for accountability and assurance. Everyone wants affordable, effective transportation means that helps everyone in our community. But at the same time, these are taxpayer dollars. And we have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that they're used well, and that we're not just, you know, throwing money, you know, at a particular problem or balancing, you know, our checkbooks on the back of our kids. And that's really what we do when we take a look at long term funding like that. So smart decisions that at the end do mean we are able to pay our bills, but also be able to have good transportation means, I think that's important. And you know, one of the things I want to add in here is I know there's often questions about the LG's office, what do you do? Are you waiting for the governor to tell you to take on something? To me, it's never been about asking permission or for waiting for instructions. You know, we cannot rely just on one person to run this state LG is not just a second seat. This is about two strong people able to govern and do what we need to do to help our communities and families. And that's really how it approached the office. You know, I've been able to work with both the public and private sector effectively and get things done. And regardless of who's sitting in that governor's seat, I think you're talking to all of them right now. I think everyone knows that I understand both government, but I also understand the needs, the struggles and the hopes of people and really being able to get to work with whoever is governor, and even on my own for initiatives I believe on to make sure that that work is done. So really looking forward to making the most of the lieutenant governor's seat, but also especially looking forward, how do we really create the opportunity for the LG to really be a partner with a governor to effectively get things done for our state and for our community and families? Yeah, thanks. We, winding up, there was a fast half an hour. I understand you're visiting her friends over on the island of Kauai, including Yohan, Rene Sakoda, Sendora Loha. She's a big help. You know, she's been around political role for a long time. She has been. Yeah. So you got any closing words? You know, just thank you, and we learned from, you know, every day is a learning opportunity for me, and it really is humbling, but the most inspiring and rewarding part of the campaign is being able to get out and talk to people, but more importantly, listen. You know, government has to do a lot of listening to really understand where we need to go, where people's struggles are, but more importantly, what their hopes are for the future. They want to be talked with, not talked to. And I think I'm going to spend a lot of time right now really focused on people, really focused on even starting to get things done now to help people, because for me, it's about our actions, not just our words, and really putting it forward to help all of us work together to build a stronger, better Hawaii together. And that's what I'll be doing. So you'll see me out there on your, you know, in communities across our state today. I'm just really happy to be here on Kauai, where I assure you, I'll have a couple of, you know, probably pounds of Goderberg sausage in my bag, going through TSC with some happy family members on the other side. And, you know, it's a great day. It is a great day. So thank you, Dennis, for having me on your show. It's been a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you viewers for watching Politics in Hawaii with Dennis Isaki. Mahalo to Jill Tokura, and good luck in your race for lieutenant governor. Aloha, ahoiho, malama pono.