 Molaptics in Hawaii, with Dennis Yasaki on Think Tech Hawaii. Today we'll be speaking with Sylvia Lou, Chair of the Powerful House Finance Committee. Sylvia, welcome to Think Tech Hawaii. And thank you for taking the time to speak with us. Aloha Dennis, and thank you for inviting me. I'd like to know how you overcame the language barrier as you came to America as a child, not speaking English, to getting your law degree in the community. Let's start with your childhood. Tell us about it. Yeah, so thanks for that question. I actually came to United States when I was nine years old and I couldn't speak a single word of English. And the funny thing was my dad taped papers all around the house. So there would be a letter A. When I go to the bathroom, there will be a letter A, would I apple on it or B with something? And all summer, that's what I did. And you showed up in first day of school and I didn't know what the teacher was saying other than maybe bits and pieces of words. And back then, even the bathrooms were spelled out, G-I-R-L-S, so I would have to follow people to just find a bathroom. But there was this special teacher who took time off after school every day to teach me how to speak English and learn English. And she said, I'm not gonna send you to ESL class, I'm gonna have you sit here and just learn English. And that really showed me the Aloha spirit and taught me how great Hawaii was. Unfortunately, about seven years after I arrived here, my dad passed away and my mom was faced with no family and raising three young kids. And she was a strong church member. And so no matter how little we had, she took time off to go to church and take care of people who were sick or the elderly members. And we never felt we were in love or in need because we always grew up thinking that there was always somebody in need, there was always somebody who needed help. And so those things, now looking back when I first ran for office in 98, I think some of the lessons that my mom taught me was engraved in that about public service and needing to take care of others. Very good. Must have been a good teacher. And you said you didn't have to take ESL class. Funny thing, I was born here, yet in college, I sent me to ESL lab because I couldn't speak well. Okay, then on to college for you, you're going to become ASUH president. How did that happen? Right. So after I graduated from Roosevelt High School, right here in Honolulu, I paid for my own education because my mom didn't have that much money. So I went to UH Manawa. She told me, okay, you have to go to college, it's not an option, so I went. And even then I got involved in student government, I ran for ASUH senator, and I met some of my closest friends there. The late Congressman Mark Takai was a senator and other members who I still know and really like I actually met my husband in ASUH. And that was a really good experience. And that was, we actually went to the Capitol to lobby. One of Mark's really great accomplishment was convincing Governor Wahe that we could fit a 10,000 seat stadium, the basketball stadium at UH. UH was actually pushing for a 5,000 seater and Mark did the math and he did the rendition and we went down to the governor's office and we lobbied at the legislature. And after that meeting, the governor said, you know what, this year, I'm gonna market the year of the students. So in early years, I was able to experience what it was like to testify in front of the legislature. And I had a lot of high regards for many of the legislators who are key policymakers. And I think those were the things that also inspired me to go into public service. Oh, that's great. Is that the Stan Sheriffs Center you're talking about? Yes, it was the Stan Sheriffs Center. And, you know, I always, you know, even to this day, I tell people it shouldn't be, you know, it should actually be called name K-Mark Takai Center because K-Mark Takai was the one who helped build it. And I know you were very close to Mark as well. You know, I still have fond memories of him and, you know, I still grieve his loss. You know, he left us too early. Yes, he did. But you even ran against him and for you ASUH president, right? Yeah, that's the funny story. So he and I were senators and we were friends and it was just friendly. And then, but we both ran against each other to be US, I mean, ASUH president. And I only won by 20 votes. And we became really close after and, you know, regardless of our election, you know, we worked together. And he was one of the ones who encouraged me to run when I ran for the state house. He was elected in 1994. And he said, hey, you know what? We could really use your help to make some changes, internal changes and policy changes in the state house. So he inspired me to run in 98 and he helped in my first race as well. Okay, that's great. But he went out to become ASUH president also, right? Correct. So after I was ASUH president the following year, I encouraged him to run and he became ASUH president. Okay, would you support that? Yeah, yeah, I got the name. Well, also when you ate his first race for Congress. Okay, you know, we've got so many things on the table in the legislature. Where did we start? How are we financially? And, you know, yeah, start with that. So that's a really good question. So as you know, the last two years were really hard and just two years ago, we were looking at basically a $3 billion deficit. What helped the state was significant amount of federal assistance. So as you know, individuals receive stimulus funds and even unemployment, there were plus ups and there were additional assistance, even businesses got assistance. And because of that, it helped to sustain our economy for the next two years. But now what we're seeing is some of the fruits and the results