Grassroot Institute Legislative Week in Review

from Grassroot Institute, March 1, 2025

Grassroot white paper urges abolishing school impact fees

Grassroot issued a new white paper this week to help state legislators make up their minds about a bill that would abolish the state's school impact fees. Titled "Getting schooled: The case against school impact fees in Hawaii," it concludes that "the fees are not needed, are likely unconstitutional, have never been spent and are driving up Hawaii housing costs." The bill that would repeal the fees is HB422 HD1.

Kent hails Maui progress toward plumbing reform

Grassroot's Joe Kent hailed the recent passage by the Maui County Council and Mayor Richard Bissen of plumbing reform in the latest edition of Hawaii Filipino Chronicle. Kent explained that the county's water-fixture rules in particular have not been updated in 30 years, and that updating those rules will "in many cases make building new homes and renovating existing ones — and even recovery from the August 2023 wildfires — easier and less costly."

Kent explains how "counterfactual" research works

In a Jan. 14 letter to the editor of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Grassroot's Joe Kent explained the difference between nominal price increases and "counterfactual" scenarios in the context of economic housing studies. "In other words," he wrote, despite nominal housing prices increasing in Auckland, New Zealand, since the city enacted significant upzoning, "the studies I cited indicated the nominal prices would have been significantly higher without those reforms."

Helton, Kefalas discuss Lahaina recovery on national podcast

Grassroot staffers Jonathan Helton and Ted Kefalas discussed "Lessons from Lahaina Fire Recovery & the Path Ahead" on the Feb. 26 episode of a podcast sponsored by the national Federalist Society. Hosted by Steven Schaefer, director of the Federalist Society's Regulatory Transparency Project, the conversation covered the legal and regulatory hurdles that have prevented Lahaina residents from quickly rebuilding following the wildfires of Aug. 8, 2023, and what California could do to avoid the same slow rebuild after the Pacific Palisades Fire.

Napier finds disturbing data about state education

Aloha State Daily Editor-in-Chief Kam Napier recently reviewed 50 years of education in Hawaii and found that "the biggest changes [at the state Department of Education] from 1972 to 2022 — the most recent stats available — concern the costs of education. Those are up substantially, even though enrollment and teacher pay both dropped." According to Napier, student enrollment at state-run public schools decreased from 181,587 to 169,038 as the pupil-teacher ratio increased from 15 to 22. At Hawaii's private schools, student enrollment increased from 32,773 to 36,469 as the pupil-teacher ratio fell from 18 to 11. The cost per pupil at state-run schools increased from $1,007 to $7,572.

Grassroot keeps pace with frenetic legislative session

And we're staying on top of what's going on at Hawaii's four county councils too. See what we've been saying in our testimonies of the past two weeks or so — all 50 of them — by clicking below.

>>> Recent testimonies <<<

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Grassroot presents fundamentals of living in Hawaii to next generation

Grassroot Executive Director and former teacher Joe Kent is in high demand as a guest speaker on economics in local schools

Schools across the state have been reaching out to the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii to help educate students about why Hawaii's cost of living is so high — and what can be done to change that.

On Wednesday, Grassroot Executive Vice President Joe Kent addressed several student classes grades six through 12 at Hawaii Tech Academy in Waipahu. Last Friday, Kent spoke to 35 fifth graders from Puuhale Elementary in Kalihi. And earlier this month, he spent time with 25 eighth graders at Ewa Makai Middle School.

Kent said the Kalihi fifth graders "had a lot of fun trying to make a home budget, and saw exactly how expensive it is to live in Hawaii compared to other states. I had them select a house on Zillow, a car, food, childcare options and so on, and then I showed them how much tax money they had to pay. They couldn’t believe how much money was taken out of their paycheck.

"They learned through several games about the different reasons Hawaii’s cost of living is so expensive, including land-use regulations, taxation, the Jones Act, shipping, labor costs and energy mandates.

"At the end," Kent said, "I asked what they thought the government could do to lower the cost of living. One student raised his hand and said, 'Lower taxes!'"

Kent, who is also a former Hawaii public school teacher, has three more presentations at local schools scheduled through the end of this school year and will be available for more starting in the fall. If you are a school teacher or administrator and would like Kent to present to your students, please contact Melissa Rabideau at mrabideau@grassrootinstitute.org or 808-864-1776.

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Closing the curtain on the Jones Act?

Grabow writes about Jones Act role in Hawaii's high energy costs

Grassroot Scholar Colin Grabow wrote in Sunday's Honolulu Star-Advertiser about how the federal maritime law known as the Jones Act contributes to Hawaii's high energy prices. Grabow, also a trade policy analyst with the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., concluded that "significantly reforming the Jones Act — if not repealing it entirely — would be a commonsense means of reducing the state’s energy costs and easing the financial burden on Hawaii families."

Pacific Legal Foundation, Kōloa Rum take Jones Act to court

Attracting attention from media nationwide — see, for example, here, here, here, here, here and here — the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a federal lawsuit this week on behalf of Kōloa Rum Co. of Kauai challenging the legality of the Jones Act. According to PLF, based in California, the 1920 law was specifically designed to disadvantage Hawaii and Alaska, then territories, and thus now violates the U.S. Constitution's "port preference" clause, which prohibits Congress from favoring ports of one state over those of another to ensure equal treatment in interstate commerce. You can learn more about the case here.

Coleman notes lack of LNG carriers in Jones Act fleet

In an article published this week both in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Grassroot's Mark Coleman talked about the Jones Act in the context of President Donald Trump's proposed tax on foreign vessels. Interviewed by reporter Kevin Knodell, Coleman said such a tax would increase local energy prices since more than 80% of Hawaii's oil is imported from foreign sources. He also noted that Hawaii shifting to liquid natural gas would leave Hawaii in the same position, since there are no LNG tankers in the dwindling Jones Act fleet.

Rep. Ed Case slams Jones Act in KHON2 interview, the action starts at about >>> 4:30 <<< of the seven-minute interview.