House Approves Minimum Wage, Mauna Kea Bills After Emotional Floor Debate … As the Legislature nears the halfway mark for this year’s session, measures to provide $600 million for Native Hawaiian housing and increase the capital gains tax also advance.
Hawaii lawmakers moved ahead with plans to dramatically increase the state minimum wage to $18 an hour after a stirring House floor debate Tuesday, and gave tentative approval to what would be a historic investment in housing for Native Hawaiians.
The House also approved a measure to overhaul management of Mauna Kea by taking control of the mountain away from the University of Hawaii and giving Hawaiians and cultural practitioners more say over what many consider to be a sacred site.
House and Senate lawmakers gave preliminary approval to those measures and more than 500 others as the Legislature approaches a key deadline this week at the midpoint of the 2022 session.
