HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The New Year’s Eve episode of “Spotlight Now” covers the big headlines of 2024 and what to expect in 2025.
economic forecast
Carl Bonham, executive director of the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization (UHERO), provided an outlook on what the state’s economy will look like heading into 2025.
He also shared his predictions and how he thinks lawmakers will govern the next Congress, saying he expects them to take a more conservative approach due to recent tax credits and tax cuts extended into 2024. He said it was possible.
“Going into this session, I really don’t think there’s going to be a great sense of urgency to address any potential future shortfalls because of last year’s tax cuts. We also forecast that we can expect positive revenue growth every year going forward.
political predictions
Hawaiian News Now political analyst Colin Moore gives us a recap of the last election in 2024. He talked about the successes the Republican Party has had, not only on the national level, but here in Hawaii.
“This has been a great year for Republicans. Of course, as you know, this state is still a heavily Democratic state, but it’s in the best position it’s been in 20 years,” Moore said.
“They have three seats in the Senate and nine seats in the House. They’ve picked some pretty challenging races. They’ve defeated several incumbents, even pretty prominent incumbents. And you can really see their support base growing on the Leeward Coast and Ewa Beach,” Moore said.
Moore said this is the year he thinks recreational marijuana could pass Congress.
Honolulu Civil Beat editor Chad Blair, on the other hand, isn’t so sure.
“As much as we like to think of ourselves as a liberal, blue state, there is a very large conservative trend here in Hawaii, which is partially related to the strong religious element that exists here in various forms. “A lot of Democrats are really conservative, and there’s a reason why recreational marijuana gets repealed year after year after year,” Blair said.
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