The Honolulu Charter Commission is close to finalizing the charter amendment proposals voters could see on their ballots this November.

The commission first started fielding charter amendment proposals from the public in August 2025 and received nearly 300 submissions. That was narrowed down to 19 coming into a scheduled meeting on Monday.

The commission aims to finish working on the proposals this month.

One of the questions that can still make it onto ballots would ask voters to create a food security fund on Oʻahu. The proposal was a focus of many public testimonies during Monday's meeting, and could dedicate a portion of existing property tax revenue so the city could invest in food programs.

Proponents say a dedicated fund would help residents who have to decide to go without food or buy unhealthy food so that they can pay other bills.

“As the adage goes, ‘Rent eats first,’” said Hunter Heaivilin, the advocacy director for the Hawaiʻi Farmers Union, during the commission meeting. “The city has already had to make some tough decisions regarding its budget, recent cuts to the Office of Economic Revitalization, and likely impacts to the food-related programming it has provided are sure to come in the near future. A dedicated fund, however, keeps food from always being the thing that gets cut.”

The proposal currently says that the fund would share 2% of property tax revenues that are already being dedicated to a handful of special funds.

One of the more controversial proposals would give voters an opportunity to create an empty homes tax on Oʻahu — a controversial measure that has stalled at the Honolulu City Council.

The tax would fund affordable housing projects by taxing unoccupied homes owned by investors.

Commissioner Gerald “Trey” Gordner voted in favor of the proposal.

“There's demand for housing on Oʻahu from the people who live here and would like to live here full time, and from people who do not live here and would prefer to reserve and use those housing units for other purposes,” Gordner said at the commission meeting. “And the key point is that over time, locals are increasingly at a purchasing power disadvantage.”

He added, “The policy rationale for … charging the people the actual cost that they're imposing on the community by keeping these units off of the market also makes sense.”

Another proposal would give additional powers to the Honolulu Police Commission over the Honolulu Police Department.

There have been calls for years to change how the Police Commission operates so that it could more properly oversee the police department.

The key revisions in the charter proposal include giving the City Council the ability to choose some of the police commissioners, giving the commission more authority to address police misconduct, and the creation of an Office of Civilian Police Investigations — an investigative arm of the commission.

Preparations are underway as Hawaiʻi’s upcoming August primary elections approaches. For Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago, the election season has been particularly eventful.

Chief elections officers around the country, including Nago, received letters in early July from the U.S. Justice Department. Federal officials threatened criminal prosecution if they allowed ballots cast by noncitizens to be counted.

In addition, Nago also testified before lawmakers last week, who questioned him on how to handle the hypothetical scenario of the U.S. Postal Service refusing to deliver mail-in ballots.

The questioning was related to President Donald Trump’s earlier executive order to limit mail-in ballots, which was blocked by a federal judge.

Nago spoke with HPR to discuss these hot-seat issues and to share how overall preparations for the August primary have been progressing.

In regards to the letter he received threatening criminal prosecution, Nago said, “It’s not going to deter us from doing our mission, which is providing secure, accessible, and convenient elections.”

He told HPR the letter prompted no change in their usual procedure since “noncitizens aren't allowed to vote anyway.”

Similarly, the issue of the USPS hypothetically refusing to deliver mail-in ballots appeared to be a non-issue for Nago.

“The USPS can't do that … like I said, that’s a hypothetical question ,” he told HPR. “So that is not something that we would focus our efforts on, or have focused our efforts on coming up with a plan B.”

If such a scenario were to occur, he suggested alternate delivery options, increased in-person voting opportunities, and potential litigation against USPS as possible methods of coping with a potential mail-in ballot block.

In-person voting at polling centers will take place on Aug. 8. However, Nago also explained that voters have the option to vote in-person at voter service centers up to 10 days prior to election day.

The deadline to register to vote and receive your ballot in the mail is July 29. If you miss that, worry not — in-person voter registration will continue to be available at voter registration centers up until election day.

