Maui County Candidate for Mayor Travis A. Liggett, M.S.

The islands of Maui nui are literal sentient beings.

The greatest living ships the universe has ever created are the ancient aunties we live within.

There is a way to rebirth our relationships with the living ʻāina and kai that lifts all residents and species.

I seek the role of Maui County Mayor because I wish to see my neighbors and loved ones here thrive through a shift of significant magnitude.

We can land on our feet with a perfect score, by moving in a way that everyone here finds support, their passion, mission and place.

I’m here for it.

PRIORITIES

My top priorities are wastewater disinfection, housing security, watershed and reef ecosystem restoration, with a central concern being the lack of any treatment step that would meaningfully reduce pathogen levels in many major municipal effluent discharges into the ocean through injection wells and groundwater systems on the North and South shores of Maui at the Kahului and Kihei WWRFs, where no meaningful reduction of pathogen loading is occurring before release into plumes that intersect with popular nearshore recreation areas at Cove Park and Kanaha.

This journey began in 2021 when I set out to understand wastewater treatment and disposal methods by developing a concept for an online information resource called FlushAware.com, when I had the idea for a new law to mandate municipal wastewater disinfection with Bill 52 when I worked with multiple Council Members and Committees to support the passage of Maui County Ordinance 5592 in 2024, which requires municipal wastewater effluent disinfection with a universal R-1 mandate by 2039. To me, that is too long to wait for ocean safety in some of Maui's most beloved recreation areas. The Maui concept evolved into a statewide effort for municipal wastewater disinfection in SB2971, which was introduced in the 33rd session but had no hearing.

I formed a nonprofit with some Hawaiian colleagues called Kai Action Institute, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with a central goal of transferring philanthropic funding to the County to advance reef-safe UV wastewater disinfection, such as    CBS-1169 at the Kahului WWRF and CBS-5031 at the Kihei WWRF. Despite all this effort, and testifying a great many times during the FY2027 budget hearings, I was unable to convince officials to advance work to realize UV disinfection on Maui's beloved North Shore. To me, this cannot wait, so after almost five years of asking for change, I decided to elevate this important core human and ocean ecosystem health issue to the forefront of the public's perception.

PROPOSED LEGISLATION

I have collaborated with unsheltered citizens and Council staff to develop a draft   Zero-Unsheltered County of Maui ordinance that would codify the community muscle memory of housing many thousands of residents after the 2023 wildfire disaster in a short timescale, with an emergency housing mandate funded by a moderate licensing fee increase on very high revenue businesses that guarantees shelter or a stipend upon any resident notifying the County of being unsheltered who lacks safe shelter despite seeking it for 24 hours or more, regardless of income.

I developed a proposed real property tax rebalancing framework called the WAIWAI Act that zeroes out tax burdens for optimally-managed kuleana land watersheds, to lower probabilities of familial land losses from financial tax burdens, while imparting moderate increases in ultra-high-value real property asset tax rates to rebalance the disproportionate load on infrastructure costs by asking high-value property owners to contribute incrementally more funding to maintain and expand municipal systems that disproportionately bear the load of complex and expensive real property holdings that are often luxury in nature.

After a HI Senate version did not make it past Committee, a proposed Maui County rights-of-nature ordinance called the NANI Act would grant watershed and reef ecosystem guardians the right to wield the full force of the public trust doctrine to make claims in civil court for the costs of repair of ecosystem-level damage by actions, or neglect, of any party, even external agencies who have failed to regulate practices that led to ecosystem-level damage or collapse.

I have connected with a U.S. Senator's AI lead on a draft for a federal-level bill called the MOTHER Act envisioning a durable right to user personal data and a "maternal" standard of care that could help avert an extinction-level catastrophe the likes of the Terminator film franchise, to avert catastrophic societal risks from advanced artificial intelligence. At the local level, Maui should prioritize water conservation to ensure digital technology installations do not compete for local water resources.

