Positive Change Happens From the Bottom Up, Notes Hawaii Lawmaker

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Hawaii State Representative Roy Takumi (Flemming Fellow ’96) has put his faith in the community into practice more than once in his seven years in office. This session, as Chair of the Ocean Recreation and Marine Resources Committee, he sponsored a successful bill (HB 34) allowing the Hawaii Department of Natural Resources to adopt and administer aquatic resource regulations — a responsibility previously held by the legislature. Under the new law, citizens can be more involved through public hearings in creating sensible and effective regulations.

His work outside the legislature gives him a unique perspective on the power of local change. Takumi worked for six years as a grassroots organizer in a Korean immigrant community in Osaka, Japan. Today he is a voice for Hawaii’s working families as communications director for the Hawaii AFL-CIO.

Unlike most states, Hawaii is not enjoying a budget surplus, and these hard economic times are most strongly felt by low-income and working Hawaiians. While Takumi favors bolstering Hawaii’s beleaguered economy, he warns against cutting the social safety net to save money or imposing regressive taxes to raise revenue.

"I don’t believe we should balance the state budget on the backs of retirees," he says. Takumi adds that one of the best ways to scale back the need for as extensive a social safety net is to pay working Hawaiians a "living wage" — a proposal he has pledged to advance in next year’s legislature. While Los Angeles County’s successful living wage bill will serve as a model for Takumi’s proposal, he notes that no state has yet passed such a measure. Takumi would like to see Hawaii be the first.