Steve Yoder
• Age: 67
• Occupation: tour guide/chauffeur
• Town of residence: Kapa‘a
• Prior experience in government/leadership: House District GOP precinct, district chair and Kaua‘i County chair; DJ programmer for 24+years at KKCR radio in Princeville
Q: The median price of a single-family home on Kaua‘i is over $1 million, and the county’s 2018 General Plan reported 44% of all households are cost-burdened. How will you address the affordable-housing crisis in your district?
I propose a major reduction of government regulations, i.e., the state Land Use Commission and the Council on Water Resource Management. Each of the four counties’ efforts at regulating housing have made Hawai‘i No. 1 in the country in terms of housing regulations, which studies have shown is why median home prices in Hawai‘i are two and a half times the national average. Government regulations and bureaucracy have made Kaua‘i/Hawai‘i too expensive to own a home today. In the early 1970s there was such an overabundance of housing inventory that many developers could not sell their units. Then in 1975 the state Land Use Commission was created, and in no time, the housing industry flatlined. The more the government regulates, the more regulation meant to help the consumer hurts the consumer, because it causes costs to rise through implementation of undue control, fees and taxes.
Q: The coronavirus pandemic decimated the tourism industry Kaua‘i and the state are so reliant upon. Should your district make economic diversity a priority, and if so, how?
Every business, including the government, has suffered from the COVID epidemic because of the unwise government decision to shut down the economy. COVID wasn’t exclusively decimating tourism, it decimated just about every form of business, including government. Government should not be involved with creating and/or developing new markets because it has no personal interest in its success as the one who depends on its success, the business owner. Free market and trade, capitalism, is what determines the needs and wants of the public, not the government. The more government is involved, the more it gums up the process through over-regulation, taxation and fees. Hawai‘i is the most unfavorable state to start a small business. Small business makes up more than half of those who are employed in Hawai‘i.
Q: The legislature was rocked this year by bribery allegations against two former legislators, leading many to call for reforms to the campaign financing system. What steps, if any, would you take to reduce the influence of money in politics?
The judiciary must simply do what they are paid to do, prosecute any and all who break the law; whether they hold elected public office or are a part of government bureaucracy. Those who hold elected office and/or are appointed to government positions should be held to the highest degree of scrutiny, judicial prudence and, if found guilty, to the maximum penalty the law allows. Regarding money in politics (money is the mother’s milk of politics, money is being spent in the process of issuing this candidate survey), you’ll never be able to divorce money from politics. All you can do is to do one’s best to control it.
Q: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Living Wage Calculator reports the living wage in Hawai‘i is currently $21.99 per hour for a single adult working full-time with no children. This year, the State Legislature took action by increasing the minimum wage to $18 an hour by 2028. How would you build on this recent accomplishment, to ensure Hawai‘i’s workforce can afford to live in Hawai‘i?
The recent legislation citing poverty concerns in Hawai‘i and the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hawai‘i, Gov. Ige signed House Bill 2510, gradually raising the State’s minimum wage to $18 per hour by January 1, 2028. On the outside it sounds plausible and fair but what are the unseen side effects to small business? Small businesses have a limited amount of revenue to operate their business. The biggest expense they have is labor. If you mandate higher wages, regardless of labor skills, small businesses will hire less people and innovate to compensate for higher imposed labor costs. Unskilled labor should be determined by Free markets, not the government. Competition of labor is what leads to higher wages. The more skill a laborer acquires, whether through experience and/or education, will provide them a higher wage in the Free Market of competition. Government mandating higher minimum wage to improve one’s economic outcome is similar to introducing mongoose to curb the rat population. How did that one work out? They didn’t do their homework in seeing the ramifications of an ignorant solution.
Q: What is driving you to seek election, and why should voters give you their vote?
If people look to the government to solve their problems, rather than sound business principles, balanced budgets and Free Markets, they will continue to struggle in a government overrun with bad policies and over regulation. Government isn’t the answer, it’s the problem. Can Hawai‘i families run their family budget, can a small business run its business, as the government is running Hawai‘i? I don’t think so. We are a people who live according to being governed by “we the people”. Wrong policy is destroying Hawai‘i families. Are you better off than you were two, four or six years ago? Then perhaps it’s time for a change. A person cannot change what they continue to tolerate. If the people who were elected two, four, six or more years ago haven’t solved the problem of the high cost of living in Hawai‘i, what makes one think they’ll change their spots or stripes and make Hawai‘i a more pleasant place to live and thrive in the future? If you live in HD16 (Wailua Homesteads through Omao), I humbly ask for your vote on August 13 and November 8.
