Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 8, 1 August 2022 — Paul Morgan [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Paul Morgan

1 | Addressing affordable housing will require work from many angles. First, legally we must declare a crisis. With those emergency powers being put to good use we ean review all projects currently in the planning phase, streamline the approval process and get them in motion. Our trained administration, developers, lawyers and the counties mayors will work together to achieve this goal. We will exhaust federal resources and programs to lower the overhead of the projects and explore proven, new building technologies fit for our communities. I have a detailed plan that addresses these items through specific federal and state laws and statutes.

2 | My commitment is Hawai'i First. This plan highlights a diversified economy and is ready to begin with agriculture. With the help of research and development we ean learn from the current farmers and improve on their practices while immediately solving any of their issues. Technical assistance will be afforded to farmers to gain access to grants, create pilot projects and enter export markets. Again, an immediate review of permits and plans for farms or farming activities will be done to streamline the approval process. Adequate access to water and other resources will be ensured. HTA dollars will be repurposed to promote Hawai'i made/Hawai'i grown products to the loeal community, as well as nationally and internationally. The agriculture industry will flourish, working to sustain the loeal economy. 3 | I will begin with practicing the Hawaiian language and incorporate it more into everyday government activities. As it is an official language of the state it deserves the presence. Members of my campaign team are involved in the immersion program and I have learned a great deal about the importance of the living language. I will create a hui of native speakers, educators and community members to properly develop a program that enables true immersion to exist within the puhlie school system. Concurrently more funding opportunities will be afforded to existing programs in order to offer night and weekend classes in their communities. ■ 1. ^ 3. 2. 4.