Office of Hawaiian Affairs urges ballot ban on destructive live-fire training, forms advisory group to press lease negotiations

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs on Tuesday presented legal history and community concerns about military land leases across Hawaii and announced two near-term actions: a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit destructive live-fire training on state public trust lands and the creation of a permitted interaction group and technical advisory team to negotiate with federal service secretaries.

OHA Chair Kai Kahele, the Hawaii Island trustee and board chair, told the audience the agency has a fiduciary duty to protect crown and government lands and noted that the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act names OHA and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands as Native Hawaiian organizations the Department of Defense must consult. "The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is named in the National Defense Authorization Act," Kahele said, adding that OHA will seek face-to-face meetings with service secretaries and their designees.

OHA’s advocacy director, Lena Alalei, outlined deficiencies OHA and community members identified in an Army environmental impact statement that led the Board of Land and Natural Resources to reject it. OHA said the EIS failed to complete archaeological inventories, biological surveys and meaningful cultural-impact assessments for training areas such as Pohakuloa and Makua Valley. "We don't think there was a good job done in the EIS that was turned in and rejected earlier this year," Alalei said.

The amendment OHA is preparing for the 2026 ballot would bar "destructive live-fire training" on public trust lands, OHA said; the group defined that phrase in the presentation as kinetic or non-kinetic weapons that cause irreversible environmental harm. Kahele said the OHA board approved sending the proposal to the legislature and emphasized the measure would be narrowly targeted to activities that produce lasting environmental damage.

OHA also said it will establish a permitted interaction group (PIG) and a technical advisory group to advise board negotiations with the services, and that the board planned to convene the PIG the next day. The advisory team, OHA said, will include experts in negotiation, land valuation, cultural practice and military operations to help shape any potential lease terms or exchanges.

Speakers framed the meeting as both an information session and a listening tour: OHA urged attendees to take an online survey and offered follow-up interviews with cultural practitioners to build a more complete record of impacts. The trustees recommended pursuing multiple legal and policy pathways — litigation, legislative change and negotiation — while centering community participation.

Next steps identified by OHA include convening the PIG, sending formal letters to service secretaries to request consultation under DOD guidance and monitoring upcoming lease expirations that fall between 2028 and 2031. OHA said it will continue statewide presentations and compile community input to inform negotiations and any legislative proposals.

The presentation and the following public comment period made clear the central stakes: community members who want the military treated as a tenant, greater transparency about lease terms and valuation, and binding commitments on cleanup and cultural access before any new long-term leases are issued.