ISSUES

• Kim Coco believes that housing is a human right.

• 40% of privately owned land in Hawaiʻi, is owned by an out-of-state investor. Kim Coco supports increasing property taxes on investment properties that do not house state residents.

• Kim Coco supports tenant protections, “just cause” eviction laws, and rent regulations to protect tenants from unfair eviction.

• Kim Coco supports a moratorium on the issuance of building permits for luxury residential and hotel developments until all of our affordable housing needs are met.

• Kim Coco supports universal child care and elder care.

• A 2017 study found that 64% of Hawaiʻi’s keiki need childcare. Kim Coco supports a universal child care pilot program to use $73.7M of federal CARES funds to create 1,473 jobs to meet ⅕ of our current need.

• Kim Coco supports the Working Families Coalition proposal that the state provide temporary subsidy using CARES monies for childcare and eldercare.

• Kim Coco supports legislation guaranteeing universal pre-K for all children in Hawaiʻi.

• Kim Coco supports fully funding the public education system in Hawaiʻi.

• Kim Coco opposes private school vouchers.

• Kim Coco supports legislation to eliminate undergraduate tuition at public colleges and universities in Hawaiʻi.

• Kim Coco supports more social workers in the schools. All adults who have children or have a proximity to children should undergo online training certification on how to identify and avoid all forms of child abuse and neglect.

• Kim Coco supports a tax on air travel to subsidize the cost of planting sufficient trees to mitigate the carbon footprint of each air traveler to Hawaiʻi.

• Kim Coco supports limiting tourism to each island’s carrying capacity.

• Kim Coco supports an Environmental Impact Study by the State for tourism.

• Kim Coco supports assessing a visitor fee, as New Zealand does, to offset the environmental and social impacts.

• Kim Coco supports implementing greater coastal setbacks for development to mitigate against sea level rise.

• For the Honolulu rail project, Kim Coco believes that turning back now is not an option, but we cannot continue to write blank checks for change orders.

• Kim Coco supports incentivizing public transport ridership through reduced or free fares for residents.

• Kim Coco supports prioritization of climate-ready infrastructure projects ($1 billion state bond issuance), such as investing in the relocation of major public infrastructure at risk from sea level rise, advancing state-of-the art clean energy projects, electrical and sewer upgrades, and new workforce housing and clean transportation infrastructure.

• Kim Coco supports funding for “shovel ready” construction projects that build capacity for affordable housing, climate crisis mitigation, and infrastructure for increased capacity of Dept. Of Hawaiʻian Homelands to house more Hawaiʻians per Constitution.

• Kim Coco supports checking the military industrial complex and its threat to life and the environment in Hawaiʻi–the Red Hill Fuel tank leaks being one example.

• Kim Coco supports common-sense legislation that expands the ability of citizens to participate in all elections, including automatic voter registration, and same-day registration.

• Kim Coco supports the legislature using zoom or other technologies to allow citizens to testify during hearings on a permanent basis.

• Kim Coco supports the entirety of the Hawaiʻi Green New Deal, with greater and clearer emphasis on just transitions.

• Kim Coco supports using detailed, science-based assessments of how sea level rise will alter the coastal landscape on each island to create an inventory of assets that will be lost—and when.

• Kim Coco supports ending our greenhouse gas emissions by eradicating our dependency on all forms of fossil fuels, including single-use plastics and polystyrene.

• Kim Coco supports shutting down Hawaiʻi’s only coal plant.

• Kim Coco supports a 100% carbon-free Hawaiʻi by 2032, while ensuring a just transition for communities and workers, paid for by a price on emissions, to generate good jobs and economic growth while reducing carbon emissions.

• Kim Coco supports a major reforestation program to plant millions of trees in Hawai‘i.

• Kim Coco supports requiring the state Employee Retirement System to divest its holdings in the top 100 fossil fuel companies.

• Kim Coco supports legislation that expands alternatives to incarceration for individuals convicted of nonviolent crimes.

• Kim Coco supports investing in getting parents out of prison facilities and reintegrating them into their families and communities in a supported way.

• Kim Coco supports legislation to increase use of non-monetary bail and to fund and institute supportive pretrial systems and services in our community so that fewer legally innocent people are forced to suffer pretrial incarceration.

• Kim Coco supports legislation legalizing use and taxing sale of marijuana for non-medical use; she does not support taxing marijuana for medications.

