Name on ballot:

Natalia Hussey-Burdick

Running for:

State House – District 50

Political party:

Democratic

Campaign website:

www.nataliaforhawaii.com/

Current occupation:

Representative

Age:

34

Previous job history:

2019-2022: Office Manager, Hawaii State House of Representatives
2018: Committee Clerk, Hawaii State House of Representatives
2017: Legislative Aide, Hawaii State Senate

Previous elected office, if any:

2020-2022 Secretary of the Democratic Party of Hawaii; 2020 Delegate to the Democratic National Convention; 2018-2020 Assistant Secretary of the Democratic Party of Hawaii

Please describe your qualifications to represent the people in your district.

I was born and raised in the district I now represent, and I’ve dedicated my life to improving our community. For over a decade I’ve helped organize countless issue-based campaigns, served in various roles within the Democratic Party of Hawaii, and helped people across the islands get more involved with the legislative process.

I initially wanted to be a doctor because I enjoy science and I want to help people, but when then-Senator Laura Thielen invited me to come work in her office for a Session – just to see how I liked it – I knew I had found my true passion. I fell in love with the legislative process – reading bills, writing bills, and, most of all, helping our constituents with the community issues they brought to our attention. I’ve been working at the Capitol ever since, which has equipped me with extensive knowledge of the Legislature that helps me navigate my role as a lawmaker.

I am deeply rooted and invested in my community, with a demonstrated track record of putting in the work to make my hometown a better place.

What is the most-pressing issue facing residents in your district and how would you address the problem?

With almost every issue area in crisis, I struggle to choose only one “most pressing issue.” Everything needs urgent work – education, affordable housing, healthcare, insurance costs, climate change, tourism – everything.

Shortly after I took office, I began investigating the issues at our Kailua Wastewater Treatment Plant (KWWTP) which has been frequently exceeding permitted bacterial output levels over the past two years, creating an environmental and public health nightmare.

Several projects to improve the existing system, totalling over $47 million dollars, are either scheduled or currently in the works: adding a UV light sanitation step, rehabilitating one of the biotowers, and repairing the badly deteriorating sewer line along Oneawa Street. But all of those projects will take years to complete – and we will still end up with the same awful system that, even when functioning perfectly, is designed to dump a certain level of bacteria into the ocean.

This is a perfect time for us to take a step back and make a decision as a community – is it worth all this money to reinvest in the same old system that continues polluting our ocean? Or is this an ideal time to transition towards newer wastewater treatment technologies?

I’ve been working with community leaders to explore options for a better municipal system. There are really innovative systems emerging, and Kaimalino – a neighborhood with the most cesspools in my district – would be the perfect size for a state-funded pilot project and become a prime example for the rest of the Windward community.

If we want to be able to swim in our ocean without fear of life-threatening infections, we must start transitioning toward more sustainable methods of wastewater disposal.

What would you propose to be done at the state level to help residents cope with Hawaii’s high cost of living?

As someone who has always had to work two or more jobs to afford to live in the same community where I was born and raised, I feel the pain of our high cost of living deeply.

I joined the Working Families Caucus at the legislature to support policies like paid sick leave, paid family leave, increasing affordable childcare options, taxing Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), and a complete tax code overhaul that provides substantial relief for middle and lower income levels.

These are common-sense proposals that have been thoroughly vetted, implemented in other states, and studied to death in Hawaii. All we need is enough political will to pass them.

What can the state Legislature do to help Hawaii home and condo owners with rising property insurance rates?

This past Session, as a member of the Consumer Protection & Commerce Committee, I helped advance an insurance stabilization bill to address this issue — HB2686. I was shocked when this desperately needed legislation died in Conference Committee without any publicly stated reason why.

Condo owners are reporting skyrocketing insurance costs, some facing rate increases by as much as 1,000%. People have already begun to move away as a result. I have been advocating for a Special Session to address this immediately. We cannot afford to wait six months until the next Legislative Session if we want to keep our local families in Hawaii.

I support a Public Option for home and condo insurance to stabilize the market, but we should be having robust, ongoing public discussions to explore all creative ideas and make sure we’re not overlooking anything.

We also need a long-term climate change mitigation and adaptation plan to address the root cause of these rising insurance costs: increasingly frequent and more damaging environmental disasters.

Can Hawaii’s tourism-dependent economy be diversified, and, if so, what can state government do to support the effort?

Our economy absolutely can and should be diversified. Hawaii has the potential to be a global leader in new technology. Diversifying our economy is the driving force behind my years of advocacy to increase sustainable local food production (especially farm-to-school programs), support well-regulated unionized film industry jobs, invest in trade schools, and develop cutting-edge renewable energy technology.

I’m proud of the progress we’ve made during my time as Vice Chair of the Tourism Committee in shifting away from Tourism Marketing towards better Tourism Management. Last Session we passed SB2659 and SB3364 to incorporate Regenerative Tourism concepts into our destination management plans. However, we still have a long way to go. Next year I hope to continue the work of repairing the harm done to our people and our environment by finally passing a long-overdue Green Fee bill to help fund improvements of our natural resources.

