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 and authorized administration to transmit the list to the governor.

On the Public Land Trust bill, staff described the item as a carryover from a public land working group deliverable and said the current request increases funding to $1,000,000 to start an inventory and financial verification. The proposed funding was described as a combination of a governor’s message ($750,000) and OHA’s own budget ($250,000) to reach the $1,000,000 total. Committee discussion drew attention to procurement language: one administrator initially said procurement rules would apply, while another staff member clarified that the bill as drafted includes a procurement exemption for the contracted services, language that was adopted from the Public Land Trust Working Group’s prior proposal. Committee members asked how the exemption would be justified and how safeguards normally enforced through procurement would be preserved; staff described the work as specialized and requiring specialized review of land inventories and agency-reported receipts.

On the Kakaʻako Makai item, the committee voted to add to OHA’s legislative package a bill that would allow the Hawaii Community Development Authority to approve certain residential development and raise building-height limits on specified Kakaʻako Makai parcels. A public testifier, Germaine Myers, identified herself as an OHA beneficiary and a Nanakuli Hawaiian homestead lessee and urged OHA to pursue development rights in Kakaʻako Makai to realize what she characterized as the lands’ settlement value. The committee approved moving the bill forward as part of the legislative package.

Votes at a glance - Item A — Island Burial Council nominations: Motion to approve the individuals listed for OHA’s 2025 nominations to the Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, Maui, Molokaʻi and Kauaʻi Island Burial Councils and to authorize timely transmittal to the governor. Outcome: approved (committee vote recorded as passing). - Item B — Public Land Trust inventory and audit funding: Motion to approve the bill relating to the Public Land Trust Working Group recommendation for inventory and audit funding (draft Attachment A), seeking up to $1,000,000. Outcome: approved (committee vote recorded as passing). Key points: proposed funding split of $750,000 governor’s message + $250,000 OHA; bill includes a procurement exemption for the contracted services (as drafted by the working group); staff emphasized the specialized nature of the work. - Item C — HCDA/Kakaʻako Makai legislative addition: Motion to approve adding a bill to OHA’s 2025 legislative package authorizing HCDA residential development and adjusted height limits for parts of Kakaʻako Makai. Outcome: approved (committee vote recorded as passing). Public testimony in support was given by Germaine Myers, who described potential benefits for beneficiaries.

Committee members and staff framed the items as administrative and legislative next steps rather than final policy outcomes. Where the committee approved bills or nominations, the approvals direct OHA administration to transmit nominations or pursue the bills through the legislative process. Staff repeatedly described the Public Land Trust measure as a deliverable arising from the Public Land Trust Working Group (Act 226) and noted the earlier 2015–2016 inventory work as precedent for the scale of effort.

The meeting record shows trustees and staff asking for clarity about vetting criteria for the burial-council nominees, the justification and procedural safeguards related to the procurement exemption in the Public Land Trust bill, and the funding sources that would comprise the $1,000,000 request. The committee’s approvals set OHA to transmit nominees to the governor, advance the Public Land Trust inventory/audit funding proposal, and include the HCDA/Kakaʻako Makai framework in OHA’s 2025 legislative package.