Speaker of the House Scott Saiki was this week given a national award for elected officials who advance innovation and economic growth measures.
Saiki, a Democrat who represents Hawaii House District 26 [McCully, Kaheka, Kakaako, Downtown] and has been speaker of the house since 2017, was one of seven state politicians nationally to receive the Champion of Innovation award at TechNet's annual State Policy Conference in San Francisco.
"Speaker Saiki has been a leader in the Hawaii state house for his work on renewable energy and his leading stance on equality," said Cameron Demetre, executive director for California and the Southwest at TechNet. This past year, Speaker Saiki championed legislation which would enable [Hawaii residents] to recycle their e-waste and was also a supporter of many key bills critical for the innovation economy to thrive in Hawaii."
Other officials that were awarded were: Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-CA); Sen. Jeff Brandes (R-FL); Sen. Eric Lesser (D-MA); Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-CA); Rep. Amy Walen (D-WA); and Rep. Keith Wheeler (R-IL).
“I want to congratulate our Champion of Innovation winners for all they’ve done over the past year to promote policies that strengthen and grow our economy,” said David Edmonson, TechNet’s vice president of state policy and government relations, in a statement. “Each of our winners, representing states across our country from Massachusetts to Hawaii, are crucial leaders on the issues that matter most to the technology ecosystem. We’re thrilled to call them Champions of Innovation and look forward to continuing to work with them and other elected officials to enact policies that promote innovation and allow our economy to flourish.”
TechNet is a national, bipartisan network of technology CEOs and senior executives that promotes the growth of the innovation economy by advocating a targeted policy agenda at the state and federal level.
