Political analyst Colin Moore on HNN’s Sunrise Weekends to talk about government shutdown, Iowa Caucus and what to expect during this state legislative session.
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – It took a fire to light a fire for lawmakers to take on rising threats from climate change.
“More money for wildfire mitigation and protection. I mean, I think this year will go down as the year Hawaii finally got serious about wildfires,” said political analyst Colin Moore in an interview on HNN’s Sunrise Weekends.
More than 5 months after the burning of historic Lahaina — a top priority for lawmakers will be how to fund long-term recovery on Maui and make sure emergency plans are in place to prevent the tragedy from happening again.
“We know the governor and legislative leaders have asked for a lot of money on they’re looking carefully at how they can convert some of the short term rentals to long term rentals because that’s the challenge on Maui right now, where are folks going to be housed for the long term,” Moore said.
FEMA estimates it will cost at least $5.5 million to rebuild Lahaina.
Creating a framework to fast track affordable housing projects is not just a priority on Maui but across the state.
“I’d like to see a lot more resources devoted to improving infrastructure that would reduce the cost of development, maybe reducing some of the regulatory barriers,” Moore said.
With many families struggling to make ends meet and moving away — Moore said to expect more proposals for reducing taxes and the cost of living, such as Governor Josh Green’s push to index our tax code to inflation.
Finally — one issue could hit a high at the Capitol — legalizing recreational marijuana.
But this session may not be the year it passes.
“The Attorney General released a very important report that kind of showed how Hawaii could implement recreational marijuana,” Moore said. “But there’s also two things going on. First of all, we’re heading into an election year, lawmakers tend to be more cautious. And I don’t see anything that’s changed dramatically from last year to this year, that would change the mind of those lawmakers who are opposed to recreational marijuana. So I think they’re going to consider it but I don’t think this is going to be the year but I could be wrong.”
Moore also weighed in on national issues, including the Iowa Caucus and extended deadline for members of the U.S. Congress to pass a budget and avert a government shutdown.