of some of that infusion. So a lot of the activity we see now is the continuation, but now we have to continue to keep going, right? So now we came into the legislative session, not with a deficit, but we now saw a significant amount of revenue increase. So one of the things that the governor proposed was putting a billion dollars into the rainy day fund and that's something that the legislature disagreed because there are so many issues that we need to work on right now that needed to be addressed. So as you probably heard, we decided to dedicate about $600 million to fix the DHHL waitlist. There are still about 28,000 people on the waitlist and this is a obligation that the state has to meet to make sure that our native Hawaiian population has a place to live and place they can call home. And I know affordable housing is a big issue, not just for native Hawaiians, but throughout the entire state, especially on Kaua'i. So I think taking care of a segment of the population will also alleviate and address some of the affordable housing issues throughout. Since you mentioned the DHHL, of course they got their own leading them, you give them the money. They've been building subdivisions and the one in particular on Kaua'i been like a good five years, but they can no houses on them. So is that like money to build the houses and they got to qualify also, right, that the applicants? So how is that $600 million gonna help? Right. So out of the entire number of waitlisted individuals out of the 28,000, about half of that group already own a home. So we're really concentrating on those individuals who cannot afford to buy a home. So the $600 million is not just for lot development, but it could be used for rental assistance, mortgage assistance, down payment assistance. And some of the exciting things that could happen on Kaua'i especially is we understand that there are a lot of owners who are willing to sell their lots with infrastructure. I think the largest problem with DHHL is they are forced to build on some of the lands that are not developable. So for instance, they have out of the 200,000 acres of land that they have, there's about 65,000 acres that's in conservation. So why are we giving DHHL lands that they cannot develop already? So what we need to do is find land that they can develop and find land that already has infrastructure, which is going to put the $600 million into a lot of better use as opposed to all in lot development and infrastructure. Yeah, infrastructure is a big part of it even for our regular housing, which I'm leading to housing in general, like moderate income or what do we call it for the regular working class. Right, exactly. So whether you're on Kaua'i or Maui or Oahu, affordable housing is a big issue. And one of the things that we have to work on is infrastructure development. On Kaua'i, we have to make sure that there's sewer capacity, there's water capacity, and I think that's the part that the counties have a hard time with because there's not ever enough money. So as far as the state is concerned, and looking at some of the Build Back Better legislation passed by the federal government, we are looking at how do we partner with the counties in investing in some of these infrastructure work because as you know, the infrastructure costs adds about $200,000 to every home. And can you imagine if we can defray some of that cost, it would really help reduce the cost of housing. So I think we have to get creative. The other thing is we will be investing a significant amount this year, the house as a bill, especially working with your housing chair, Nady Nakamura, she is proposing about $150 million into workforce housing. So anybody who has 60% AMI or lower, that's a family of four making about $60,000 or $70,000, which is not that much. That population, there's always rental housing being built because developers can get federal credit or federal help. It's the 60% AMI to 120%, which is the workforce housing that is not being built. So we really need to concentrate on workforce housing because these are our teachers, these are our nurses, these are our firefighters, state and county workers, you know, entrepreneurs. So this is the population that we have to build for. So that will be the concentration this year. Very good. You know, they've always said like affordable housing includes up to 140% of the median income. It's to me, you know, calling the affordable is kind of misnomer. Exactly, exactly. And 140 AMI is a family of four making about $150,000. So we have to really concentrate on 60 to about 120 or less. So I think that's the concentration because, you know, the 140 and beyond, the developers will always find that market and develop for that population because they can afford it. But, you know, as far as state and county assistance, we have to focus on the workforce housing. Yeah, I'll just bring this up when you talk about housing. You gotta get the balance, you know, of workforce housing and affordable. A long time ago, the state used to, when we first started the Kapolei was on the HFDC board, we did the developers had to come up with a mix of a whole market and affordable. And the market would help subsidize the lower one. And they also had a whole bunch of, when they had the tax credits and the revolving funds, which I don't know how much you guys got in the revolving, but I think it's going up now, putting in more. Correct. So about a few years ago, we put about $200 million into rental housing revolving fund. We always support mixed use housing because they need to leverage the market housing to make up for some of the losses for the affordable units or the low income units. So anytime you have mixed use, it's always a good policy because you want a mixed community anyway, and you want economic