More information, including key dates and deadlines for the upcoming primary elections, can be found at elections.hawaii.gov.

This story aired on The Conversation on July 13, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.

Part of Central Oʻahu will get a new leader after state Sen. Michelle Kidani said she’ll resign at the end of the month.

Gov. Josh Green will appoint a temporary replacement for her seat, which represents Waipiʻo, Waikele and parts of Waipahu and Mililani.

Kidani is a Democrat, so Hawaiʻi law says the governor must choose from a list of three options submitted by the Democratic Party.

Voters will decide on a permanent replacement during the Nov. 3 general election. This person will serve out the remaining two years of Kidani's four-year term.

The deadline to file as a candidate in the primary election has already passed. So the county committees of the parties will decide who will run in November.

There will be one nonpartisan candidate on the ballot. The chief elections officer will supervise a drawing if more than one nonpartisan candidate wants to run.

Kidani is 77 years old. In February, she defended her ability to represent her constituents after Honolulu Civil Beat alleged she was diagnosed with dementia and lost her train of thought in meetings.

"If the time comes that I determine I can no longer fully and faithfully serve, I will make that decision to resign my seat," Kidani said in a statement at the time.

On Saturday, Kidani said she decided to retire after talking to her doctor. Her last day will be June 30th.

Kidani served in the Senate for 18 years. She was senate vice president and chair of the education committee.

Five of the seats on the nine-member Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees are up for grabs, with 19 people vying to represent O‘ahu, Maui and statewide.

The election comes as OHA considers its options in several areas, including a potential bid to buy the television news station KITV, how best to develop Kakaʻako Makai, and ways to gain a larger role in military lease negotiations.

The race for three at-large seats on the OHA Board is the most crowded field, with 15 people wanting to represent these seats. The August primary election will narrow the field to the top six vote getters. The November general election will determine the three winners.

The incumbents Camen Hulu Lindsey and Kalei Akaka on the Maui and Oʻahu seats each have a challenger, which will automatically go to the November general election.

If the challengers are successful at unseating the incumbents, they will join the nine-member panel to decide how to manage OHA’s trust worth about $600 million.

OHA was created in 1978 as a semi-autonomous state agency, which is tasked with managing revenue from lands once held by the Hawaiian Kingdom to help improve the conditions Native Hawaiians.

Anyone, including non-Native Hawaiians, can vote for OHA after a 2000 court ruling, Rice v. Cayetano, determining that it was illegal to limit OHA elections by ethnicity.

But OHA races typically include blank ballots, according to Jacob Aki of the Oʻahu Council of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs.

“Oftentimes, if people don’t know anybody on the ballot, they'll often leave it blank,” he said.

Aki said these races are about name recognition and who can raise the most funds to get their name out to voters.

“What we've seen in successful challengers who have either unseated current incumbents or who have been competitive in these races, it's been who can get their name out there,” he said. “TV, radio, all of which are probably the most expensive ways to get your name out there.”

Three-at-Large Seats

Three at-large seats are currently held by John Waiheʻe IV, who is the son of former Gov. John Waiheʻe III; Brickwood Galuteria, a former state senator; and Keoni Souza, a real estate agent and musician.

Aki said this race is one of the most competitive because some challengers also have name recognition and are seasoned campaigners. Those include former Honolulu City Councilmember Ikaika Anderson and former OHA Board Trustee Brendon Kaleiʻaina Lee.

Other notable opponents are Kumu Hula Karl Veto Baker and Kalena Parish, also known as the Hawaiian musician Kalenakū DeLima.

Aki said Parish is one of the few females running in the at-large race.

“It will be interesting to see how she uses her name, her network and very strong social media following, too,” Aki said.

The Oʻahu Seat

Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, also known as Kumu Hina, is vying for the Oʻahu seat, which has been held by Kalei Akaka since 2018. Akaka is the granddaughter of the late. Sen. Daniel Akaka.

