Grassroot keeps close tab on legislative session

from Grassroot Institute, Feb 13, 2026

The 2026 Hawaiʻi Legislature is well underway, and the Grassroot Institute has already submitted testimony on several dozen bills.

Grassroot’s priorities this session include defending the state’s income tax cuts passed in 2024, opposing all other tax hikes and fees, supporting occupational licensing reform and advocating housing policies that could boost homebuilding.

You can learn about those key issues and more, as well as quickly submit your own testimony to legislators, here.

In addition to testifying before the Legislature, Grassroot continues to monitor government hearings at the county level and has submitted testimony in the past two weeks to the Hawaiʻi, Honolulu and Maui county councils and the Maui Cultural Resources Commission and Molokaʻi Planning Commission.

You can see all of Grassroot’s state and county testimonies submitted over the past two weeks here.

Elsewhere in the Grassroot universe…

>> Honolulu Star-Advertiser reporter Ian Bauer quoted written testimony from Grassroot’s director of strategic campaigns, Ted Kefalas, at length in a Feb. 4 article headlined “Council bill seeks online database of city funds.” In support of Bill 76, Kefalas testified that “members of the public can access county budget information through one of several annual and quarterly reports, but there is no simple way to locate specific expenditures across a range of dates.” He also said “such a database would go a long way toward making Honolulu’s government more transparent and accountable.”

>> Honolulu Civil Beat reporter Megan Tagami spoke with Grassroot Executive Vice President Joe Kent about the state Department of Education’s alleged failure to provide detailed travel records. In Tagami’s Feb. 8 article headlined “DOE Travel: $4 Million, 8,000 Trips And Few Details On Educational Value,” Kent said the lack of detail in schools’ travel documents points to larger challenges with DOE’s record-keeping system. “When a department doesn’t provide diligent transparency,” he said, “it’s a sign that the department’s taking the public’s money for granted.”

>> In a column published in Bloomberg Tax on Feb. 6, headlined “Hawaii’s Income Tax Cut U-Turn Muddles Relief for Working Class,” Grassroot Scholar and Tax Foundation of Hawaii President Tom Yamachika called out Gov. Josh Green’s plan to “pause” roll out of the state’s income tax cuts passed in 2024 as not a pause at all. Yamachika said the bills that Green’s administration put forth to roll back the cuts — HB2306 and SB3125 — would instead “eliminate them, plainly and simply.” He also explained several other changes outlined in the tax measures.