OHA committee approves burial-council nominees, backs $1M public-land audit funding and adds Kakaʻako Makai bill to legislative package

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs Committee on Beneficiary Advocacy and Empowerment voted to approve 2025 nominations to five island burial councils, to support a bill seeking $1,000,000 for a Public Land Trust inventory and audit, and to add a Hawaii Community Development Authority (HCDA) framework bill for residential development in portions of Kakaʻako Makai to OHA’s 2025 legislative package.

The three measures were approved by roll call votes during the committee’s meeting; trustees moved and seconded each motion and the motions were recorded as passed by the committee. Committee members discussed candidate vetting for the island burial councils, the scope and funding split for the Public Land Trust audit, and a public comment in favor of OHA pursuing residential development rights in Kakaʻako Makai.

Committee members spent time describing how nominees for the island burial councils were vetted and how the governor’s appointment process works. A staff member who described the vetting process cited HRS 6E-43.5 as the statutory standard and said OHA used a scoring rubric focused on experience with iwi kūpuna issues, knowledge of Hawaiian burial practices and historic-preservation experience to evaluate applicants. The committee then voted to approve the slate of nominees…