Thursday, March 28, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Jones Act costs Hawaii families almost $1,800 extra every year
By Grassroot Institute @ 8:58 PM :: 2972 Views :: Jones Act

Jones Act costs Hawaii families almost $1,800 extra every year, new independent study shows

The new research shows the Jones Act overall costs Hawaii $1.2 billion annually, including 9,100 jobs and $148 million in taxes

News Release from Grassroot Institute, July 29, 2020

HONOLULU, July 29, 2020 >> The protectionist federal maritime law known as the Jones Act costs the average Hawaii family almost $1,800 a year, according to a groundbreaking independent new study produced by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.

The 50-page, extensively documented report, Quantifying the cost of the Jones Act to Hawaii,” was unveiled today during a webinar featuring two prominent Jones Act reformers in Congress: U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and U.S. Rep. Ed Case (D-HI). 

The new research shows that the Jones Act overall costs Hawaii $1.2 billion annually, including 9,100 fewer jobs and $148 million in unrealized tax revenues.

The Jones Act is a 1920 law that requires all goods carried between U.S. ports be on ships that are U.S. flagged, built and mostly owned and crewed by Americans. 

Discussing the U.S.-build requirement of the act specifically, the study says
removing it would save the state $531.7 million a year, add 3,860 jobs and
generate $30.8 million in state and local tax revenues.

The Grassroot Institute’s new study was conducted by the nationally recognized John Dunham & Associates, based in New York, which conducted a similar study concerning Puerto Rico in early 2019.

Keli‘i Akina, institute president and CEO, said, “It is well known that the 100-year-old Jones Act adds to Hawaii’s already high cost of living, but what had been lacking, until now were figures of just how much. Now we have the hard evidence we’ve long needed that proves the Jones Act harms Hawaii residents more than it helps them. We hope this will motivate policymakers to look at reforming the act — specifically the build requirement — so we can help make Hawaii more affordable for its already-struggling residents.”

Rep. Case, who has introduced three measures intended to fix Jones Act inequities, said, “From my perspective, what this study does is, once and for all, lend credibility to the basic underlying conclusion that the Jones Act does, in fact, result in major negative impacts to Hawaii in particular."

Speaking to the $1.2 billion cost figure, Case said, “That’s a huge cost to our economy. We don’t have a big economy, so you suck $1.2 billion out of the economy that doesn't have to come out of that economy, that’s going to hurt people.”

Sen. Lee, who last year proposed a bill that would make it easier for Americans to obtain Jones Act waivers, said the Grassroot Institute’s study “brings home something that goes unaddressed in Washington, and that is the problem of concentrated benefits and dispersed costs.

"When you’ve got concentrated benefits and dispersed costs," he said, "it creates a real weird lobbying problem where you basically have the rich taking from the poor. And [the study’s] data bears that out clearly.”

Akina said, “I strongly believe this new report will make a difference in future discussions about the need to update the Jones Act for the 21st century.”

The report can be downloaded from the institute's Jones Act website at www.grassrootinstitute.org/jonesact

It also is available for purchase from Amazon.com.

 # # #
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit research and educational institution that seeks, in the spirit of “E hana kakou!” (Let’s work together!), to educate people about the value of individual liberty, economic freedom and accountable government.

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT