 politics in Hawaii with Dennis Esaki on Think Tech Hawaii. Today we'll be speaking with Inno Morita, former state representative and PUC chair. Among other things, Mina, this also a former Kauai County planning commissioner infectious chairperson and on the Kauai County council. And until recently, the Kauai Democratic Party chair. As a planning commission chair, there's Mina's name on many of her maps that were approved by the commission. And she has a fingerprint in a lot of things throughout our state. Inno, welcome to Think Tech Hawaii. And thank you for taking the time to speak to us. Please. Hi. Please start by telling us a little about your background and why you went into public service. First of all, thank you, Dennis, for having me on today. And I need to correct something. I was never on the county council. I ran for the county council in 1990 and I lost. I lost my couple hundred votes. It was the first time I ever ran for public office. And I said I was never going to do it again. But I, first of all, I was born and raised on Lanai and I went away for work in school. When I came back to Hawaii in 1977, I was fortunate enough to be offered a job on Kauai at Princeville. And that's how I ended up on Kauai. And I never thought I would get involved in politics locally. And I was inspired by Joanne Yukimura. And in the mid 1980s, one of the hottest topics in Hanalei was the Hanalei voting issue where tour boats down the Nepali coast was leaving from Hanalei Bay. And I became a community activist over that issue. And it's an issue that had lasted for decades and was finally resolved by Governor Cayetano in a way in the, I think early 1990s when he basically said this place is just too beautiful to be run over by commercial boats. And that helped our effort, but we also want a lot of legal battles in court. But I really believed in Joanne's vision for Kauai, especially when she said, what's good for the residents is good for the visitor and not the other way around. And that inspired me to run for the Kauai County Council in 1990. And like I said earlier, I lost that race by a couple hundred votes that I never was going to run for office and was fortunate that Joanne nominated me for the Kauai Planning Commission. And so I sat on the commission for one term and which was three years and then later was appointed to the police commission after that. But in 1996, I ran for the state house. At that time, it was the Canoe District and the Canoe District represented East Maui East Maui, which was the Haiku area towards Hana out to Kaupo and Kapa'a and North Shore, Kauai. And so I represented that district which was District 12 until the next reapportionment in 2002 when it was a reapportion just to be East and North Kauai. And served in the legislature for 15 years. And in 2011, I was appointed, first I was nominated by Governor Abercrombie to become chair of the Public Utilities Commission. So. Yeah, actually appointed by Governor Abercrombie to the PUC gave Eric Kaokami an opportunity as he was appointed to fill your seat in the legislature, right? Right, exactly. And then Derek ran for county council and later and currently, the seat is held by State Representative Nadine Nakamura. Right, yes. But they kind of will circle back. I don't know what year it was, but you know, you with the PUC energy and all that. At one time, the company was looking at putting a hydroelectric dam at Weilua River and you came out against that. Yeah. So that was in the mid-80s. And what was happening around that time, that was another kind of listen activist kind of position I took. But in the mid-80s, there was federal legislation, purple that sort of encouraged all these renewable projects. So there was a whole bunch of hydroelectric projects proposed throughout the state. And one of the things that was happening was we just passed the, oh God, I'm sorry. The water, we had the constitutional amendment about water in Hawaii. And one of the things that was supposed to happen is a statewide stream assessment. And all these plantations were, sugar plantations were shutting down and going out of business. And so all of these irrigation systems and water allocations were coming up for permit renewals at that time. And so I felt like the state needed to take a more comprehensive approach looking at where hydroelectric projects should be properly cited. And there was actually one cited for Honolulu River, one for Lumahai. There's a second project proposed for Wainiha. And as you saw one in Wailua River, one that you mentioned on Wailua River. And so it was a mainland company that was proposing all these projects. And when I looked into them, they didn't really have a good reputation. And that's another reason why I opposed the project. They didn't have any credibility behind them. And in the background, all of these kind of permits, they said that they had were being bought and sold without these projects being built. So yeah. Yeah, I reckon that they were going to take water from Honolulu River through a tunnel in the mountain to the Wailua area and put a giant dam above the falls to hydro down in Wailua. Yeah, they were talking about hydro. There was one in Wainiha, the second one above the existing one that's been from the early 1900s. The second one, just about that time, they went far along and I think... Yeah, that project was proposed by McBride. And I don't think there was very much opposition to that project that the environmental impacts were already there from the first hydro project. And so they were basically taking the same water and pushing it through a second system. And I think what happened there was, they were ready to go. They had all the permits in place, but oil prices dropped. And so it made the project no longer feasible. I