diversity and you want different culture, different ethnic backgrounds to be in a same area. Yeah, right, that's a big problem. We got some organizations like Habitat for Humanity did doing a lot of the lower income and the Kauai housing agency did doing a lot too. Yeah, out of all the counties, Kauai has done an excellent job. So for instance, there are DHL lots and affordable housing lots where you put in sweat equity and it's the home ownership program. You put in sweat equity and make up for some of the monetary costs. So there are huge success stories on Kauai and that's why we love working with Kauai because things that if you try to do something on Oahu, it's just too costly and some areas are too dense and some areas don't have infrastructure but you have Kauai with a finite population and a land mass, you can do all kinds of stuff. So now we're looking at doing pilot project of doing teacher housing on Kauai as a model for the rest. And Kauai actually is the model for what to do with parks management because of what happened in Cayenne and thanks to the community and it was actually 30 years in the making and thanks to the work of the community and all of that becomes a model for the entire state. So Kauai has a lot to be proud of and it is the key driver and so the policy making that we do for the rest of the state. Yeah, thanks. I think it's a tight function with the state. Okay, it's switching gears now. gambling, what do you say on gambling? So gambling, every year there's some legislation that is introduced about gambling. In fact, just today on the floor, people are again discussing whether DHHL should have the authority to have casino gambling on DHHL a lot and it was really contested and there are a lot of debates. I think there's pros and cons but we will continue to have those discussion. I don't think the state is ready for it because even among legislators, there's a lot of dispute. I think, you know, as the Supreme Court allowed the pave the way for sports gambling, maybe it might be an avenue. It's not something that I think a lot of the high school sports and high school coaches are opposed to it because they are concerned about, you know, kids getting involved with that. So I think it might be, it's gonna take a while before a way of proves gambling. Well, I'm sure there's no back from gambling around here, right? Yeah. Okay, at a rail, do you see that possibly being a state function? No, absolutely not. Rail is not a state function and rail has to be the responsibility of the city and county of Honolulu. I look forward to 2030 when the rail tax expires and the city and county of Honolulu has to take responsibility for accountability and transparency over rail. So, yeah, rail cannot be a state function. What about the guys that say, well, look at harbors, you know, highways, they're all state functions, you know. That's transportation. Yeah, it's transportation, but, you know, it's as a state policy, it's something that the city and county approve and I don't think the rest of the state should bear the burden of a public works project. It's probably one of the largest public works project that city and county of Honolulu approve. It's a touchy subject. You may not wanna talk about it, but recently two legislators got arrested for corruption, basically. Right, right. What do you call it? You got any words to that? Yeah, I do. You know, we're very disappointed and we're outraged and shocked. I've been in the legislature for 24 years and we have never had a situation as bad as this where legislators, these two former, now former legislators receive cash payoffs. You think this is something that just happened in the mainland? It is really disappointing only because, you know, these are individuals we knew and we trusted and I think we now have to kind of take a look at the situation and say, hey, you know what, were there things that we could have done, whether it's strengthening ethics laws or making sure that we teach new elected legislators about some of these issues. But, you know, a lot of times if there are corruption, sometimes there's no amount of laws that could prevent that, right? You know, it's just individuals that made real bad choices. You know, unfortunately it clouds all elected officials and it clouds every candidate who runs for office. So whether, you know, you're running for office this might discourage people from getting involved. But, you know, I do wanna say that, you know, it was a shock to everybody and, you know, we're having to deal with that internally and externally as well. But I think we just have to make sure that we continue to do our best to do the people's work and that's what we are caught upon to do. And, you know, as Financier, we give strict scrutiny to every bill that we pass to ensure that, hey, you know, it's for the public good and not for any personal interests. Yeah, you know, like people are saying, like, on the street, you know, they're like, oh, I wonder how many more, you know, the legislators are in the same boat. It's kind of in their minds, they're like, they can just kind of be the end of it or, so, yeah, it kinda paints everybody with that brush. And I think you're right, you know, like, you can teach ethics and all that, but, you know, like this, yeah. Yeah, so there's always, you know, you can teach and make laws, but if somehow, you know, people wanna get around it and do some of these activities, even the Kialoa situation, I think, no amount of laws would have predicted that and then, and even, you know, if they're gonna do things, they're gonna do it. So I think what we have to do is make sure that everything that we do is for the public good. And I think for the public as well, there's always gonna be questions, right? Whether it's even in the council