Josh Green (politician)

Joshua Booth Green (born February 11, 1970) is an American politician and physician who has been the governor of Hawaiʻi since 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the state's ninth governor. He was the 15th lieutenant governor of Hawaiʻi from 2018 to 2022, a member of the Hawaiʻi Senate from 2008 to 2018, and a member of the Hawaiʻi House of Representatives from 2004 to 2008.

Early life and education
Green was born on February 11, 1970, in Kingston, New York to a Jewish family. He was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended Quaker Valley High School, where he graduated as one of four valedictorians in 1988; as a Quaker Valley student, he was president of the Key Club and played on the school's soccer and tennis teams.

Green received a Bachelor of Science in anthropology from Swarthmore College in 1992 and his Doctor of Medicine from the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center at Pennsylvania State University in 1997. In 2022, Swarthmore College awarded Green an honorary Doctorate of Science.

Medical career
After completing his residency in 2000, Green joined the National Health Service Corps and was stationed in Hawaiʻi as a physician for the Big Island. He practiced family medicine and worked in emergency rooms. At times, he was the only physician in the island's rural areas. As of 2012, he remained a physician in the Big Island's rural emergency departments on weekends while he was a state senator.

Green has been awarded Physician of the Year by the Hawaiʻi Medical Association twice in his career, first in 2009, and again in 2022 for his leadership and service during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hawaiʻi House of Representatives
Green was elected to the Hawaiʻi House of Representatives in 2004. He represented the 6th district, based in a rural area of the western portion of the Big Island. Green served two terms before being elected to the Hawaiʻi Senate in 2008.

Hawaiʻi Senate
Green was first elected to the Hawaiʻi Senate in 2008. He represented the 3rd district, which encompassed the southwestern portion of the Big Island. He was reelected in 2012 and 2014. As a state senator, Green served as majority leader and chaired the Committee on Health and Human Services.

In 2013, Green was honored as "Hawaii Legislator of the Year". He championed the initiative to create an insurance mandate for children with autism via legislation known as Luke's Law. The legislation went into effect on January 1, 2016.

In 2018, Green fought to establish a legal safeguard so that parents with disabilities would no longer have their children taken away from them because of their disabilities. He also led the charge to raise the legal age to obtain tobacco products and electronic cigarettes from 18 to 21, making Hawaiʻi the first state to do so.

Green opted not to run for reelection to the Senate in 2018. He was succeeded by Dru Kanuha, who now serves as majority leader.

Lieutenant Governor of Hawaiʻi


In 2018, Green won the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor of Hawaiʻi and was the running mate of incumbent Democratic governor David Ige, who was running for a second term. In Hawaiʻi, gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial candidates run in separate primaries but run on the same ticket in the general election. Ige and Green won the general election on November 6, 2018.

Ige tasked Green with addressing Hawaiʻi's chronic homelessness crisis and called on him to use his background as a physician to address how mental illness and addiction affect Hawaiʻi's homeless population.

In 2019, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, Green led a team of over 75 doctors, nurses and other Hawaiʻi health care workers on an emergency medical mission to Samoa. They aided in vaccination efforts against a measles epidemic across the region.

On March 3, 2020, Ige appointed Green as the administration's liaison between the state and healthcare community as it pertains to COVID-19 preparedness and response.

A poll conducted in April 2021 by Hawaii News Now found that Green had a 63% approval rating, with only 17% of voters disapproving of his work as lieutenant governor, while Ige held an approval rating of 22%. It is speculated that Green's visibility throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and background as an emergency room doctor contributed to the difference.

2022 Hawaiʻi Gubernatorial Campaign
In August 2019, Green announced he was considering a run for governor of Hawaiʻi in the 2022 election. He launched his gubernatorial campaign on February 10, 2022.

Green won the Democratic primary on August 13, 2022; his running mate was Democratic state representative Sylvia Luke. On November 8, 2022, Green won the general election, defeating Republican nominee and former Hawaiʻi Lieutenant Governor Duke Aiona in the general election.

Tenure
Green was inaugurated as the ninth governor of Hawaiʻi on December 5, 2022. In his inaugural address, he addressed the rising cost of living and vowed to combat it through affordable housing and tax priorities.

In March 2023, Green signed legislation expanding access to abortion and protecting health care providers from out-of-state prosecution. In June, after similar laws were passed in New York and New Jersey, he signed legislation that expanded rights to carry a concealed weapon, while at the same time prohibiting guns in most public places, including hospitals, movie theaters, beaches, and bars, adding to the state's already strict gun laws. In July, Green issued an emergency declaration on Hawaiʻi's housing crisis that included an executive order streamlining housing construction in Hawaiʻi and suspending various state and local land use regulations.

In 2024 Green signed a bill to exempt medical services from General Excise Tax (GET) under Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE.

In 2024 Green also signed healthcare legislation which emphasizes mental wellness and expands programs to strengthen Hawaii's healthcare workforce, as well as promoting Native Hawaiian resources. Bills signed in the 2024 legislative session would make Hawaiian language learning more accessible in schools, both in early education and universities, and would mandate the creation of sustainable tourism strategies that would account for Native Hawaiian cultural values. Green also signed policy into law on issues like regulated child and elderly safety, local agriculture and land practices, veteran support, and commercial ocean activities.

Personal life
Green is Jewish. He married Jaime Ushiroda in 2006. The couple met when Ushiroda, a family law expert, was clerking for Suzanne Chun Oakland, who was chair of the state's Human Services committee. They have two children.

Green is a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers.