Kaniela Ing
| Representative Kaniela Ing | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Hawaii House of Representatives from the 11th district | |
|
Assumed office November 7, 2012 | |
| Preceded by | George Fontaine |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
December 24, 1988 Maui, Hawaii |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | University of Hawaii, Kamehameha Schools |
| Profession | American politician |
| Religion | Christian |
| Website | www.kanielaing.com |
Mark Kaniela Saito Ing is an American politician and Democratic member of the Hawaii State House of Representatives since November 2012. He serves as Chair of the Ocean, Marine Resources, and Hawaiian Affairs committee, making him the youngest Chairperson in Hawaii's legislative history.
Early life
Kaniela was born and raised on the island of Maui, Hawaii. He comes from a diverse background which encompasses many facets of Hawaii's immigration and plantation history. On his mother's side, Ing's grandmother's parents arrived in Hawaii from Portugal and Spain, and his grandfather from Japan. Years later, they met at the Statehood celebration on Maui in 1959. They had three children including Ing's mother Annette Saito. On his father's side, Ing comes from Native Hawaiian, Chinese, Dutch, Irish, and Russian descent. Ing never knew his grandfather, but was very close with his great-grandparents, who hanai'ed and raised his father, Mark Kaulana Ing, from birth.
Ing comes from a working class family. His mother was a shoe clerk at the old Maui Liberty House, while his father waited tables at "Raffles" in Wailea--an ILWU member. When his father unexpectedly died, Ing worked as a harvester in for Maui Land and Pineapple, every summer as a teenager, to help his single-mother raise his three siblings. Ing attended public schools, Kamehameha Schools Maui, Maui Community College, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and American University in Washington D.C. for graduate school. He has worked in various roles in the community with business, government, and the non-profit sectors.[1]
Public life
Ing was elected to serve the 11th House District (South Maui: Kihei, Wailea, Makena) as a first-time candidate in 2012. Ing won the Democratic primary election against three better-known candidates with 43% of the vote.[2] Ing then defeated incumbent Representative George Fontaine (R) in the general election with 61% of the vote to the incumbent's 35%.[3]
Ing was re-elected in the 2014 primary by the largest margin of any contested race in Hawaii (82-12-6) and in the General election with the highest percentage won by a democrat ever in the South Maui district (72%). In 2016, Ing faced Primary challenger, Deidre Tegarden, an aide to former Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie who helped Tegarden raised a record amounts campaign funds. Despite being grossly outspent, Ing prevailed with 61% of the vote to his opponent's 34%.
Policy leaning
According to a statement on his legislative website
- "Ing is a bold, profeminist, Native Hawaiian progressive who stalwartly fights for economic, social, racial, gender, immigrant, indigenous, and LGBT justice. Ing proudly supports a $15 minimum wage, 16 weeks paid family lave, ending unnecessary wars in the middle east, debt-free college, reducing income inequality, transgendered rights, equal pay, legalizing marijuana, and seeks to restore public trust in government through campaign finance reform, repealing the SCOTUS decisions that created SuperPacs, and clean, open elections.
Legislative Action
Hawaii's first Net-Zero (100% Renewable Energy) School
South Maui has been in dire need for a community public high school for decades. Upon election, Ing made funding the high school his community priority and secured a over $70 million for the initial phases, marking the single largest DOE appropriation in the budget for two consecutive fiscal bienniums. He elicited public testimony via grassroots community tabling and a tear-and-send testimony postcard that he sent out to his constituents addressed to the House Finance Committee. The project broke ground in January 2016, and Phase I (groundwork) was completed in June. Phase II went out to bid in July 2016. Ing lobbied the DOE to plan and design the high school to become the State's first 100% renewable energy powered school. Ing also fought and won infrastructure funds for Kihei El., Lokelani Int., Kamalii El., Kihei Boat Ramp, and Pi'ilani Hwy.
Same-day voter registration
Ing initially ran for office with the promise to foster more public trust and involvement in government. Upon election, Ing set his focus on good government and election modernization efforts. One of the most notable achievements of his first term was enacting same-day voter registration in Hawaii, marking the single most meaningful election reform in Hawaii in decades. His bill "increases turnout, alleviates pollworker burden, and prevents voter fraud in Hawaii by eliminating arbitrary registration deadlines based on technological limitations that no longer exist." The bill was signed into law on June 30, 2014.
The new law will allow voters to register and vote during a single visit at all early-polling places in Hawaii starting 2016, and at all polling places on election day in 2018. The measure is estimated to increase voting turnout by 6-8%.
Police cannot carry firearms while intoxicated
In 2015, Ing introduced a measure to prohibit police officers from using firearms while intoxicated. The bill was introduced by request on behalf of the family of Kollin Elderts, a Native Hawaiian man of Ing's age, who was shot and killed by an intoxicated off-duty federal agent in 2011. While the FBI agent, Christopher Deedy, would not have been impacted by State law, the case and bill illuminated the need for an examination of local police forces. Ing described the bill as "common-sense" and linked it to driving while intoxicated. The bill easily passed the House, but got deferred in the Senate due to disagreements on penalties. However, it quickly prompted an update in the internal rules of all Hawaii's local police departments to reflect the intent of the bill. Today in Hawaii, Police are not allowed to use firearms while intoxicated. [5]
Legalization of Industrial Hemp
In 2016, following the announced closure of Hawaii's last sugar planation, Ing wrote an introduced a bill to legalize industrial hemp in Hawaii. A successful pilot project had just concluded, and Alexander & Baldwin, was interested in growing hemp as one replacement crop in an effort to move to diversified agriculture. The bill followed the Kentucky and Colorado models of legislation, which allowed for "commercial research" to comply with the Federal Farm Act of 2014. Alongside Representative Cynthia Theilen and Senator Mike Gabbard, Ing worked to usher his bill and the senate version through the House. SB2659 was signed into law on June 7, 2016. He also worked to help pass a law to replace Hawaii's obsolete ethanal credit with a biofuels credit, the nations first organic food credit, and hubs for small farmers to build capitol and capacity. This is part of Ing's vision for regenerative, diversified agriculture on Maui (e.g. biofuel crops like sunflowers, local food like mangos and avocados, and hemp and bamboo for a variety of uses.) [6] [7]
Personal Life
On April 25, 2016, Ing and his partner, lawyer and social justice activist Khara Jabola-Carolus, welcomed their first child, Laguna Kekipi Jabola-Ing. His first name, Laguna, refers to the Filipino province, honoring his mother's Filipino heritage; Kekipi is his father's great-great-grandmother's previously-lost Hawaiian last name and means "the Rebel."
References
- ↑ Aloha and Welcome!
- ↑ "2012 Election: 11th House - Ing vs. Fontaine - Mauinews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Visitor's Information". The Maui News. 2012-08-12. Retrieved 2013-02-20.
- ↑ Winning Formula
- ↑ "Policy". Kanielaing.com. Retrieved 2013-02-20.
- ↑ http://mauinow.com/2015/02/12/ing-introduces-bill-to-prohibit-officers-from-drinking-while-carrying-firearms/
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/VoteKaniela/videos/1163400267037603/
- ↑ http://governor.hawaii.gov/newsroom/governors-office-news-release-governor-signs-hemp-agriculture-bills-into-law/