think, yeah, I think Weinberg was on the board probably said he was going to do it. Yeah, which is kind of sad because I think you need a diverse portfolio of renewable resources to get to where we want to go at 100% by 2040. And hydro plays an important role in that. It shouldn't play a sole role, but it plays an important role. Yeah, you're talking about the price of oil. Their contract was tied to the price of oil and the price of oil went up and down at one time the skyrocketed. So here you see inherited the contract and we're paying high. I think it's been renegotiated after that. But it was part of a biodiesel plant also. And they wanted to tie it into the price of oil and the price of oil went in half. So here with that business. Yeah. So, you cannot really do that. Yeah, no, I think one of the better policies that was made was decoupling energy prices from oil. Right, right. Okay, since, you know, talking about the PUC, you know, a lot of us don't know much about the PUC. We see, oh, you got to approve the truckers and all that, right? Oh, you got to get the PUC number on the trucks. How is PUC tied to clean energy? So the PUC regulates the utilities, electric utilities. So they basically regulate Hawaiian Electric Company and its subsidiaries, which Maui Electric Company, Hawaii Electric Light Company, as well as Hawaiian Electric Company on Oahu. And this is kind of unusual for co-op, but they also regulate the KIUC. And so that's how it's involved in energy issues. And besides electricity generation, they also regulate the regulated part of Hawaii Gas, which is the pipeline system that delivers synthetic natural gas on Oahu. Yeah, well, you guys got a tough job or you had a tough job at the PUC. But actually before you was a NSEAMata. Uh-huh, right. Yeah, well, a couple chairs before you. It was in at the time KIUC went in for the purchase from citizens and it was rejected the first time around. Right. We had to work through that, remember. Right, and I think rightfully so because the PUC came back and said that the price is too high. The purchase price was too high. And of course, you know, it was renegotiated in board. Yeah, I think it was 275 or something. It came down to 215 after it's million, 15 million. Yeah, but there was a tough one. I worked on that with the flight for the mail in a few times, negotiate with them. You were on the funding board, right? Yeah, we had a couple of us were doing negotiation and stuff. I mean, it wasn't, you know, I didn't know much in the beginning, but to learn. No, I think we all learned. Yeah, we all learned a lot. During that period, while I was in the legislature, like I say, it was in the legislature for 15 years and 13 years in the legislature as the house energy and environmental protection chair. And so, you know, one of the things that I had to look at closely during the KIUC purchase was, you know, were there any laws that were going to be barriers in the acquisition? I think the other issue that we debated at that time was whether the co-op should be regulated or not, because typically... Co-ops are not, yeah. Co-ops are not, yeah. But I think to give the community comfort and to build a reputation of the cooperative and, you know, was decided that it should be regulated to give some oversight. Yeah, yeah, I think there was an issue. You know, they didn't trust the new port guys you're nothing about electricity or things of that sort. As you mentioned, there are, you know, over 900 co-ops like us on the mainland. A lot of them are not regulated, but they've been around since the 1930s or something. And some of them are what they call like lightly regulated or some sort of not quite like us. And speaking of the PUC, the big one was the proposed sale of HECO, if that was a little bit about that. So, you know, this is again, this is just from my point of view. And during that period, I, my term had expired and I was on a holdover position. And, you know, this is politics in play. I don't know how to say it, but write out. Had Governor Abercrombie been reelected, he had told me that he would reappoint me to the position, but he lost his election, Governor Ege replaced him. At one time, Governor Ege said that he was going to reappoint me, he didn't. I have a feeling that one of the reasons why he didn't reappoint me was that I would have given next-door a fair hearing. There were some forces that did not want to see a mainland utility come in and buy HECO. And I, you know, as the PUC should have been, open to hear the evidence of whether it benefited the public or not. And so in the end, I was replaced by Randy Iwasi who became the chair and oversaw the acquisition or the denial of the acquisition. Yeah, that was an interesting situation. I think the situation in Hawaii would have been a lot different. I think HECO's acceleration to a cleaner, more affordable system would have happened under next era. They had the chops to address a new business model for the state. And that was a challenge through throughout the company that electric utilities have to transform themselves to catch up with technology. And I think they were one of the few companies in the nation or even in the world that would have had that ability to transform the electric utility in Hawaii. Well, KAC or the predecessor was a out of state company, citizens, then became KAC and then we always mentioning that KAC with the help of NRECA, the national organization that belonged to it to become one of the leaders in the renewable. But was that your PUC thing tied in anyway with your lawsuit against the state? A lawsuit against the state on what issue? What was that have to do with the directorship or something or somebody else? So one of the things that actually I filed a lawsuit against the state regarding