David Tarnas
Hawaii House of Representatives District 8
Tenure
Term ends
Years in position
Predecessor
Prior offices
Hawaii House of Representatives District 7
Elections and appointments
Personal
Contact
David Tarnas (Democratic Party) is a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives, representing District 8. He assumed office on November 8, 2022. His current term ends on November 3, 2026.
Tarnas (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Hawaii House of Representatives to represent District 8. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
David Tarnas graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School in 1978. Tarnas earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Kalamazoo College in 1982 and a master's degree in marine affairs from the University of Washington in 1985. His career experience includes working as the president and principal consultant of Marine and Coastal Solutions International, Inc., the director of government affairs of Merica International LLC, and the CEO and board chairman of Phase, Inc. Tarnas has served as the Hawaii County chairman of the Democratic Party of Hawaii and co-founded the Malama Kai Foundation.[1][2]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at:editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Tarnas was assigned to the following committees:
2021-2022
Tarnas was assigned to the following committees:
2019-2020
Tarnas was assigned to the following committees:
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: Hawaii House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
Democratic primary election
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Republican primary election
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Tarnas in this election.
2022
See also: Hawaii House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
Democratic primary election
Republican primary election
2020
See also: Hawaii House of Representatives elections, 2020
Democratic primary election
2018
- See also: Hawaii House of Representatives elections, 2018
General election
David Tarnas defeated Tom Belekanich in the general election for Hawaii House of Representatives District 7 on November 6, 2018.
General election
Democratic primary election
David Tarnas defeated incumbent Cindy Evans in the Democratic primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 7 on August 11, 2018.
Democratic primary election
Republican primary election
Tom Belekanich advanced from the Republican primary for Hawaii House of Representatives District 7 on August 11, 2018.
Republican primary election
2016
- See also: Hawaii House of Representatives elections, 2016
Elections for the Hawaii House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election took place on August 13, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was June 7, 2016.
Incumbent Cindy Evans defeated Jeffrey Coakley in the Hawaii House of Representatives District 7 general election.[3]
Incumbent Cindy Evans defeated David Tarnas in the Hawaii House of Representatives District 7 Democratic primary.[4][5]
| Hawaii House of Representatives, District 7 Democratic Primary, 2016 |
| Party |
Candidate |
Vote % |
Votes |
| |
Democratic |
 Cindy Evans Incumbent |
52.11% |
2,232 |
| |
Democratic |
David Tarnas |
47.89% |
2,051 |
| Total Votes |
4,283 |
Jeffrey Coakley ran unopposed in the Hawaii House of Representatives District 7 Republican primary.[4][5]
| Hawaii House of Representatives, District 7 Republican Primary, 2016 |
| Party |
Candidate |
| | Republican | Jeffrey Coakley (unopposed) |
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
David Tarnas did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
David Tarnas completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Tarnas' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
Expand all | Collapse all
David Tarnas is in his fourth term as the Hawai'i State Representative for North and South Kohala Districts, and North Kona (1994-1998, 2018-2022). He has served as the Chair of the House Committee on Ocean Recreation and Marine Resources and Chair of the House Committee on Water and Land. In addition to being a veteran legislator, Tarnas has also spent over 20 years working as an environmental and community planning consultant for public and private sector projects in Hawai'i relating to residential and commercial developments, small boat harbors, commercial harbors, highways, scientific installations, coastal parks and marine managed areas, ocean recreation, agriculture, forestry, watershed management, water resources and land use, endangered species, renewable energy production, education, and health policy. Tarnas previously served as the West Hawai'i Extension Agent for the University of Hawai'i Sea Grant Extension Service, tasked with resolving conflicts resulting from coastal development. Tarnas is a former member of the Community Advisory Group for the U.S. Army Garrison Hawai‘i Pohakuloa, former member of the Hawai‘i County Agriculture Advisory Commission, and former Hawai‘i County Chairman for the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i. He is a current member of the Waimea Community Association and Waikoloa Community Leadership Council.
- I am running for state office to serve the community where my wife Carolyn and I have worked and raised our two children, who are now pursuing their own careers. My experience as a parent, an owner of a small business and a public servant provides me a unique perspective on how things work and don't work in our state. My 36-year career in Hawaiʻi as a planner and legislator demonstrates a solid track record of resolving conflicts related to land use, natural resources, ecosystem protection, community health, and education. I am thoughtful, diligent, and work collaboratively with stakeholders as we work to resolve difficult and complex policy issues. I am asking for your vote to return to the legislature and continue this important work.
