Kahele was the representative for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 2021 to 2022.
Alleged misconduct & resolution
In 2022, Kahele was accused of misusing official resources for campaign or political social media purposes or used campaign funds to defray official expenses. In August 2022, the Office of Congressional Ethics recommended further review by the House Committee on Ethics. In November 2022, the House Committee on Ethics published the Office of Congressional Ethics Report and Findings and the member's response.
| Aug. 26, 2022 | Office of Congressional Ethics recommended further review by the House Committee on Ethics |
| Nov. 28, 2022 | House Committee on Ethics published the Office of Congressional Ethics Report and Findings and the member's response |
![Photo of Rep. Kaialiʻi Kahele [D-HI2, 2021-2022]](/static/legislator-photos/456815-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2022 Report Card for Kahele.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Kahele is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2022 positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Kahele sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Dec 27, 2022. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Kahele was the primary sponsor of 3 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 8080 (117th): Military STUDY Act
- H.R. 3406 (117th): To designate the community-based outpatient clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs planned to be built in Oahu, Hawaii, as the “Daniel Kahikina Akaka Department of Veterans …
- H.R. 1925 (117th): South Kona National Heritage Area
Does 3 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Kahele sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Armed Forces and National Security (46%) Agriculture and Food (38%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (15%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Kahele recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 9614 (117th): Hawaiian Home Lands Preservation Act
- H.R. 8706 (117th): Agricultural Management Assistance Modernization Act of 2022
- H.R. 8401 (117th): Transit Oriented Development Act of 2022
- H.R. 8080 (117th): Military STUDY Act
- H.R. 7813 (117th): Cacao Tree Health Initiative Act of 2022
- H.R. 7812 (117th): Floriculture and Nursery Plant Health Initiative Act of 2022
- H.R. 7130 (117th): Leandra Wai Act
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2021 to Dec 2022, Kahele missed 8 of 998 roll call votes, which is 0.8%. This is better than the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2022. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- Office of Rep. Kahele for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