What would you propose to help increase affordable housing in Hawaii?

Right now, we have an estimated 20-25% housing vacancy rate, and many wealthy offshore investors are hoarding multiple properties that they intentionally leave vacant for years. We could dramatically improve our housing crisis simply by imposing a steep vacant home tax, ideally increasing exponentially with each additional unit left vacant over each additional year.

To be clear, this would not be a tax on people who are struggling to find a renter, or who are in the process of making repairs or selling their home. And I’m not talking about a conveyance tax, either. I’m proposing an annual GET assessment on houses that are intentionally left vacant for over a year. It would require information-sharing between the City property tax division and the State Department of Taxation to determine which properties are not receiving a homeowner’s exemption or paying GET on rental income.

Once we are able to determine which units are truly vacant for over a year, we’d either generate substantial revenue that could then be invested in affordable housing, or many of those property owners would decide to either sell it or rent it out.

This would very quickly drive market prices down, and would incentivize immediate use of the housing stock we currently have. We wouldn’t have to wait years and spend millions to build new units, straining our already dwindling water and land resources.

What can state government do to better support and improve public education in Hawaii?

We can start by prioritizing education in our state budget. When the 2023 Budget Bill (HB300) was presented to us on Final Reading, many of us refused to accept it due to the fact that it underfunded education by $67M and instead prioritized frivolous projects such as the redesign of the Capitol reflecting pool for $33.5M. I was among eight Representatives who were willing to stand strong for our keiki. We voted “NO” to send the House and Senate back into deliberations with a strong message that our budget should not be balanced on the backs of our public school students.

Good schools are made by good teachers, and we’re losing too many good teachers who are simply not able to make ends meet in Hawaii. Teacher housing is a big step in the right direction, helping us hire and retain quality teachers by reducing their cost of living.

Teacher pay is collectively bargained so the legislature can’t directly interfere with union negotiations, but we can help by passing bills to re-establish automatic annual step increases, preserve pensions, and establish a state teacher tax credit.

Should the state continue to pursue building a replacement for Aloha Stadium in Halawa? Please explain.

Our condemned Aloha Stadium is long overdue for renovation. I support rebuilding Aloha Stadium in Halawa, where we have adequate space and traffic infrastructure to support it. I don’t think the proposal to build a new stadium in Manoa is feasible, as it would interfere with University classes and cause traffic gridlock.

Should members of the state Legislature have term limits like Honolulu’s mayor and City Council members?

I strongly support term limits for all elected offices. We have them for good reason at almost every other level of government: President, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Mayor, and Councilmembers. The only elected offices who don’t have to adhere to term limits are members of Congress and our State Legislature.

We don’t need lifetime office-holders. We need passionate advocates for our communities who will work hard, accomplish their goals within the limited time they have, and then pass the torch to the next generation. Our current lack of term limits fosters a general attitude of “we can always try again next year.” We don’t have the luxury of time on critical issues like climate change or our high cost of living. Every year we fail to act, our problems grow worse and more local people move away.

What reforms, if any, would you propose to make local government more transparent to the public?

Reforming our local government and making the legislature more accessible are cornerstones of my life’s work in organizing and advocacy. We cannot adequately resolve critical issues like affordable housing, childcare, or traffic safety until we address these systemic problems first.

During my time in office I’ve drafted, introduced, and supported dozens of bills to make the Legislature accountable to the people again, such as HB2021 – removing the Legislature’s exemption from the Sunshine Law.

Every year, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Legislature cannot adequately do its job within the space of our absurdly short 60-day legislative session. I’ve been advocating for a longer legislative session subject to the same 6-day notice requirements and Sunshine Law as our County Councils and Neighborhood Boards. We can’t expect a part-time Legislature to address our full-time problems.

What will be your top priority if elected?

Most of my focus during this past term has been on reforming our government, reducing the high cost of living, and better management of our tourism industry, because those are 3 major areas where progress will make the biggest, most immediate impact. But that doesn’t mean that’s all I’ve been working on.

Next year, if re-elected, I will continue to champion those issues as well as improving our public education system, protecting our environment, making our streets safer, and working hard to address every issue that comes across my desk.

Is there anything more that you would like voters to know about you?

I think one of the things that set me apart from most candidates is that I don’t just pay lip service to our struggles – unprecedented homelessness, wealth inequality, abysmal public education, one of the highest pedestrian fatality rates in the nation, and egregious misuse of our public trust natural resources, to name just a few. I have a verifiable record of action, working hard on those issues since long before I took office.

I am one of only a few incumbents who have taken the Our Hawaii Pledge to run a clean campaign not funded by luxury developers, out-of-state investors, Big Tourism, military contractors, and other big money interests. Additionally, I did not seek endorsements from any pro-development unions or real-estate organizations. This ensures that I am accountable only to my constituents, and not any of those corporate special interests.