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OHA trustees approve multiple event sponsorships, legislative matrices and minutes in roll-call votes
Summary
At its March 6, 2025 meeting the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees approved a slate of event sponsorships, adopted committee bill-position matrices and approved minutes; several votes were unanimous or near-unanimous.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees voted on a series of funding and procedural items during its March 6, 2025 meeting in Honolulu, approving event sponsorships totaling more than $58,500, adopting committee recommendations on legislation, and approving meeting minutes.
Trustees approved the Committee on Budget and Finance sponsorship recommendations in a set of roll-call votes early in the meeting. Items included: a $5,000 sponsorship to Nurture Cultivate Inc. for the 2025 Paine Makahiki (03/08/2025); a $5,000 sponsorship to St. Andrew School for the 2025 Queen Emma on the Square event (03/13/2025); a $13,500 sponsorship to Ho‘ohulu IK Center of Hula and Mele for the 2025 Aina Ho‘ou Pula Pula Mele and Hula Conference (03/15/2025); a $5,000 sponsorship to Oha‘i Kalani for the 2025 Kalehua event (03/15/2025); a $10,000 sponsorship to Hui O‘Kuapa for the 2025 Kea‘aupune Kalapala professional development workshop (03/17/2025); and $15,000 sponsorship(s) for SpiritFest 2025 administered to organizations listed in the agenda (03/21/2025). Each sponsorship motion carried on roll-call, with the record repeatedly noting nine yes votes for those items.
The board also approved the February 6, 2025 minutes in a roll-call vote (recorded as nine yes votes). The Committee on Beneficiary Advocacy and Empowerment reported approval of staff recommendations for positions on bills affecting Native Hawaiian housing (matrix 5) and on Native Hawaiian health (matrix 6); the board adopted both matrices by roll call (nine yes votes each).
Separately, the board agreed to add a resolution to OHA’s 2025 legislative package to form a working group to examine transferring or partially transferring Native Hawaiian burial-site duties under Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 6E from the Department of Land and Natural Resources to OHA; that resolution passed on roll call with nine yes votes.
Votes were recorded verbally and announced by roll call during the meeting; the board used the standard form of mover/second and recorded tallies for each roll-call question. Several items had no public testifiers registered. The sponsorships and committee recommendations came to the full board after prior committee consideration and were considered routine funding and policy-position items.
The board’s agenda included additional items that were discussed at length (notably proposed bylaws changes) and other programmatic updates that the trustees received without a final board vote at this meeting.
Votes at a glance (selected items) - Approval of funding: Nurture Cultivate Inc., $5,000, Paine Makahiki (03/08/2025) — Outcome: approved (9 yes). - Approval of funding: St. Andrew School, $5,000, Queen Emma on the Square (03/13/2025) — Outcome: approved (9 yes). - Approval of funding: Ho‘ohulu IK Center of Hula and Mele, $13,500, Aina Ho‘ou Pula Pula Mele & Hula Conference (03/15/2025) — Outcome: approved (9 yes). - Approval of funding: Oha‘i Kalani, $5,000, Kalehua (03/15/2025) — Outcome: approved (9 yes). - Approval of funding: Hui O‘Kuapa, $10,000, Kea‘aupune Kalapala Workshop (03/17/2025) — Outcome: approved (9 yes). - Approval of funding: SpiritFest 2025 (provider(s) listed in packet), $15,000 — Outcome: approved (9 yes). - Approval of minutes: February 6, 2025 minutes — Outcome: approved (9 yes). - Adoption of matrix 5 (staff positions on bills affecting Native Hawaiian housing) — Outcome: approved (9 yes). - Adoption of matrix 6 (staff positions on bills affecting Native Hawaiian health) — Outcome: approved (9 yes). - Addition of a resolution establishing a working group to examine transfer of Native Hawaiian burial-site duties (BAE action) — Outcome: approved (9 yes).
The roll-call tallies cited during the meeting constitute the formal record of each item. Several of the funding approvals and committee recommendations had little or no discussion at the full board and were forwarded from committees after prior consideration.
The board will return to other agenda items, including a bylaws revision on second reading, at future meetings. The March 6 meeting also included program updates from administration and staff that trustees requested to inform planning and budget work.
