Senator Michelle Kidani was first elected to the Hawai‘i State Senate in 2008. Through reapportionment, her district was expanded from her hometown neighborhood in Mililani to include the communities of Royal Kunia, Village Park, Waikele and most of Waipio Gentry. She continues to serve as Vice President of the Senate in the Thirtieth State Legislature.
Following several sessions in which she coordinated the Senate's construction project budget as Vice Chair of the Committee on Ways and Means, Senator Kidani was appointed Chair of the Committee on Education. Her Committee oversees programs relating to early education, K-12 public schools - including charter schools - continuing education and the state's public libraries.
Senator Kidani regularly attends national and regional conferences for state legislative education chairs. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Education Committee of the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL), and Co-Chair of the Education Committee of the National Asian Pacific American Caucus of State Legislators (NAPACSL). In November 2017, she was named to serve a two-year term on the Steering Committee of the Education Commission of the States (ECS). Senator Kidani is also an active member of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL), and the Board of Hispanic Caucus Chairs (BHCC).
Her election to the Senate caps a lengthy career in public service during which she held positions with the State of Hawai‘i and the City and County of Honolulu. She was Customer Service Branch Administrator for MedQuest in the State Department of Human Services when a section she supervised won the State's Team Excellence Award in 2004. At the City, she was a Senior Adviser to the Honolulu City Council, an Executive Assistant in the Neighborhood Commission Office and served on the staff of Honolulu City Councilmember Lee Donohue.
Senator Kidani has also been active in the Waipahu and Mililani communities for many years. Working for the Waipahu Community Association, she helped to establish the popular annual Taste of Waipahu community services fundraiser. In Mililani, where she raised her family, the Senator has been on the Board of the Mililani Town Association, the largest homeowner's association in the State, since 1995. She is the Board's current Vice President. For ten years she was also an elected member of the Mililani Neighborhood Board, and from 1984-1996 was a manager, coach and member of the Board for Mililani/Waipio Bobby Sox softball teams.
Senator Kidani is a 1966 graduate of Farrington High School and attended Honolulu Business College and Leeward Community College before receiving a B.S. in Business Administration from Kennedy-Western University.