- The biggest issue in my district is the rising cost of living. I have been consistent in my support for legislation to reduce the cost of living by addressing taxes, wages, and the costs of housing, healthcare, childcare, and elder care. This past session, I worked with the legislature to make the Earned Income Tax Credit permanent and refundable; provide tax rebates of up to $300 per resident; increase the minimum wage; appropriate $300 million to build rental housing and $45 million to develop infrastructure for affordable housing; increase funding rental assistance; provide $15 million to temporary shelter, transitional housing and services for the homeless; and prohibit discrimination against those using Section 8 housing vouchers.
- I will also continue to work hard in the legislature to address the rising cost of healthcare, childcare and elder care. This past session, we were successful in passing bills to address healthcare provider shortages in rural areas by increasing residency and training opportunities and providing loan repayment assistance to doctors working in rural areas; expand reimbursements for telemedicine services; appropriate $200 million to develop and expand preschool facilities statewide; increase funding for the Kupuna Care Program and the Aging and Disability Resource Centers in each county; and fund adult dental benefits for all Medicaid patients. I am asking for your support to return to the legislature to continue this important work.
As Chair of the House Water and Land Committee, I work specifically on policies, programs and appropriations relating to managing water, public lands, watersheds, forests, wildlife, coastal areas, parks, harbors, coral reefs and all marine resources. With travel restrictions during the pandemic, residents enjoyed beaches, parks, oceans, and hiking trails without visitors. It became clear there were too many visitors and the environmental quality of our special places was suffering from overuse. As we rebuild our tourism economy, we must protect our environment by limiting the number of visitors using these sites and by charging visitors user fees to help pay for environmental protection and resource management in these sites. That's why I led the effort in the legislature to establish the Ocean Stewardship fee that every ocean recreation customer will pay for marine resource management and conservation programs. I support legislation to establish "green fees" for visitors who use any public trust resource, such as beaches, trails and state lands, to help pay for resource management and conservation programs on state lands. We need to increase efforts to educate our visitors about how to treat our environment and our community in respectful and low-impact ways so we can maintain environmental quality and our quality of life. I also support expanding other industries including astronomy, ocean science and technology, forestry, agriculture, and knowledge-based industries.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2020
David Tarnas did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
David Tarnas completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Tarnas' responses.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2016
Tarnas' campaign website highlighted the following issues:
| “
|
- A productive, safe and healthy community is central to a sustainable life for the people of Hawai'i island. Community health rests on a clean environment, a strong public education system, a sustainable economy, equal rights for all, and a strong code of ethics with a commitment to treat everyone and the environment with respect.
- State government has a major role in promoting civil society and community health programs in many ways, including supporting a sustainable state hospital system, in-patient and out-patient mental health care system, alcohol and drug rehabilitation services, and community health education outreach programs.
- The State must also take the lead to work with the federal government and the private sector to implement the Natural Disaster Economic Recovery Strategy so we can better prepare our community to recover after a natural disaster, like a hurricane, earthquake, or tsunami.
- As a state legislator, I will work for the community and commit to being answerable to the community for my decisions. I will share with you information about your state legislature through an active outreach program to the constituents and community. I work for you.[6]
|
”
|
| —David Tarnas, [7]
|
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
- See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Hawaii
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Hawaii scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2024, the Hawaii State Legislature was in session from January 17 to May 3.
|
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2023, the Hawaii State Legislature was in session from January 18 to May 4.
|
2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2022, the Hawaii State Legislature was in session from January 19 to May 5.
|
2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2021, the Hawaii State Legislature was in session from January 20 to April 29.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on issues related to Hawaiian interests.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
|
2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2020, the Hawaii State Legislature was in session from January 15 to July 10.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on issues related to Hawaiian interests.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
|
2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2019, the Hawaii State Legislature was in session from January 16 through May 2.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on issues related to Hawaiian interests.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
|
See also
External links
- ↑ LinkedIn, "David Tarnas," accessed December 30, 2022
- ↑ Hawai'i State Legislature, "Representative David A. Tarnas (D)," accessed December 30, 2022
- ↑ State of Hawaii, "General Election 2016 - State of Hawaii – Statewide November 8, 2016," accessed November 23, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 State of Hawaii, "2016 Candidate Report," accessed June 10, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Hawaii.gov, "Primary Election results," accessed September 12, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Vote Tarnas, "Community values," accessed July 13, 2016
Leadership
Speaker of the House:Nadine Nakamura
Majority Leader:Sean Quinlan
Minority Leader:Lauren Matsumoto
Representatives
Democratic Party (42)
Republican Party (9)
