Duties: The Hawaii State House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Hawaii State Legislature. The Hawaii House of Representatives is a part-time body.Areas Represented: Portion of Varona Village, a portion of Ewa, a portion of Kapolei, Fernandez VillageHow Elected: The house consists of 51 members elected from an equal number of respective representative districts. A Representative must be a Hawaii resident not less than three years, is at least 18 years old, and is a qualified voter of the representative district from which the person seeks to be elected. Candidates for state legislative offices who are nominated in the primary election and are unopposed in the general election will be deemed elected to the office sought after the primary election regardless of the number of votes received by that candidate (Hawaii State Constitution, Article III, Section 4).Term: Two years, not subject to term limits.Base Salary (FY2024): $72,348 plus $225/day if living outside Oahu, $10/day for members living on Oahu; Speaker of the House - $81,024
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Education
Nānākuli Elementary; Kamehameha High School; MIT, B.S. Environmental Engineering; GTU/Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara, M.A. Systematic and Philosophical Theology; University of Hawaiʻi William S. Richard School of Law, J.D.
Community/Military Service
Chair, Makakilo-Kapolei-Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board No. 34; First Vice President, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs; Chair, Prince Kūhiō Hawaiian Civic Club- Scholarship Fund; Board Member, Wai‘anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center
Campaign Phone
8083982468
Aloha. I’m Anthony Makana Paris. I grew up fishing and farming in West O‘ahu, attended Nānākuli Elementary and Kamehameha, and was raised in the faith community of St. Rita’s on Hawaiian homelands. I was also houseless for a time, and I know the struggles of living paycheck-to-paycheck. My mother is a retired janitor and my father is a retired ironworker. Through hard work and community support, I have an MIT engineering degree, a Santa Clara philosophy/theology degree, and a J.D. from UH Richardson School of Law. Our communities raised me and prepared me, and now is my time to serve.
We should leave Hawai‘i better than we found it. Hawai‘i is at a crisis point in our history with high cost of living, lack of affordable housing, record high HOA insurance fees, grueling traffic and long commutes, rising crime, a shortage of good jobs, food insecurity, aging and insufficient infrastructure, increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters, rising sea levels, and a public educational system desperately in need of improvement. The foundation for solutions to all of these problems is adequate, affordable housing for Hawaii’s families.
If we invest in our ʻāina and our people first, everything else will follow.
Economically, we need to improve Hawai‘i through investing in history’s greatest economic drivers – home construction, agriculture, education, and firm and renewable energy. I support creativity and innovation. Our communities have ancestral wisdom and are skilled with formal education and street smarts, ingenuity, and know-how.
I believe Hawaii’s tax and fee codes should be more progressive and worker friendly to make sure our local families can continue to live, work, and play here in the islands. I would support a Tax Reform Task Force to explore: raising income taxes on the rich; raising corporate taxes; make foreign investors and REITS pay their fair share; have visitors pay their fair share; charging an “empty-homes” surcharge on vacant properties; collect taxes on responsible adult use marijuana; and suspending GET exemptions that have served their purpose.