Aki said Kumu Hina is one of her strongest challenges since her first race when she faced Esther Kiaʻāina, who now serves on the Honolulu City Council.

“What Kumu Hina brings is state and national recognition,” Aki said. “She’s a cultural icon. People know her as an LGBTQ activist. She is known for her number of documentaries and books.”

He added that she also has a large social media following.

The Maui Seat

Community leader and cultural practitioner Jonah Kapu will face off with incumbent Carmen Hulu Lindsey in the November general election. Lindsey has been serving as the Maui trustee since 2012 and is the former board chair.

Aki said it will be interesting to see if Kapu can overcome the name recognition that Lindsey already has.

Primary election ballot packets will be delivered in the mail by July 21.

State Rep. Della Au Belatti announced her run for lieutenant governor on Thursday, pivoting from her run for Congress.

She said she was originally against the switch because she was committed to helping the people of Hawaiʻi at the national level, but she saw a growing need for stable local leadership after Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke declared she would not run for reelection.

Belatti said there has been “a fundamental change” in local politics since Luke announced her leave of absence.

“We need a lieutenant governor who is going to collaborate with Governor [Josh] Green, but we also need a lieutenant governor who is thoughtful, critical, independent and willing to be vocal when needed,” Belatti said at Thursday's news conference at the Entrepreneurs Sandbox in Honolulu. “I will continue to be someone who works and aligns with executive leadership when it calls for it, but I will also continue to be a critical, thoughtful, independent leader when needed.”

Belatti is running against two other candidates: Kauaʻi County Mayor Derek Kawakami, who announced his run on March 18, and Honolulu attorney John Choi, who jumped into the race on Tuesday.

Since September, when she announced her run for Congress, Belatti has raised over $100,000 for her campaign. Money from a congressional race cannot carry over to a state campaign, but Belatti said she plans to reach out to the “same small dollar donors” that have been supporting her, as she refuses to turn to accept big corporation money.

“Corporate interests have far too much power and influence in our decision making,” Belatti said. “We need a champion in the executive branch to say no to corporate overbearing corporate influence, and I'm going to be that voice.”

She praised the state legislature and governor for signing into law a bill that ends Citizens United in an effort to reduce corporate influence in elections.

Belatti added that if granted the position, she would work to close contractor loopholes, expand early education opportunities, and increase clarity and transparency around the HMSA and Hawaiʻi Pacific Health merger.

Belatti’s drop from the congressional run leaves only Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole to challenge U.S. Rep. Ed Case for the Hawaiʻi District 1 seat.

The primary election is Aug. 8.

Gov. Josh Green on Thursday signed into law a bill that uses a novel approach to reduce the influence of corporations and hard-to-track “dark money” groups that have been able to spend unlimited amounts on politics since a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The law, which takes effect July 1, 2027, redefines corporations in a way that precludes spending on elections. A volunteer group in Montana is gathering signatures in hopes of putting a similar issue to voters in November.

The high court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission struck down a ban on corporate and union election spending as long as they don't donate directly to any campaigns. The case stemmed from Citizens United, a conservative group, wanting to run TV commercials promoting its anti-Hillary Clinton movie when she was running for president in 2008.

The ruling has benefited Democrats and Republicans. The campaign finance watchdog group OpenSecrets tracked more than $4 billion in outside political spending in the 2024 federal elections — almost 12 times as much as in 2008.

Some of that came from dark money groups that aren’t required to disclose donors, and the Brennan Center for Justice tallied a record $1.9 billion in that type of spending in 2024. Dark money has also played a part in some state-level races.

The office of Hawaiʻi Attorney General Anne Lopez, a Democrat, opposed Hawaiʻi's measure, arguing in part that it will be difficult and costly to defend in court.

“Hawaiʻi is taking a brave and bold step to get corporate and dark money out of America’s politics,” said Tom Moore, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, which crafted the legal strategy the law is based upon. “It will send a powerful message that will be heard loud and clear across the Pacific and across the mainland.”