Chris has never been afraid to hold special interests accountable for their actions.

 

Molasses Spill

When a massive spill in Honolulu Harbor wiped out nearly all marine life, Chris helped lead the effort to ensure negligent regulators and shipping companies cleaned up the mess, restored marine life, and took action to prevent it from happening again. 

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Red Hill Fuel Leak

After jet fuel began leaking from the Navy’s massive underground storage tanks into the public water supply, Chris helped push the Navy toward a fix and passed a law ensuring public oversight of the recovery process, and continues to fight for a permanent solution.

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Saving Solar

When utilities began blocking consumers from installing solar panels, Chris convened public hearings and passed a law that directed the utility to let more consumers take advantage of solar energy. Chris was named a national “Solar Champion” for this work.

 

Violating Privacy

When it was revealed that Verizon, AT&T, and other service providers have been selling people’s personal information and real-time cell phone GPS locations to third party companies without consent, Chris passed legislation to investigate and take on this egregious violation of personal privacy, detailing the risk to local residents in a lengthy report. He also passed a bill preventing cell phone locations from being shared without people’s consent, though after lobbying by the telecom industry, the Governor unfortunately vetoed the bill.

 

Predatory Gaming

Chris was the first elected official in the country to raise concerns about the $40 Billion gaming industry targeting underage children to gamble real money in video games, through hidden psychologically addictive gambling mechanisms. The Church of England called it “putting profit ahead of children’s lives.” Chris convened public hearings and organized elected officials around the country which led to a federal investigative hearing. He then passed the nation’s first legislation establishing an oversight task force to monitor these predatory practices and protect families.