I collaborated with HI State Senators to develop this Senior Safe Zone Act prohibiting harmful pesticide use within 0.5 miles of elder care facilities, and a commercial GMO seed production ban framework is top of mind. An integrated health management system United Kindness Health Understanding Network could integrate care for all citizens with a one-stop place to compile and analyze diagnostic data, connect with providers and access care to continuously understand our neighbors, "Are you okay, hun?" at a time in human history when some of us have not been checked in on for quite some time.

I have ideas about freeing up the citizen initiative petition process from the constraints of gathering thousands of signatures in person to get an ordinance on the ballot, by allowing a digital equivalent of petitioner signatures that could actually be more secure than checking voter registration and identity in-person, freeing the citizen initiative process to roam free on the devices of the citizenry with the Digital Direct Democracy Act proposed ordinance, to unleash the power of the citizen-led legislative process into platforms already in our hands that meet the muster of equivalent court and voting verification requirements.

Finally, a bold philanthropic model called the Maui Living ʻĀina Sustainability Trust (MLAST) framework with multiple versions proposed in Council budget hearings would allow for the seamless transfer of large donations to the County of Maui that could permanently stabilize the living life support systems of the magnificent islands of Maui nui with disruptive increases in funding available to invest in stabilization of life-supporting systems to sustain survival, no matter what the outside world throws at us. Doubling the County budget (and County employee salaries) through a 1:1 philanthropic match to tax dollars, 'Da bux for da budget' for ten years would turn hundreds of vacancies to hundreds of applicants in a time of history when doubling income for County employees would just about meet the moment for what can only be described as excessive inflation and runaway costs.

The speed bump scourge is a clear and present public health crisis warranting removal of improper systems as quickly as possible. Residents who have suffered worsening health or vehicular damage should be compensated for harm, distress and damages in an orderly manner. Legislation approving swift harmful systems removal and prompt monetary compensation to residents will be a priority, and voluntary speed data feedback systems can educate residents on driving habits that will lead to actual improvements, without driving kūpuna and the disabled to a state of dismay.

COLLABORATION

Mayor Richard T. Bissen, Jr., seems like an extraordinary gentleman who has been a real rock to the community, especially after the 2023 wildfire disaster. He is beloved by so many and fulfils a niche as the "hugger in chief" and a master of ceremonies that I would appreciate retaining in the ranks of County service, to hold space and support the people in a social and cultural capacity. At the same time, healing alone is not a substitute for measurable progress, and there have been a lot of unforced errors that I believe a systems engineer with expertise in living life support systems and wastewater innovations can overcome, such as lack of action on municipal wastewater disinfection, and housing development milestones that do not seem to indicate when Maui will return to the housing inventory we had when his term began.

I have a place in my administration for all Mayoral candidates, they all have major value in a body politic in which all who have supporters can provide guidance, input and ideas when the task at hand is to unite, turn inward, and reinforce the security of our neighbors.

RECOVERY

The 2023 wildfire disaster reshaped this community in ways that will never be forgotten, but must be learned from. Irrigation reuse greenbelt firebreaks can be deployed along the entire length of leeward communities in West and South Maui, to zero out municipal injection wells while protecting lives and property with watershed restoration that leverages native plants to protect communities with vibrant green food forests with 'ulu and other canoe plants as far as the eye can see, as I worked to develop for the Ma'alaea Regional Wastewater Reclamation System project, with sustainable reuse enabled by native freshwater stream limu.

Bill 9 showed the entire world the strength and transformative potential of the Lahaina Strong movement, demonstrating the power, and capacity for divisiveness, of the legislative process, and how housing access is the defining issue of a generation. The passage of the TIG recommendations feels like a game of keep away, a kind of fake out to those of us who have struggled with some form of housing insecurity even before the major reduction in resources after the fires. As a local resident who did not have access to shelter that met the federal definition of housing from 2017 until May 2026, I led the development of FlushAware.com without access to any permitted bathroom to speak of.

My vision for Maui County is to reinforce shared systems so that every resident has a fair chance to thrive, regardless of circumstance, income or demographic.

I believe we have everything we need to succeed together, now and into the future of our shared ʻāina and kai.