Senator Danielle M. M. Bass is the State Senator for District 18, representing the Central Oʻahu communities of Mililani, Waipiʻo Gentry, Koa Ridge, Crestview, Waikele, Village Park, Royal Kunia, Kunia, and portions of Waipahu.
A fourth-generation Mililani resident and proud graduate of Mililani High School, Senator Bass has deep roots in the Central Oʻahu communities she is honored to represent. She has devoted more than two decades to serving Hawaiʻi through community leadership, state government, emergency management, and disaster response.
For 19 years, Senator Bass represented her community on the Mililani Neighborhood Board, including 5 years as Chair. Her community leadership has focused on bringing residents, government agencies, schools, first responders, and community organizations together to address priorities including public safety, housing, transportation, parks and infrastructure, disaster preparedness, and quality of life.
A national award-winning urban planner, Senator Bass brings more than 21 years of experience in Hawaiʻi state government. Before joining the State Senate, Senator Bass served for nearly a decade as Hawaiʻi’s State Sustainability Coordinator with the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, where she founded the Statewide Sustainability Branch, led and coordinated statewide efforts to advance sustainable development, climate resilience and adaptation, land use policy, and long-range planning.
Senator Bass authored the nationally recognized Hawaiʻi 2050 Sustainability Plan: Charting a Course for the Decade of Action (2020–2030), the State’s first sustainability and climate strategic action plan. She also advanced major statewide initiatives to strengthen Hawaiʻi’s climate resilience and adaptation, housing, agriculture, renewable energy, water resources, infrastructure, local food production, and responsible land use. Her work has earned state and national recognition, and Senator Bass has represented Hawaiʻi at the United Nations and in national forums.
Prior to joining the executive branch in 2017, Senator Bass worked at the Hawaiʻi State Legislature, where her experience spanned legislation, state budgeting, and public policy across tourism, healthcare, consumer protection and commerce, transportation, and water and land. Her legislative work also advanced numerous Central Oʻahu priorities, helping secure significant state investments in schools, roads and transportation infrastructure, public safety, parks, water systems, and the Central Oʻahu ambulance facility.
Senator Bass also brings extensive emergency management and disaster response experience to Central Oʻahu and the Hawaiʻi State Senate. As a pilot and former search-and-rescue team member, she supported aerial emergency response during the 2011 Japan-Hawaiʻi tsunami and later served as an emergency responder during Hurricane Iselle and the 2014 Pāhoa lava flow. As a Voluntary Emergency Management Officer with the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency (HIEMA), Senator Bass supported statewide response and recovery efforts during the 2018 Kīlauea “Fissure 8” eruption, Hurricane Douglas, and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as Kona Low recovery and other disaster response efforts.
Within her first week serving Central Oʻahu in the State Senate, Senator Bass put her experience to work responding to Hurricane Lala and supporting emergency response and recovery efforts across Mililani, Waipiʻo Gentry, Crestview, Waikele, Village Park, Royal Kunia, and Kunia. Senator Bass worked alongside state and county emergency managers, first responders, utilities, community leaders, and government partners to assess impacts, address community needs, and support recovery throughout the district.
Beyond her work in government, Senator Bass has devoted many years to community service, civic leadership, emergency preparedness, and volunteerism. Her service has included the Mililani High School Community Council, Hawaiʻi Wing Civil Air Patrol, Mililani Lions Club, and Hawaiʻi Foodbank. Senator Bass is also a graduate of the Honolulu Police Department Citizens Police Academy and is a Patsy T. Mink Fellow and Omidyar Fellow.
Senator Bass holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, along with advanced certificates in disaster management and humanitarian assistance; business sustainability management from the University of Cambridge; humanitarian civil-military coordination from the United Nations; and global engagement and diplomacy from the United States Air Force Academy.
Senator Bass and her husband, Skyler Ross, have long called Central Oʻahu home and are proud to be part of a large ʻohana with deep roots in the community. Born and raised in Pearl City and Waipiʻo Gentry, Skyler is a Hawaiʻi Air National Guard combat veteran who continues to serve in the United States Air Force Reserve.