Ping Xu, the leader of Basic Income in Taiwan, interviewed Hawaii representative Chris Lee about Basic Income in July. In the interview, Representative Chris Lee talks about the need for discussing Basic Income as a solution outside the traditional government safety net programs. Lee says that discussion of Basic Income goes beyond party politics in Hawaii, Basic Income, he says is rather “a question of humanity and what our future is going to look like.”
Representative Chris Lee first encountered the concept of Basic Income on the Reddit Basic Income group, and since then has been interested in the topic. According to Representative Lee, the state of Hawaii needs to think about Basic Income with some urgency for reasons related to its economy, which is mostly based in the service industry. Hawaii’s flourishing tourist market and its physical isolation combined make the state’s cost of living much higher than what the local residents are able to afford. Lee mentions several situations, from homelessness, to people who are not able to retire, to younger residents who have to live with their parents for much longer than would be desirable, and yet others who have to leave the state and move away from their families. Basic Income would be a way to guarantee that the local economy could benefit and work for everyone and that Hawaii natives and others can live in the state while being able to pursue their dreams and their passions, and that no one is left behind.
Hawaii, being a service based economy, could be hit hard with the new wave of automation that is focusing on innovation applicable to the retail industry. This however can be seen as an opportunity to change the nature of work for Hawaii’s residents. Representative Lee argues that the millennials look for meaningful work that is more than just a paycheck. According to Lee, 51% of all millennials don’t believe in capitalism as is right now. Millennials would like to redefine the american dream. The american dream is “no longer to seek out the best job that pays the most, but it is rather to find the job that provides the best meaning and quality of life.” Basic Income is “a mechanism that empowers people to have that opportunity in the face of a changing economy.” Furthermore, with the innovations in automation, traditional safety nets such as welfare, food stamps, and housing assistance, can make government expenses skyrocket in the near future. Basic Income could be a policy that is cheaper to implement in the long run. For all these reason, Representative Chris Lee is supporting Basic Income in Hawaii and was able to pass legislation that will create a working group to officially look at Basic Income as a solution, looking for a better future in the state of Hawaii.
Chris Lee, a Democratic state representative from Hawaii, made international headlines when he passed legislation creating a working group to study Universal Basic Income.
Lee recently joined the UBI Podcast to discuss the legislation.
He said the working group will analyze Hawaii’s exposure to automation and the potential for solutions, such as basic income, to address this issue. The working group will also look at the efficacy of Hawaii’s current social services system and whether it is adequate for the challenges of the future.
“It’s safe to say, that if we do nothing…these programs that we are already spending money on are going to go through the roof. To say nothing of unemployment and other changes in the economy that is going to exacerbate income inequality and limit the opportunity for people to work and make a living,” Lee said.
There is no end-date to the working group, and Lee said the key players will likely be organized by the end of this summer. Lee said he hopes that by the next legislative session in January the working group will have produced enough research to push for funding for deeper research into evaluating various proposals.
A potential outcome of the working group is to create a pilot program that is “not necessarily administered by the state,” but is tailored to the local economy, he said.
While the United States had a debate over basic income during the Nixon Administration, Lee said he hopes that initiatives like this working group can bring the discussion to a new generation.
“I think this is definitely an inflection point where we have to acknowledge that the challenges that face us are far larger than our existing infrastructure and economic system is equipped to deal with,” Lee said.
Lee said there must be some changes in the system.
“I think that ultimately we have no choice and it is inevitable that we see some sort of paradigm shift in the way we are doing things,” he said.
The legislation passed unanimously, and Lee said he has not encountered opposition to the proposal. The legislation had support from labor unions, the business community, social justice advocates, and regular Hawaiians.
There were even a handful of legislators Lee worked with on the working group that already had exposure to basic income previously, he said.
“I think that respect for one’s neighbor, that ‘aloha spirit’ is something that drives our value set so that when we come together and say that everybody should have the right to basic financial security — that’s something I think is meaningful to people. So I think everybody has at least been open to the idea of having this discussion and seeing where it will go,” Lee said.
Representative Chris Lee. Credit to: Office of Representative Chris Lee
In the face of growing economic inequality and projections of increased disparities in the coming decades, Hawai‘i has passed a resolution to establish a Basic Economic Security Working Group. The working group will investigate the impact job automation will have on the residents of Hawai‘i and its social safety net programs, and investigate the feasibility of universal basic income models and other efforts to identify the best pathway forward to ensure residents are able to thrive, if you’re wanting to be a thriving Hawaii resident, you have the option to live on the big island of Hawaii if you so wished to.
Hawai‘i has the highest cost of living in the United States. It is thus no surprise that the rate of economic inequality in Hawai’i has been steadily rising for decades, and that the top 1% income shares have doubled since 1978. In response, House Concurrent Resolution 89 was passed in May 2017 to establish a Basic Economic Security Working Group, focusing on five main tasks:
“Assess Hawai‘i’s job market exposure to automation technologies, globalization and disruptive innovation;
Assess Hawai‘i’s existing spending on social safety net programs and other relevant expenditures, as well as expected spending on those programs in light of anticipated automation technologies, globalization, disruptive innovation, and job losses;
Identify and analyze options to ensure economic security, including a partial universal basic income, full universal basic income and other mechanisms;
Monitor studies, trials, and efforts in Hawai‘i and other jurisdictions relevant to the basic economic security working group; and
Seek out partnerships to publish or fund relevant trials or studies to evaluate options”
In an interview with Basic Income News, the sponsor of the resolution, Representative Chris Lee, frames the working group in light of the broader political context of the United States: “Politics in D.C. necessitate our evaluation of these future options because current policies are only making things harder for middle and lower class families. We must ask ourselves, what can we do now to head down the right path to ensure a viable economy and sustainable ways of living?”
Representative Lee went on to claim that, when future socio-economic landscapes are viewed through the lens of innovation and automation, some form of a basic income “seems inevitable”. The representative states that it is imperative to “acknowledge there are real issues both in our economy and society that current policy is not equipped to deal with” and that our economic and social infrastructure must evolve to match the speed of technological innovations.
Given that, in 2016, the service industry composed the majority of the state’s total GDP, automation may be one of the greatest challenges to its economic security in the near future. This threat is even more pressing given projections of the United States losing almost half of all jobs to automation in the next two decades. Hawai‘i’s resolution is proactive in addressing the specters of job loss and increased reliance on social safety net programs by mapping the potential future impact and mitigating negative effects with evidence-based strategies to inform legislation.
The majority of households in Hawai‘i are families with children. Representative Lee is mindful of how their lives can be shaped by economic insecurity and is working to create pathways forward to ensure people can thrive.
More information at:
Bureau of Economic Analysis, Hawaii, U.S. Department of Commerce, 2016
