HAWAII NEWS Senate OKs deputy director of DHHL By Sophie Cocke
The full Senate voted 19 to 5 Wednesday to reconfirm William Aila as deputy director of the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
Aila faced tough questioning and testimony earlier this month in front of the Senate Hawaiian Affairs Committee, which narrowly voted to advise the Senate to confirm him.
He attracted support from groups such as the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, but feelings among homestead associations were divided.
Sen. Kai Kahele (D, Hilo) was one of the few senators to oppose Aila, saying DHHL needed new leadership.
Kahele noted that the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, which established the homesteading program for Native Hawaiians with at least 50% Hawaiian blood, is approaching its 100th anniversary. At the same time, there are close to 45,000 applications for agricultural, pastoral and residential leases.
Critics have long noted that beneficiaries are dying on the waiting list.
“My own father, a beneficiary of the trust, passed away on the list,” noted Kahele, referring to Gil Kahele, a state senator who died in 2016.
Kahele said that DHHL needed to focus on the full range of its obligations to Hawaiian beneficiaries, such as supporting loan programs, business opportunities and the development of pasture lands.
DHHL oversees a land trust of more than 200,000 acres throughout the state
“I want to see DHHL firing on all cylinders, not just one section of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, every section.”
Sens. Michelle Kidani (D, Mililani-Waikele-Kunia), J. Kalani English (D, Molokai-Lanai-East Maui) and Kurt Fevella (R, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point) also voted against Aila’s confirmation. Sens. Sharon Moriwaki (D, Kakaako- McCully-Waikiki) and Mike Gabbard (D, Kapolei-Makakilo) voted yes, but with reservations. Sen. Breene Harimoto (D, Pearl Harbor-Pearl City-Aiea) was absent.
While Aila has made it through the Senate confirmation process, Jobie Masagatani, DHHL’s director, will step down at the end of the legislative session. Gov. David Ige has not announced who will replace her, and Aila could end up leading the department at least in the interim.
Ige announced in January that he was reappointing both Masagatani and Aila to head DHHL during his second term as governor. However, Masagatani struggled to gain the needed Senate votes and ultimately Ige did not formally submit her name for confirmation.
Among Aila’s many supporters was Masagatani, who listed some of the department’s accomplishments in her testimony.
Masagatani said that Aila had played a key role in may of the accomplishments under the Ige administration, including securing the highest level of general funding for DHHL’s operating budget in its history; completing more than 700 homestead lots, half of which have been awarded; increasing the earnings from available lands, and refinancing debt that has resulted in savings of more than $20 million, among other accomplishments.
Masagatani said that Aila, who lives on Hawaiian homelands, “takes to heart the responsibilities we have at DHHL to manage the DHHL trust fairly, and in the best interests of all beneficiaries: lessees, applicants, and those yet to come or to be qualified as beneficiaries.”
