Senate Water and Land committee confirms two nominees and advances Kailua Bay, Lahaina and military-history resolutions

The Senate Committee on Water and Land held a hearing and decision meeting March 28, 2025, in Room 016 and advised and consented to two governor nominations and passed multiple resolutions addressing shoreline and cultural-preservation issues.

The committee voted to confirm Stanley Rudis to the Game Management Advisory Commission and Alexandra Kaleipolo to the Legacy Land Conservation Commission. Nick Vargas of the Department of Land and Natural Resources told the committee, “The department strongly supports the governor's message 5 8 5, nominating mister Bridal to the Game Management Advisory Commission,” and noted Rudis’s prior service, including as GMAC chair from July 2020 to June 2022. Stanley Rudis, the nominee, said he planned to seek to continue as GMAC chair if reappointed and to “bring meetings to all the hunters of all the islands” and to work on wildlife management plans island-by-island.

David Penn, staff person for the Legacy Land Conservation Commission and program specialist in DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife, urged confirmation of Alexandra Kaleipolo and described her interim service on the commission. Alexandra Kaleipolo told the committee she has a long personal connection to the Legacy Land program on Hawaii Island and said the county two-percent land fund and the Legacy Land Program have helped “protect almost 11,000 acres” and that the county “received about $15,000,000 from the Legacy Land Program.”…