the appointment of commissioners. And to me, the law was clear that a commissioner whose term expires sits into the in the position as a holdover until a new one is confirmed by the Senate. And this is really important because the commission is actually granted its power, not through the constitution but through the legislature. It's actually an arm of the legislature. And to me, how the confirmation by the Senate is really important because in a way the PUC has taxation powers because we set the rates, we set the fees that impact rate payers or the public in general. And so you can't just put anybody that hasn't been confirmed by the legislature in that position because the kinds of powers that commissioners have in setting rates and fees. And so I actually lost the case but the only thing that gives me some consolation is the dissent was written by the Chief Justice. So the Chief Justice actually cited with my position but I think the Supreme Court just misunderstood that this wasn't a constitutional position or the PUC is not part of the governor's cabinet. It's actually granted its powers by the legislature. Okay, thanks for clarifying that. In any of your positions, how were you involved with the approval of the rail? No, so that's entirely city and county of Honolulu jurisdiction. Even in the legislature, they didn't have any oversight. I think some of the oversight was just a surcharge to fund the rail that the legislature had to pass law allowing the surcharges to happen on the GET. Did that happen while you were an advisor to the House Finance Committee or something? Okay, so at some point. Yeah, no, so it was after I left the legislature and the PUC and what happened was after I was replaced at the PUC and I retired, I went and worked for the House Finance Committee for a couple of months before coming back to Kauai. So at that time you were the advisor? Yeah, I was just helping review budgets and stuff. Oh, okay, but there's another position set up. Oh, no, I was strictly staffed. Strictly, okay. Which was great, I think I wish I had worked there when I was younger because you get to see everybody's budget and when you review the budget, you get to see what the operations are like and what the policy priorities are within departments and stuff. Yeah, there was a picture you were reworking in Washington DC also? Yeah, when I was 18 years old I got fired by Senator Fong's office as his receptionist. Oh, good, well, that's where a lot of people get to start, you got their foot in the door there. Yeah, and it's a, I cherish that part because I mean, I was a girl from Lanai and going there to work, that was my first trip to the mainland and it was a really exciting period because it was nothing like Washington DC is today. There was a lot of bipartisanship when I was there, Watergate was happening. Senator Fong had a lot of seniority and he was involved in a lot of key issues like immigration, women's issues, choice issues. You know, I think, even though he was a Republican. No, that was kind of, that was gonna be my next statement. Yeah, he was, you know, he was a very liberal Republican who supported women in choice, who supported immigration and so I really appreciated the work that he did because, you know, there was no real distinction between the parties because of the bipartisanship. Yeah, yeah, it's interesting. Fast forward, we don't have much time. Fast forward to, or recently you're the head of the Kauai Democratic Party, this chair. Where do you see the party heading? Well, we need to rebuild the party. I think, you know, there's an identity issue and it's, you know, we need to be really clear on our values and inclusiveness and understand how we can all work together. I think there are too many litmus test kind of questions that divide people within the party. You know, we're not gonna agree on all issues, but there's some fundamental values that we have to work on to pull the parties together. And you see it on a local level and you see it on a national level, you know, the Republicans use the progressiveness of the progressive wing of the party against the party itself. Yeah, yeah, we've got just about a minute left. Yeah, we've got new blood, like Tyler Dos Santos, the head of the state democratic party. So hopefully we can move forward. Yeah, I believe he's done a great job. Yeah, oh, that's good. Yeah, we've got a little bit of time left. You got any closing statements? No, I think... What are you gonna do from here? Oh, so I've just been, since I retired, you know, I spent the first year of my retirement writing a blog, a book and a chapter for a many geared at the financial sector of energy. I now sit on the board of the Hanalei Initiative and Hale Halabai, Ohana Ohanalei, and those are two North Shore non-profits. Sorry, Hanalei Initiative works with another nonprofit in managing the shuttle and access system at Hiana State Park. And that's really exciting because it really changed Hiana State Park to be more cultural and natural resource focused and managing the number of people going out there. Yeah, thanks. And your daughter has a nice juice shop. I really like their juices. Yeah, you know, when I help her write her business plan and help her hand during the early years. Oh, very thick. So nice to see her being so peaceful. Yeah, here we're running out of time. Okay, thank you, Mina. We've been speaking with Mina Morita from Halei, Hawaii. Thank you for watching Politics in Hawaii and Think Tech Hawaii. The great staff and volunteers. If you like the show, please share it with your friends and consider a contribution to Think Tech Hawaii. I'm Dennis Isaki. Mahalo. Aloha, a hui hou. A la ma pono. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and donate to us at ThinkTechHawaii.com. Mahalo.