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Former Member, Agriculture Committee, Hawaii State House of Representatives
Former Member, Finance Committee, Hawaii State House of Representatives
Former Member, Labor and Public Employment Committee, Hawaii State House of Representatives
Former Member, Ocean, Marine Resources, & Hawaiian Affairs Committee, Hawaii State House of Representatives
Former Member, Public Safety Committee, Hawaii State House of Representatives
Former Vice Chair, Transportation Committee, Hawaii State House of Representatives
Former Member, Agriculture Committee, Hawaii State House of Representatives
Former Member, Finance Committee, Hawaii State House of Representatives
Former Member, Labor and Public Employment Committee, Hawaii State House of Representatives
Former Member, Ocean, Marine Resources, & Hawaiian Affairs Committee, Hawaii State House of Representatives
Former Member, Public Safety Committee, Hawaii State House of Representatives
Former Vice Chair, Transportation Committee, Hawaii State House of Representatives
Vice Chair, Culture, Arts, and International Affairs Committee
Member, Health, Human Services, and Homelessness Committee
Member, Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee
— Awards:
— Father's Occupation:
First Job:
I began to learn what a hard days work meant at the age of 14, when I took up two jobs: I started my own paper route in the mornings and did landscaping and odd jobs at driving range in the afternoons.
— Mother's Occupation:
Priority Issues:
Campaign Platform Matt LoPresti, District 41 Democratic Candidate
Your priorities are my priorities because the job of an elected official is to represent you, not a political party and certainly not some personal agenda. My platform covers five of the most important and long-standing issues facing the people of "Ewa and "Ewa Beach:
(1) Securing Quality Education and resources (like A/C and a second High School) for our keiki.
(2) Addressing Traffic as the number one quality of life issue.
(3) Ensuring that Quality Jobs & Affordable Housing are available for our working families.
(4) Supporting our kupuna with appropriate healthcare services and the ability to age in place.
(5) Protecting and preserving Hawaii's natural beauty and resources for future generations.
Education, Traffic, Affordable Housing & Jobs, Kupuna Care, Environment.
— Publications:
Reason for Seeking Public Office:
Why I'm Running
My name is Matt LoPresti. I believe that family comes first in our community. As a father and husband my most important job and greatest joy in life is to help raise my two little girls, Nina Sophia (4) and Aria Jane (1), with lessons of personal responsibility and care for our community. To me, leadership means putting your needs and the needs of our community before my own. It's been a long time since we had a State Representative with the integrity to do this. That is why I am running for this office: to bring integrity back to the District 41 representative seat for "Ewa and "Ewa Beach.
Leadership means listening to your concerns and working to shape policy to help our children, our kupuna, our families, our schools and our environment. Talking with so many of you at community meetings, door-to-door or at the supermarket, I know that your family, like mine, often struggles to make ends meet with the high cost of living. I will apply the lessons our family has learned and the lessons I've learned as a college professor of ethics, Asian philosophy, and critical thinking to help build a better future for all of our families in "Ewa Beach and across Hawai"i.
To me, leadership means putting your needs and the needs of our community before my own. It's been a long time since we had a State Representative with the integrity to do this. That is why I am running for this office: to bring integrity back to the District 41 representative seat for "Ewa and "Ewa Beach.
Spouse's Occupation:
Public School Teacher (2002-present)
1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice
2. Should abortions be illegal after the first trimester of pregnancy?
- No
3. Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape?
- Yes
4. Should abortion be legal when the life of the woman is endangered?
- Yes
5. Do you support requiring parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor?
- No Answer
6. Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor?
- No Answer
7. Do you support the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures?
- No Answer
8. Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions?
