Dear Speaker Saiki and Members of the House,

Hawaii’s working families and most vulnerable need immediate help. Our families are still suffering under the pandemic and the downturn in the economy. The Federal government has provided billions in aid to our state and billions more is being planned to help and we are grateful and ask for a part of that aid to help our working families and those in need. Even with government and non-profit support programs, our families still face impossible financial choices, balancing paying for food or rent, medicine or school supplies, and car insurance or water and electric bills. Please use some of that money to grant emergency aid through tax forgiveness to our most vulnerable, including those that lost their jobs last year and collected on Unemployment Insurance (SB 614). Also, let’s build back Hawaii better by increasing the minimum wage to $12 (SB 676) and support our working families. We ask that you help Hawaii’s workers and vulnerable this session.

Mahalo.