OHA board waives committee, votes to consider legislative positions; HCR 192 spurs split vote

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees voted on April 17 to waive standing committee review and consider multiple legislative positions directly at the full-board level, then approved staff recommendations on the bulk of the items in staff’s "Matrix 2" and related matrices. The meeting produced a narrow, 5–4 vote on HCR 192, a concurrent resolution that had drawn public pushback because OHA staff submitted written “strong support” testimony without prior full-board approval.

Chair Cherie Galuteria moved the waiver that allowed the full board to consider BAE items directly; the waiver passed on a roll-call vote. Administration said the waiver was sought because of legislative timing and because cancelled committee meetings (staff cited a United States Postal Service delivery issue that affected public noticing) meant committee review would be delayed until after key legislative deadlines.

Public testifier Germaine Myers told trustees that OHA had submitted strong-support testimony on HCR 192 to the House and later to Senate committees "without BAE committee approval and without Board of Trustees approval." She asked whether administration has authority to file testimony on behalf of OHA without prior board action. Administration representatives said they believed initial contact from a legislator asking that OHA be named to a working group justified asking to be included; the staff member who handled the contact did not push the item to the board before submitting the written request. Chair Tim Kahele and staff acknowledged that the process should have gone to committee and said administration will work to prevent similar lapses.

HCR 192, as discussed in the meeting, proposed creation of a Native Hawaiian economic-development working group with two principal tasks described in the resolution text: (1) identify economic-development initiatives that directly benefit Native Hawaiians; and (2) study the definition of "gaming" and "look at all options to spur economic opportunity." Several trustees and public commenters described concern that the resolution’s reference to gaming could open consideration of gambling or sports-betting pathways and that OHA needed a clear, board-level stance before staff submitted written testimony.

Trustees debated whether OHA should insist on seat-at-the-table participation in any study of economic-development options (some trustees said OHA should be present to ensure Native Hawaiian interests are represented) and whether the office should take an explicit position on gaming-related policy at this time. The board bifurcated HCR 192 — removing it from the remainder of Matrix 2 for separate consideration — and then voted on the bifurcated item. On that separate vote the board was split 5–4.

Separately, trustees instructed administration to pursue the office’s position on the state budget bill (HB 410) and on SB 903 (the PLT working-group language discussed in committee) as time-sensitive items for conference committee consideration. For items the board approved, staff were authorized to provide testimony consistent with the board’s direction; for HCR 192 the recorded roll-call showed a narrowly divided board and trustees said they will return to refining board policy on when and how administration may submit testimony in the legislative session.

Provenance: The waiver motion and the HCR 192 debate are recorded beginning with item 3(b) committee waivers at about 7546.20 in the transcript; the HCR 192 public comments and the separate roll-call votes are recorded through the vote sequence around the 10,500–10,600-second transcript blocks.