HAPA Newsletter
Letter from the Executive Director
Mahalo to everyone who helped us to celebrate HAPA’s 10 year anniversary last month! It was so wonderful to take a moment to gather and reflect on our shared accomplishments over the decade.
We are grateful for the nurses from the Hawaii Nurses Union at Kapiʻolani who came out to share about their recent struggles to advocate for safe staffing ratios. Their recent win highlights what is possible when labor and the broader community come together around a shared goal, in this case, ensuring that the nurse to patient ratio is sufficient to provide adequate care for the babies and children at Kapiʻolani. A huge congratulations and mahalo to the nurses for taking a stand for patient safety. It is a reminder of the importance of solidarity and that when workers win, we all win.
Today it is our friends who work at Hawaiian Hilton Village on Oʻahu that need our support. Last month, over 1,800 Hawaiian Hilton Village hotel workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 5 went on strike for fair wages, proper staffing, fair workloads and the reversal of COVID-era cuts in guest services. It is no secret that working people across Hawaiʻi are struggling to make ends meet while the Virginia-based real estate investment trust, Park Hotels & Resort Management that owns the hotel extracts all the profits. Their CEO makes over $10M/year! Meanwhile working people are struggling with 2-3 jobs just to barely get by. That is why HAPA supports our friends in labor who are fighting for dignified and equitable jobs, so that more of the profits stay in Hawaiʻi.
Did you know how much the gap between CEO to worker pay has grown since the mid-1960ʻs? In 2022, CEOs were paid 344 times as much as a typical worker in contrast to 1965 when they were paid 21 times as much as a typical worker. To illustrate just how distorted CEO pay increases have gotten: In 2021, CEOs made nearly eight times as much as the top 0.1% of wage earners in the U.S.
On a personal note, UNITE HERE Local 5 has always shown up for HAPA in our times of need. Secretary Treasurer Cade Watanabe was a founding board member of HAPA, they were a sponsor of our 10 year anniversary gala, they provide training and resources to our Kuleana Academy cohorts and they have shown up whenever we have reached out for their support.
Mahalo for all the workers rising up to take a stand against corporate greed. As the workers at UNITE HERE Local 5 remind us, one job should be enough!
In solidarity,
Anne Frederick
Executive Director
Fair & Sustainable Food Systems: Pesticide Public Health Concerns & Fumigant Use in Central Oʻahu
By: Fern Holland, Fair & Sustainable Food Systems Director
It’s been a wild few months of food systems work and meetings. When it comes to our Pesticide and Public Health campaign, our focus over the last few years has been on central Oʻahu and the heavy pesticide load being applied regularly adjacent to communities. The analysis of the 2019 RUP disclosure data, made it clear there were particular uses and areas of concern centralized around North Central Oʻahu.
Collectively there was in excess of 288,000 pounds (nearly 145 tons) of RUP active ingredients applied to Oʻahu in 2019. Over 99% of this application occurred in central Oʻahu from Waialua to Ewa. The two most heavily applied active ingredients were 1,3-Dichloropropene (1,3-D or Telone) and Sodium Methyldithiocarbamate (Metam Sodium) in the formulated product Vapam. Both of these toxic RUPs are applied as fumigants, with high potential for drift. There was a combined fumigant load of over 274,000 pounds (over 137 tons) reported, in 2019 alone.
There are major concerns with exposure to these fumigants which are often used to sterilize and kill soil. 1,3-D is known to be a carcinogen, a groundwater contaminant and very toxic if inhaled with exposure linked to respiratory impacts, headache, dizziness, nausea & vomiting. Similarly with Metam Sodium, we already know this fumigant is also a carcinogen, a reproductive toxicant and a suspected endocrine disruptor.
The heavy pesticide load in North Central Oʻahu brings many concerns regarding potential human and environmental health impacts and continues to remind us of the overall need to transition our food system into a regenerative, healthy and resilient ʻāīna based industry that serves our people and our land into the future.
In the meantime, we will continue to push for reasonable buffers around schools in relation to the use of RUPs. More than 30 states have adopted tough standards for how pesticides can be sprayed near schools and six already have buffer zones to prevent pesticide spraying around schools. We must do more to better protect children, immediately.
Reclaiming Democracy: Good Governance
By: Aria Juliet Castillo, HAPA Co-Founder & Kuleana Academy Director
After over a decade of working in advocacy, I’ve seen so many people in our community excited to get involved in the legislative process—only to become quickly frustrated when things don’t move forward or when decisions seem to be made in secret. We’ve all witnessed examples of corruption, bills getting ignored, or a few people in power deciding the fate of important legislation.
But here’s the good news: **we can change this**.
At HAPA, alongside Common Cause Hawaiʻi and the Clean Elections Coalition, we’re pushing for simple, practical changes that will make our legislative process fairer, more transparent, and more accessible for everyone. We’re sharing a petition, along with a resolution making it way through neighborhood boards and community groups across the state, hoping to inspire small rule changes in the legislature that will make a big difference.
**Why Now?**
In 2022, the Hawaiʻi State Legislature formed a special group, the Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct (CISC), to tackle issues like corruption, lobbying, ethics, and campaign finance. They came up with smart, straightforward suggestions to improve our government. Unfortunately, a lot of those recommendations were never acted on. But we believe those ideas deserve another shot—and that’s what this resolution is all about.
**Here’s What We’re Proposing:**
1. **Make Public Testimony Available Early**
- Right now, testimony only becomes available when a hearing starts, giving the public and even committee members little time to fully understand the issues. We want testimony to be available at least 22 hours before a hearing. This will give everyone more time to make informed decisions—simple as that.
