Rep. Jill Tokuda represents Hawai`i’s Second Congressional District (CD2) which includes suburban and rural parts of O`ahu, the islands of Hawai`i, Kaua`i, Maui, Lana`i, Moloka`i, Ni`ihau, Kaho`olawe, and the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
She serves on the House Committee on Armed Services, Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and as Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Conservation, Research, and Biotechnology on the Committee on Agriculture. She is also Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Rural Health Caucus, Second Vice Chair for the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and Region 2 Whip (includes Hawai`i, Alaska, Northern California, Guam, American Samoa, and The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands).
Jill’s family has called CD2 home for four generations since emigrating from Okinawa, living on Hawai`i Island, Maui, Kaua`i, and on the Windward side of O`ahu. A proud product of Hawai`i’s public schools, she was the first in her family to go to college and attended The George Washington University where she earned a BA in international relations with a minor in Japanese studies. From 2006-2018, she represented Kaneohe and Kailua in the Hawai`i State Senate. During her tenure she chaired the Ways and Means, Education and Higher Education, Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs, and Labor committees.
As Ways and Means Chair, Jill balanced the state’s $14 billion budget and approved all fiscal and tax measures at the Hawai`i State Legislature. She also championed legislation that established the state’s first Executive Office on Early Learning and funded the Hawai`i Keiki Program to provide access to health services in public schools. Jill also passed enabling legislation that allowed for Important Agricultural Lands to be designated and protected. This was an unmet constitutional mandate that took 30 years to pass and places the highest protections on Hawai`i’s most productive food producing lands.
Her private and nonprofit experience includes serving as Co-Director of CyberHawaii, which supports workforce development, and as the External Affairs Director of the Nisei Veterans Memorial Center where Jill raised funds to expand the facility on the island of Maui. She has served on the board of the Hawai`i Data Collaborative and the advisory board of the Hawai`i Budget and Policy Center. Jill was also a founding member of the Patsy T. Mink PAC, which supports pro-choice women seeking elected office. During the pandemic, Jill was appointed to the Hawai`i House Select Committee on COVID-19 Economic and Financial Preparedness where she worked with the state, counties, and nonprofit entities to track the progress of over $21 billion in federal relief that came into Hawai`i and provide information and analysis to aid in the distribution and management of these resources.
Jill is married to Kyle Michibata. They have two sons, Aden and Matt, who attend the same public schools their parents graduated from - King Intermediate and James B. Castle High School.