- No Answer
9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Education (higher)
- Slightly Increase
2. Education (K-12)
- Greatly Increase
3. Environment
- Slightly Increase
4. Health care
- Maintain Status
5. Law enforcement/corrections
- Slightly Increase
6. Transportation/infrastructure
- Slightly Increase
7. Welfare
- Maintain Status
8. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer
1. Alcohol taxes
- No Answer
2. Cigarette taxes
- No Answer
3. Corporate taxes
- No Answer
4. Gas/Oil taxes
- No Answer
5. Property taxes
- Maintain Status
6. Sales taxes
- Maintain Status
7. Income taxes (low-income families)
- Eliminate
8. Income taxes (mid-income families)
- Maintain Status
9. Income taxes (high-income families)
- Slightly Increase
10. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Tapping into Hawaii's "rainy day" fund
- No
2. Increasing tuition rates at public universities
- No Answer
3. Reducing or eliminating public worker collective bargaining
- No
4. Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions
- No
5. Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees
- No
6. Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients
- No
7. Other or expanded principles
- The legislature does not determine tuition rates at the public university. The university administrators are directly responsible for tuition rates.
1. Individual
- Yes
2. Political Action Committee
- Yes
3. Corporate
- Yes
4. Political Party
- Yes
5. Should candidates for state office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits?
- Yes
6. Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
- Yes
7. Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting?
- Yes
8. Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls?
- No
1. Other or expanded principles
- I support revamping our entire elections system to that actual citizens have more say in their government instead of vested interest groups that often have enormous power and control over political candidates.
1. Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes?
- No
2. Do you support alternatives to incarceration for certain non-violent offenders, such as mandatory counseling or substance abuse treatment?
- Yes
3. Do you support legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana?
- No Answer
4. Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult?
- No Answer
5. Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges?
- No Answer
6. Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police?
- No Answer
7. Do you support requiring labels on foods that have been genetically engineered or contain genetically modified ingredients?
- Yes
8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector?
- No Answer
2. Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers?
- Yes
3. Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits?
- Yes
4. Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation?
- Yes
5. Do you support government spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No Answer
6. Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure?
- No Answer
7. Do you support an increase of the minimum wage?
- Yes
8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative?
- No
2. Do you support a merit pay system for teachers?
- No
3. Is the tenure process for public school teachers producing effective teachers?
- No Answer
4. Should parents be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to any school?
- No Answer
5. Do you support state funding for charter schools?
- No Answer
6. Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid?
- Yes
7. Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Hawaii high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities?
- No Answer
8. Other or expanded principles
- Question c is misguided. The tenure process isn't necessarily about producing certain types of teachers, it is about basic employment rights and due process for professionals. It also allows these professionals a degree of freedom of speech regarding their jobs and the institutions in which they work so that they can freely offer constructive criticism without fear of retaliation for such criticism.
1. Do you support state funding for the development of alternative energy?
- Yes
2. Do you support state funding for the development of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil)?
- No
3. Do you support state funding for improvements to Hawaii's energy infrastructure?
- Yes
4. Do you support state funding for open space preservation?
- Yes
5. Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes
6. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
- Yes
2. Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows?
- Yes
3. Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns?
- No
4. Should a license be required for gun possession?
- Yes
5. Other or expanded principles
- It is odd to ask if anyone supports restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns when the constitution requires it. The 2nd amendment is the only amendment that uses the word "regulation" and it is used in reference to the possession of weapons. Despite this regulation, people still have a constitutional right to possess them; there merely has to be rules in place regarding them. This elementary understanding is shared by gun enthusiasts as well as by those in favor of reasonable regulation.
1. Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option?
- Yes
2. Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform?
- Yes
3. Do you support interstate health insurance compacts?
- No Answer
4. Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act?
- Yes
5. Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance?
- Yes
6. Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits?
- No
7. Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes?
- Yes
8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Do you support same-sex marriage?
- Yes
2. Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Hawaii's anti-discrimination laws?
- Yes
3. Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Hawaii's anti-discrimination laws?
- Yes
4. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
In the following area, on an attached page, or via e-mail, please explain in a total of 100 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.
- Priority #1: Education, especially our infrastructure. Our keiki suffer in 95 degree classrooms and desperately need A/C to have a place where they can learn and develop into the productive citizens of tomorrow. I will fight for the $26 million of capital improvements necessary to install this basic need into the High School, Intermediate Schools and an Elementary School in our district. These funds will come out of the normal CIP budget process and merely need someone with the leadership ability to direct these state funds to our long neglected district.#2 Affordable Housing and Jobs.#3 Kupuna Care.
