KAILUA-KONA — Two challengers, Jeanne Kapela and Gene “Bucky” Leslie are facing off against Rep. Richard Creagan in the race for House District 5.
Heavily rural, the district runs from Kailua-Kona all the way to Naalehu, including in it Kealakekua, Captain Cook and Ocean View.
Agriculture and economic opportunity are top priorities for all candidates in the race.
“The issues are different within the different parts of my community,” said Creagan. “But still, trying to make it in Hawaii is a problem for everybody.”
Creagan moved to Hawaii close to 30 years ago and was appointed to the House in 2014 to finish Rep. Denny Coffman’s last term. He won his first election in 2014 and has served since.
While some ideas for raising revenue are worth exploring, such as allowing counties to collect more directly through the transient accommodation tax, he said it’s also critical to diversify the economy to get better, higher-paying jobs in the district.
One option is technology, specifically biotechnology, which he said, “has a great potential,” with the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority as a potential incubator.
Kapela is also focused on wealth inequality, saying lawmakers have an obligation to do better.
“You see so much poverty next to so much wealth,” she said. “And the reality is we need to do more to help working families, to help Hawaii’s people.”
Kapela, a 2012 graduate of Konawaena High School, was 2014’s Miss Kona Coffee and won Miss Hawaii the following year.
One of her focuses is on protecting local farmers in the coffee market, saying she’s an advocate of “truth in labeling laws” that regulate use of the Kona name in products that don’t use locally sourced beans.
Creagan this year introduced a bill to bring canned or bottled “ready-to-drink” products under state labeling requirements; the bill made it out of the House but died in a Senate committee.
Leslie, a Captain Cook businessman, says his history with other lawmakers, particularly from his time as president of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs on Hawaii Island, position him well to get things done.
“I feel that because I know half of these guys in Honolulu, I’ve worked with them throughout the last 15 years and we’ve become close friends, and we’ve had a lot of things pass through the Legislature through the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs,” he said.
Leslie said many farmers have raised to him issues like the invasive coffee borer beetle and labeling, saying he wants to continue identifying their specific needs he could tackle.
“The farmers need help, but I need to know what kind of help do they want,” he said. “It’s not what I can ask them that I can do for them, it’s what they want me to do for them.”
Creagan and Kapela also noted a need for continued efforts to counter invasive species like the coffee berry borer. Creagan said the gene editing technology CRISPR “could be a major driver” for not just invasive species but also for the future of agriculture and biotechnology here.
The three candidates also voiced support for agricultural education.
Housing
The candidates also identified affordable housing as a top priority. In House District 5, more than 11 percent of families live below the poverty level, according to state data. The median household income is about $52,000 and the median rent is $1,136.
“The housing issue is an issue all by itself,” Leslie said, noting the need to identify places where affordable housing can be built.
But it also requires consideration of what “affordable housing” even means.
“When I built my house at Hawaiian Homes it was $125,000 for the complete, furnished everything,” he said. “That was 12 years ago. But there’s no excuse for us to be building a house for $400,000 and it’s the same structure that we had.”
Creagan is eyeing a trend that could address housing availability and increasing the usability of certain agricultural lands — agricultural neighborhoods, or “agrihoods,” built around farms. A 2017 report from CBS News said there were more than 200 agrihoods around the country.
Given the amount of agricultural land that goes underused because of the high cost to make it usable, Creagan said, allowing the construction of houses on agricultural land could lead to homes with relatively light infrastructure needs.
He also pointed to legislation he passed to allow for on-farm farmers markets and facilities that can store food and process value-added products, and said the agrihoods are something he wants “to really push hard on.”
Kapela too said she’s keenly aware of the need for affordable housing.
“The reality is, here in Hawaii, it is so expensive to live,” she said.
Her proposal would call for the state to float $1-2 billion in bonds to build affordable rental housing, which she said could allow for the construction of 22,000 affordable rentals over the next decade.
Act 127, signed into law in 2016, establishes a goal of developing at least 22,500 affordable rental units by the end of 2026.
Kapela said she also plans to focus on agricultural workforce housing, such as through “tiny homes,” as well as raising the low-income renter’s tax credit, available for taxpayers with an adjusted gross income under $30,000 and pay more than $1,000 in rent. The credit is equal to $50 per exemption, although taxpayers older than 65 may claim an extra exemption.
Health care
The candidates also agree on a need for accessible health care for District 5 residents.
“Living in a rural area, I think that’s one of the hardest things,” Kapela said, saying many people she’s spoken to mention the need to be transported by air in the event of a serious illness or fall.
Kapela said the district also needs more opportunities for residents to access not just primary care, but also mental health care.
“So we need to be able to make sure that we have access for psychologists to come in and help with the mental health issues happening here in the state and in our district,” she said.
Leslie said after listening to the community, working with health programs is among his top priorities.
Noting that physicians tend to stay and practice where they do their residency and training, he said more should be done to incentivize doctors to do those residencies here.
One idea, he said, could be subsidized housing for doctors doing their residency here, he said, as well as for nurses.
“Give them an easy way in,” he said.
But, he said, more ideas would come out once, if elected, he has a chance to work with his colleagues in the Legislature.
“I don’t know until I get there to see where I’m at,” he said, “But I know that I’m looking towards affordable health care for everybody.”
Creagan, too, pointed to the critical need for not just more health care access, but also training health care professionals here, reiterating his push for a new teaching hospital in West Hawaii near the Hawaii Community College-Palamanui campus. Kapela also said she believes “we absolutely need something like that.” Leslie also said he believed it “would be a great idea.”
Creagan, along with other Hawaii Island lawmakers, worked to get $500,000 for a feasibility study to outline what needs to happen to make that teaching hospital a reality in the region.
The representative said he wants to get the feasibility done so he can approach potential donors who live in the area and could contribute money for the teaching hospital.
A teaching hospital, he said, could also not only address residents’ health care needs but also generate jobs for the area.
“Bringing those jobs to here at a really good hospital instead of having those jobs be on Oahu or on the mainland … that would a be a real boost to the economy,” he said.
The Aug. 11 Democratic primary will determine who wins the seat.
