LIHUE — A lot has changed, Daynette “Dee” Morikawa said, since she was elected to her first term in the state House of Representatives. The state is more fiscally sound and transparent. “I think the important thing is that we’ve
LIHUE — A lot has changed, Daynette “Dee” Morikawa said, since she was elected to her first term in the state House of Representatives.
The state is more fiscally sound and transparent.
“I think the important thing is that we’ve restored some services from the really bad recession that we went through, beginning in 2009, we’re replenishing the hurricane relief fund, which is really big, and we’re starting to address unfunded liabilities — the state employee retirement system and health fund,” she said. “On top of that, Kauai has been getting a lot of money for capital improvement projects.”
To keep that momentum going, the 58-year-old Waimea resident is seeking her third term in the Legislature as the island’s state House District 16, which spans from Koloa to Niihau.
“With almost 40 years of public service, my passion and expertise is about how I can best work for a safe and happy life for everybody,” Morikawa said.
The veteran public servant, who has about 40 years of county and state government experience under her belt, serves as the vice chair on the state House Committee on Health and is a member of the House Committees on Finance, Housing and Human Services.
One of the more pressing issues facing the island, and the Legislature, is how to upright the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, the state’s public hospital system.
“We have to deal with how we can make it more efficient to run,” Morikawa said. “Right now, it’s becoming a real drain on the budget, so the discussion needs to continue because we can’t keep on asking for emergency appropriations and get this Band-Aid fix every time. We have to get into the system and figure out how to make the state hospitals run more efficiently.”
If elected, Morikawa said she wants to focus on bolstering health care and elderly services, while supporting a number of agriculture efforts statewide.
“We have to preserve and increase health care and elderly services because we’ve got to protect our kupunas — it’s just our moral obligation,” Morikawa said. “We have to protect and support all forms of agriculture in order to achieve food sustainability and become economically viable on our island.”
Another area Morikawa said she would like to address is early childhood education.
“We need to provide every child with access no matter what their income is, and I think, with the ballot initiative coming up in this election, the people need to decide whether they’d like to see public money go to private institutions, or, if it doesn’t pass, we need to talk about how we can make preschool accessible in public areas,” she said.
Morikawa will face off against fellow Democrat Thomas “Butch” Kahawai in the primary election, and will face the winner of the Republican primary race, either Victoria “Vickie” Franks or Vince Flores, in the general election.
