 Aloha, I'm Kili Ikeena, President of the Grassroot Institute and trustee at large in the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The views, however, expressed in today's commentary are completely my own as a private citizen. It isn't often that a supposedly controversial political issue builds to an overwhelming consensus among Hawaii citizens, especially when that consensus is in direct opposition to the official position of the state's largest political party. A recent Honolulu Star advertiser poll asked this question, what should be done about the maritime shipping law called the Jones Act? And though it was an unscientific poll, the results weren't even close. Approximately 84% of those who responded wanted some kind of reform. Nearly half wanted to get rid of the entire act. In short, it was an overwhelming victory for bringing the Jones Act into the 21st century, given the fact that Jones Act interests were recently caught stuffing the ballot box in a similar poll by Pacific Business News, the results of the Star advertiser poll are even more impressive. Well, to give it some perspectives, Jones Act reform got more than double the popular support of the legislature's new rail taxes. Only 37% of the people approved that. More support than new tax on sodas and sugared beverages, and only 39% approved that. In fact, Jones Act reform got more support than legalizing recreational marijuana. Only 40% approved of that. All of these items that get support during the legislative session have much smaller percentage of the population behind them. More people want to see the Jones Act change, which leads to one very obvious question. When will Hawaii's political leaders catch up with public opinion? The majority of Hawaii's taxpayers want to see the Jones Act modernized. They've made a clear statement that Jones Act reform would be good for our state, good for our economy, and help reduce our cost of living. With such a strong mandate, Hawaii's congressional delegates could break the deadlock on the issue in D.C. and move us toward real change. Whether they'll have the courage to break with the Jones Act lobby to do so is a bigger question. But at least they know they would have the support of the voters. And that's a good thing going into an election year. I'm Kayleigh Ikeena. Until next time, aloha.