The following testimony was submitted by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii for consideration by the Honolulu Charter Commission on Dec. 15, 2025.
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Dec. 15, 2025, 2:30 p.m.
Honolulu Hale
To: Honolulu Charter Commission
Dawn Szewczyk, Chair
Sommerset Yamamoto, Vice Chair
From: Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Ted Kefalas, Director of Strategic Campaigns
RE: P024 — RELATING TO A LIVING WAGE
Aloha Chair Szewczyk, Vice-Chair Yamamoto and other members of the Commission,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii opposes proposed Charter amendment P024, which would require the City Council to set a “living wage” level every five years to the extent allowed by state law.
Current state law does not allow the counties to set private-sector wage levels anyway— or “living wages,” as the proposal calls them — so that’s one problem with the proposal.
In any case, though minimum-wage laws often have the noble goal of trying to help folks struggling to get by, evidence suggests that instead they often result in less employment and higher prices.[1] Recent local news stories have highlighted the plight of small businesses trying to cope with the higher costs imposed by the state-level minimum wage hikes that have occurred recently.[2]
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Ted Kefalas
Director of Strategic Campaigns /Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
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[1] Mónica Jiménez Martínez and Maribel Jiménez Martínez “Are the effects of minimum wage on the labour market the same across countries? A meta-analysis spanning a century,” Economic Systems, Vol. 25, Issue 1, March 2021; and Max Kunaschk, “The effects of minimum wages on employment and prices—Evidence from the hairdressing sector,” Labour Economics, Vol. 88, June 2024.
[2] Angela Cifone, “Hawaii small businesses struggle as costs and minimum wage rise,” KITV, Nov. 16, 2025; and Virginia Noone, “Hawaii’s climbing minimum wage forces layoffs at Polynesian Cultural Center,” Pacific Business News, Sept. 24, 2025.
