Representative raises oversight concerns over Aha Moku Advisory Committee, cites $286,000 in public funds

Representative Esther Poepoe delivered an extended statement to the House raising oversight concerns about the Aha Moku Advisory Committee administratively attached to the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Poepoe said the committee "has not meaningfully convened in years" and that it has issued formal positions and testimony "as if it were a functioning body," even though those positions were not discussed or adopted in open meetings as required by law. She said the Office of Information Practices has weighed in and framed the issue as whether the long pattern of non-meeting "rises to the level of a willful violation." Representative Poepoe said the committee "receives $286,000 in taxpayer funds" but provided no record of budget review or approval and no evidence of performance evaluations for its executive director.

Poepoe argued the issue is administrative, not funding. She said testimony claiming funds were frozen or withheld is inaccurate, asserting that the department "confirmed that the funds [are] available through a well-established process, the same one utilized by other attached agencies." Based on that, she called the problem "administration" and described continuing issuance of committee positions without open meetings as a failure of accountability.

She outlined several specific concerns: the committee rarely meets; it appears to refuse compliance with Sunshine Law requirements; budget requests (including salary requests by the executive director) are submitted without documented member approval; and there is no record of how the director's salary is set. "If tracking is not their style, maybe there should be no funding to track," Poepoe said, arguing that rules posted on the DLNR website exist but are not followed.

Several members responded by entering their support and by asking to have Poepoe's remarks inserted into the record. Representative Tarnas yielded his time to Poepoe; Representative Garcia said he was "in strong support" and adopted Poepoe's words as his own. Other members, including Representative Shimizu and Representative Kila, noted support or offered reservations in related measures. The House moved forward to consider adoption of related standing committee reports after the debate.

What happens next: The discussion was part of consideration of standing committee reports; members recorded support and reservations and proceeded to adopt a long list of HSCR items. Poepoe's remarks were entered into the record and multiple members asked that her words be included in the journal.