Cover Story continued

Representative Cindy Evans

May 27, 2009

Capitol Yearbook 2009

Cindy Evans / 7th Representative District
Phone: 808-586-8510; fax 808-586-8514
From the Big Island, toll free 974-4000 + 68510
repevans@Capitol.hawaii.gov

1. What was your biggest accomplishment this session?
Helping sustainability through initiatives on agriculture was my biggest accomplishment. It was my pleasure to work with farmers in my district, write legislation to assist farmers, and get the legislation passed. Education is a key to working with stakeholders and legislators. I have many to thank for writing letters, visiting the state capitol, and providing information at key moments in the legislative process.

2. With which piece of 2009 legislation are you most proud to be affiliated and why?
SB1673 will change Hawaii Health Systems Corporation (HHSC). Our public health system of delivering healthcare was lacking accountability and transparency. Every year since I started, November 2002, HHSC was asking the Legislature to bail them o ut. I represent a district situated on the Big Island where HHSC has nuremerous facilities. I used every opportunity available to me to advocate for getting rid of HHSC as we know it, including public meetings, majority caucus meetings, and leadership meetings. I also spoke to individual legislators.

SB1673 authorizes a facility or regional health care system under the Hawaii health systems corporation to transition into a new legal entity; amends the maintenance of services requirements; authorizes criminal history record checks; amends corporation board membership; requires an annual internal audit of the management and operations of the corporation and regions.

3. What was the biggest disappointment of the session and how might a similar disappointment be prevented in the future?
I introduced a bill for a tax holiday. HB 82 would have created an annual exemption from general excise tax on purchase of: school supplies of less than $15 per item; computers, computer software, and computer supplies of less than $1,500 per purchas e; clothing of less than $100 per item; and books of less than $50 per item, made beginning on Wednesday of the last full week of July and ending in 5 days on the following Sunday.

It takes time to build consensus. In a time of revenue shortfalls it was difficult to introduce and build support for an idea which appeared to reduce revenues. I will continue my efforts to build support for this idea because I believe now is the time to support education, develop the workforce, and encourage consumers to buy.

4. Debating which issue turned out to be the biggest distraction from your priorities?
The biggest issue was the budget shortfall.

5. What’s one thing you wish voters better understood about you or the political process as a whole?
Right time, right place, right person(s) are the elements needed to deveop an idea; write a bill; and get it passed out of the legislature and approved by the Governor. I’m a firm believer a good idea will survive the test of time; so it may take 8 years to get a bill passed into law.

« Governor Linda Lingle | Senator Les Ihara, Jr. »

Celebrating Hawaii, nature, culture and wellness for over 35 years!

COMMENTS

We often print online comments in our “Letters to the Editor” section of Honolulu Weekly. While submitted letters are often edited for length and clarity, online comments we use are printed entirely as they are written for the website. If you do not wish for your comment to be used in Honolulu Weekly print issues, please write “Don’t Print” at the end of your comment. For questions, e-mail editorial@honoluluweekly.com. Thank you!

blog comments powered by Disqus

This week

Fortress Oahu

With roots planted in the 1893 overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani and a presence that extends through the entire archipelago, the military’s influence in Hawaii is surpassed only by tourism. The military controls some 236,000 acres throughout the state, including 25 percent of the land mass of Oahu, and thousands of square miles of surrounding airspace and sea.

Breaking The Waves

“I’m having a hard time not swearing right now,” Spike Kane says in his UK accent, all smiles after his first surf session at the second annual Hawaii “They Will Surf Again” event hosted by the Life Rolls On Foundation (LRO). “It just feels so good to be in the water again.” Kane beams.

Greedy, Scheming Saga

Into Willie Sabel’s vast and detailed set enter a cast of rippled sweatshirts and oversized shoulder-pads, thanks to Dusty Behner’s sense of color and history, and Lisa Ponce de Leon’s especially-80s hairstyles. A few of the bunch even manage to hold-their-own against the largeness that is the setting of Dividing the Estate, the newest show to hit Manoa Valley Theatre.

Mayumi Meets Mother Earth

Mayumi Oda, an artist often dubbed the “Matisse of Japan,” is a petite woman with boundless ambitions. In the book Merciful Sea: 45 Years of Serigraphs by Mayumi Oda, meetings with intensely raw and passionate artists, including Ginsberg, Rothko and De Kooning, triggered her to reflect, “I am small.

Editor’s Note

Everything’s coming up mangoes. And last week, we joined the crowd at Foster Botanical Garden to witness the first-ever Honolulu blossoming of Amorphophallus titanium, nicknamed the “Corpse Flower” for its malodorous, fly-catching bouquet.

he’s official

Through the years there have been many mayors who’ve aspired to be governor, but for the first time in Honolulu ’s history, a former governor is running for mayor. At Honolulu Hale on Friday, May 18, as he signed the nomination paperwork making him an official candidate for the 2012 race, Cayetano told the room that, back in January, he made his decision quickly.

Rail suit hangs on

Important back stories are huddled behind last week’s Star-Advertiser headline, “Federal Judge Narrows Lawsuit on Rail.” Foremost is that the lawsuit will go forward unimpeded. The same substantive points of contention including the most important historic and cultural sites are still at issue.

wed lockdown

In announcing his support of same-sex marriage two weeks ago, President Barack Obama reinvigorated a vexed debate. Locally, the wrangle has been deadlocked following the contentious legalization of civil unions and subsequent federal court challenge in January.

outsourced LEI

Thailand grows 75 percent of the flowers used in Hawaiian-made lei, but a flooding in the country last fall destroyed 80 percent of its orchid crops, according to Summer Campos, co-founder of the Hawaiian Lei Company. Together with the graduation season and the growing popularity of lei on the mainland, “All lei prices have inflated due to the orchid shortage,” Campos says.

Bus cuts

Lynne Matusow’s letter [“Goodbye Bus, Hello Rail?” May 16] hit the nail right smack dab on the head. The rail may have its attributes but it seems the more we delve into it the bad seem to outweigh the good.

Second “city”

We have a problem with traffic congestion on the major highways leading into the city; we have the controversy over the issue of rail; and we have the concern over preserving prime agricultural lands. It would seem to me that all these issues point to one thing in one way or another and that is the development of a second city in Kapolei.

Traffic mess

Though you didn’t discuss it in the most recent issue, there was a brief mention of how long it took for the Kinau off-ramp to be completed. Ambulances [had] ALWAYS been able to take the exit BEFORE Kinau, and turn left directly into the Emergency Room.

Honolulu Weekly