2. **No More Hiding Behind Deferrals**
- We’re calling for committees to vote on all the bills referred to them. Right now, bills can be “deferred,” which is a sneaky way to avoid taking a clear stance. By requiring votes, we make the process more transparent and accountable.
3. **Keep Non-Financial Bills Out of Finance Committees**
- Non-fiscal bills often get stuck in Finance or Ways & Means committees, even when they have nothing to do with the budget. This causes delays and allows chairs of these committees to bury bills. We want to streamline the process by ensuring only fiscal bills go to finance committees, keeping things moving faster and more efficiently.
4. **Guarantee Hearings for Bills with Majority Support**
- If a bill has majority backing, it should automatically get a hearing. This prevents important, popular legislation from being blocked by just a few people in leadership.
5. **Clear, Written Amendments**
- Sometimes bills get changed at the last minute with no notice. We want to make sure all amendments are written out and shared with the public before any vote is taken. This keeps everyone in the loop and avoids confusion.
6. **No Anonymous Bill Introductions**
- Right now, bills can be introduced “by request,” meaning the entity behind the bill doesn’t have to be named. We think that’s a problem. Every bill should clearly state who’s asking for it to be introduced—let’s get rid of the anonymity.
**Supporting Fairer Elections and Campaign Finance Reform**
Along with these procedural changes, we’re also supporting some policy changes that will make our elections fairer and more accountable:
- **Ban Contributions from Government Contractors**
- To prevent conflicts of interest, we want to prohibit campaign contributions from officers, owners, and senior staff of government contractors and their immediate family members.
- **Increase Funding for Public Campaign Financing**
- Public financing of elections is a great way to reduce the influence of big money in politics. We need more funding to support this effort.
- **Ban the Transfer of Contributions Between Candidates**
- We’re pushing to stop candidates from transferring campaign donations to each other, which can lead to undue influence and interference in elections.
- **Let the People Vote on Legislative Term Limits**
- Lastly, we think the public should get to decide whether state legislators should have term limits. Let the people have a say!
**What’s Next?**
This petition and resolution are small steps, but it’s a meaningful one. If neighborhood boards, community groups, and everyday people like you get behind these changes, we can push the legislature to adopt rules that make the system more open, fair, and accountable. The rules that govern how bills are heard and voted on can be adjusted—by the legislature itself—to better reflect the values of transparency and collaboration.
We know change can be slow, but it’s possible. Let’s make Hawai‘i a model of transparency and fairness that other states look to for inspiration.
Social and Economic Justice
By: Kencho Gurung, Communications Organizer
Congratulations to the nurses and organizers of OPEIU Local 5 (Hawaiʻi Nurses Association) on their powerful movement and stance in which they remained firm in their demands for safe staffing ratios at Kapiʻolani Medical Center!
Please support the efforts of UNITE HERE Local 5 on the picket line and Hawaiʻi Nurses Association on Kauaʻi as they continue to fight for safe staffing ratios at Wilcox (which, along with Kapiʻolani Medical Center, is operated by Hawaiʻi Pacific Health).
Base Building Update
By: Kaiakahinaliʻi Kaʻōpua-Canonigo, Lead Organizer
E lākou ala,
Lonoikamakahiki! I hope that your ʻohana and community have the chance to rest, reflect, and make ready for the coming season!
The beginning to this kau hoʻoilo has been fruitful with new programs and pilina from all of our program areas, and we are excited to have some new offerings to the community. In the Fair & Sustainable Food Systems program area, we are hosting our first annual Ka ʻAi Kamahaʻo cohort, in collaboration with Hawaiʻi Appleseed. This 4-day organizing and empowerment training utilizes the Movement Building for Ea curriculum, developed by kanaka organizers in the early 2010s. Participants will leave this training with momentum, skills, and a plan of action for organizing to strengthen food equity and community-based food systems. The curriculum is grounded in the history of Aloha ‘Āina in Hawaiʻi, and in the tradition of peoples throughout the world who struggle for liberation, freedom, and justice. The core values being: kūʻē (resistance); kūkulu (creating alternatives); people power; collectivity; community; honesty and integrity; and fundamental human dignity." Participants will learn oli (chants), campaign building strategies, practical skills for planning and implementing effective actions in their communities.
We are grateful to be working with and offering these training sessions to organizations doing transformational work in our communities. If you would like to set up a time to meet and talk story about the Movement Building for Ea, our base-building efforts, or anything that HAPA can possibly support you and your community with, please feel free to reach out to me at 808-445-5787 or hina@hapahi.org, and I would gladly make time to kūkākūkā.
Mahalo piha no kāu hana nui!
HAPA's 10 Year Anniversary
By: Stacey Alapai, Development Manager
It's hard to believe that our 10 year anniversary gala was already a month ago! It was so great to see all of our partners and friends in the movement to celebrate the progress we’ve made and build stronger relationships for the work we have yet to accomplish. Mahalo to all who were able to join us in person or sent encouraging messages for our 10th anniversary!
We’d love to hear your favorite part of the night and what causes are important to you in this upcoming year for the legislative session. Check out the pictures from the night here
We are ramping up for our next cohort for Kuleana Academy (applications open in January) and strategizing with partners about our Fair & Sustainable Food Systems policy agenda for the 2025 legislative session. We count on the continued support from our community to make it all happen! Please make sure you are subscribed to our legislative alerts and consider making a donation today to support our ongoing programs.
Updates | Events | Opportunities
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Part Time Development Manager
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Read the job descriptions and how to apply here!