• Kim Coco supports expanding SNAP eligibility.

• Kim Coco supports the Double Up Food Bucks program.

• Kim Coco supports creating and sustaining local markets for fresh, minimally processed food products.

• Kim Coco supports reallocating the tourism promotion budget to fund a pilot civilian conservation corps program in the uplands and targeted farming and aquaculture programs along the plains and makai areas.

• Kim Coco supports a “single payer” Medicare For All-type system of universal healthcare.

• Kim Coco supports the Hawaiʻi Health Authority All-Payer Proposal, as it delivers the benefits of universal healthcare while eliminating administrative waste.

• Given HI DBEDT’s 2019 survival wage of $17/hr, Kim Coco supports raising the minimum wage to $22 by 2026.

• Kim Coco supports legislation that indexes the minimum wage for inflation.

• Kim Coco supports eliminating “sub-minimum” wages for tipped workers and creating a fair living wage for all workers.

• Kim Coco will support legislation to create a paid family and medical leave insurance program that would provide up to 12 weeks of partially-paid leave.

• Kim Coco supports legislation to increase workers’ compensation benefits to injured workers.

• Kim Coco supports legislation to extend benefits for workers in training programs and increase the number of state-funded training programs.

• Kim Coco supports efforts to ensure that public entities fulfill future pension obligations to public sector employees.

• Kim Coco believes that wages should be reported with demographic brackets to assure anonymity but expose workplace discrimination. She will continue to demand that all workers are free from discrimination and harassment.

• Kim Coco supports the creation of a state and/or local trade review commission which examines future trade agreements’ impact on workers and communities in Hawaiʻi.

• Kim Coco supports all employees’ right to unionize.

• Kim Coco supports urging employers to remain neutral during employee organizing campaigns.

• Kim Coco supports workers’ rights to collectively bargain with both public and private entities on issues including, but not limited to, healthcare and pensions.

• Kim Coco supports legislation prohibiting holding meetings against unionization on state property or while employees are performing work on state service or public works contracts.

• Kim Coco opposes legislation requiring periodic union recertification.

• Kim Coco opposes the continued funding for “security” for private TMT developers. She believes that the state and counties that made those expenditures should seek reimbursement from TMT developers who pretended they needed “rescuing.”

• Kim Coco supports prioritizing the construction of affordable housing for DHHL beneficiaries–the legislature would fund whatever solutions the beneficiaries come up with, however they want to use their lands.

• Kim Coco supports measures that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender expression and identity to ensure that LGBTIQ+ people are protected in our community.

• Kim Coco supports fully funding the enforcement divisions at all the state agencies that ensure compliance with all of the state's non-discrimination laws: from the Civil Rights Commission, to the Office of Consumer Protection, to the DOE Civil Rights compliance offices.

• Kim Coco believes that every unaccompanied minor deserves a home, and that ALL foster homes, including group-homes, should be safe for LGBTIQ+ minors.

• Kim Coco will commit to opposing any measure that limits access to abortion or limits health care coverage for contraceptive care and reproductive health care.

• Kim Coco believes that we need to do what we can to stop child sex abuse before it happens, and when it does, we need to make sure we support the victims at every stage after it is identified.

• Kim Coco supports more funding allocated for mental health and social services for victims and perpetrators.

• Kim Coco supports a state DREAM act, which would allow undocumented children brought to the United States as minors to have access to in-state college tuition rates

• Kim Coco supports all state residents who pass the driving test a license regardless of immigration status.

• Kim Coco supports mandatory disclosure of misconduct and adequate funding for oversight boards.

• Kim Coco supports the requirement that any law enforcement personnel in the state, who carries a gun, must wear a bodycam to document their behavior.

• Kim Coco supports ensuring that local law enforcement and government agencies – including local police departments, school systems, social service agencies – limit cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in enforcing federal immigration policy.

• “Raising sufficient revenue to meet the costs of needed state services and social safety-net is the prime directive of the Legislature.” - Kim Coco

• Kim Coco will work to close tax loopholes and collect fair-share taxes from corporations, its wealthiest residents, and out-of-state real estate investors.

• Kim Coco supports protecting public assets from privatization that would compromise the long-term safety and sustainability of our communities.

• Kim Coco supports redirecting the stateʻs $108M/year investment for promoting tourism instead toward the infrastructure needed for a circular economy.

Accessibility, fairness and transparency.