or even, you know, in the Kialoa situation, even legislators, or even like county workers, right? You always hear about county workers getting caught. I think it's really upon individuals to understand that they are elected for public good and they are elected to do the people's work. And there should be a message to every person and every candidate who is running. You are running to help people and you are running to make sure that you fulfill the trust given to you by the public. And I believe strongly that people have given me this responsibility and I take this responsibility seriously. Yeah, thanks for your input. We've got an audience question. Will small nuclear power plants be necessary for Hawaii too at the 100% clean energy, especially with electric vehicles becoming predominant? Any comments on that question? Yeah, so, you know, we have a goal of reaching our renewable energy goals by 2045. I don't know if the nuclear plant, if the state is ready for that, you know, I know we're having discussions about that. I think we still have a long way to go in making sure that we have clean energy. So we maximize EV transportation. There's also abilities in geothermal, there's abilities in ocean tech, there's other abilities. So I think nuclear has always been something in the back of our minds, but I don't think it has come to the forefront yet. Yeah, a while back when Kauai was hit with the bed, Hurricane understand that, you know, we had the possibility of using the nuclear sub to, you know, restart our power here, but the 10 mayors, you know, said thanks, but no thanks. But speaking about nuclear, a while back I spent a couple of days on the nuclear aircraft carrier, it had two nuclear reactors underneath and three million gallons of fuel. And, you know, you get thousands of sailors living on them. So, you know, by itself is not too bad. In a way, Kauai and more particular KICs leading the nation is not the world in renewable energy. So I think we're well on our way. Yeah, KIC actually is doing much better than any other counties. So Kauai has a lot to be proud of. Yeah, thanks. Okay, the big question. Why risk running for Lieutenant Governor when his head of the House Finance Committee, you hold the press strings now? Yeah, no, thank you for that question, Dennis. That's the number one question a lot of people ask me. One of the things that became really evident is that this is a $16 billion entity, $16 billion of taxes that we collect from you and $16 billion of taxes that we spend. And you cannot really entrust a $16 billion entity to someone who really doesn't know how to run government. And because I've been finance chair for the last 10 years, I get to see a lot of stuff, how departments work, where are some of the inefficiencies where we can improve, how we can work cohesively and concurrently with the legislative branch and the executive branch. And so as Lieutenant Governor, I see this role as really the bridge between the executive branch and the legislative branch to get a lot of things done. We have a lot of things set in motion, for instance, the $600 million DHHL. That's a huge opportunity, but there's always this risk that the state could blow it. We could blow this $600 million. We also have $300 million coming from the federal government to help with broadband access. And as you know, Dennis, in 2019, Kauai was without broadband for one whole day. That was crazy. So we have all these projects that the legislature has already done. And so instead of trying to bring somebody up to speed or educate them, I feel the best way for me to serve in the next step is bridge that gap, hit the ground running and get some of these things done, as opposed to just planning it, as opposed to thinking about it, educating it, just get it done. So that's why I'm running and I'm really excited about that opportunity. Yeah, well, along that lines, you know, it's great. But from what I understand, the lieutenant governor's job is largely what the governor gives him or her, right? Yeah. Other than name changes and stuff like that. So even that, I change how the finance committee works. So I actually push the envelope of finance committee. So I think Josh Green actually opened the door of what the lieutenant governor can do. So as lieutenant governor, I think it's an open book and it's a possibility for you to do all kinds of things. And, you know, you shouldn't be beholded to how past lieutenant governor's has done his or her job. I think it's an opportunity for us to have every person in public office to work hard every day for the public. And so I don't really think you should wait for the governor to assign you. Okay, we're running out of time now. We got a time for a quick closing statement. I do, I just want to say thanks Dennis for inviting me. You know, we come to Kauai all the time. We came this past year to look at some of the plots that are available for affordable housing. I bring the finance committee over to Kauai every other year just so that people on members from Oahu and Maui and Big Island can see how special Kauai is and so the projects. And I think for people to understand what is really going on, they have to go. And so I really appreciate being, you know, having this opportunity to talk to you and talk to the residents of Kauai. And I look forward to meeting every one of you. If you have any questions, reach out to me. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Yeah. We've been speaking with house finance committee chairs, Sylvia Luke. Thank you for watching Politics in Hawaii on Think.Kauai with the great staff and volunteers. If you'd like to show, please share it with your friends and consider contribution to Think.Kauai, a nonprofit corporation. I'm Dennis Isaki, Mahalo, Aloha, Abuiho, and Malama Pono.