The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is no longer accepting nominations to fill the Hawaiʻi Island Trustee vacancy.
This vacancy must be filled by a Hawai‘i Island resident approved by a 2/3 vote (i.e., 6 of the remaining 8 members) of OHA’s Board of Trustees (BOT) within 60 days of the vacancy (i.e., April 2, 2022). The appointed Hawai‘i Island Trustee will serve until the general election on Nov. 8, 2022.
Interested individuals should email BOTNominee@oha.org by Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, at 4 p.m. with the following information:
Updated on Feb. 17, 2022
Thursday, 2/3/22: OHA activates a website and email address (BOTNominee@oha.org) to accept nominations from beneficiaries and the public to fill the vacancy of the Hawai’i Island Trustee for consideration by the OHA BOT.
Monday, 2/7/22: OHA’s CEO will email Trustees with the names of the nominations received at BOTNominee@oha.org. A list of all nominations will be forwarded, but the nominations will not be reviewed for eligibility.
Wednesday, 2/9/22: After the close of business, OHA’s CEO will email Trustees an updated list of the nominations received at BOTNominee@oha.org.
Thursday, 2/10/22: At the public BOT meeting on 2/10/22, Chairperson Lindsey will announce that each OHA Trustee will have the opportunity to nominate one individual for consideration as the replacement Hawai‘i Island Trustee by sending an email with a nominee’s name, phone number, and email to the CEO by 4:30 p.m. on 2/10/22. The CEO will compile a list of the Trustees’ nominees and send the BOT a list of the nominees to confirm that the list reflects each of the nominees submitted by the Trustees.
OHA Administration will email an attestation form to each of the nominees to determine eligibility to serve as the Hawai’i Island Trustee. Nominees must be a resident of Hawai’i Island (supported by documentation), registered to vote in Hawai’i, and must hold no other public office.
Friday, 2/11/22: The deadline for nominees to submit the Hawai’i Island Trustee attestation form is 4:30 p.m. If a nominee does not submit the attestation form by the deadline, or if the nominee is determined ineligible, the nominating Trustee(s) will be provided the opportunity to offer a replacement nominee.
Following receipt of a nominee’s attestation, OHA Administration will ask each nominee to submit the following, up to a maximum of 20 pages in total:
Wednesday, 2/16/22: Deadline for nominees to submit nomination materials by 4:30 p.m.
Thursday, 2/17/22: Deadline to file and publish the 2/23/22 BOT meeting agenda with the names of the Hawai‘i Island Trustee nominees.
Sunday, 2/20/22: Transmittal of the board meeting materials, including information containing the nominees’ resumes and other materials (with personal information redacted).
Wednesday, 2/23/22: The Board meeting begins at 9:00 a.m., with regular Board business being conducted, including acceptance of oral (2-minute limit) and written testimony ONLY on this date. At the conclusion of oral testimony, the meeting will proceed with board business.
1) Note: To allow enough time for public testimony, the OHA Board of Trustees will continue its meeting to Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 9:00 am. The links to view and listen to the meeting by phone will remain the same as that listed at the beginning of this agenda (see further Note below).
Thursday, 2/24/22: The meeting resumes at 9:00 a.m., no additional oral or written testimony will be accepted. Candidate presentation(s), review, and votes shall occur in an open session of the BOT. Nominees to present for 5 minutes, then field Trustee questions. Voting will be done by secret ballot and given to the Board’s Counsel who will announce the outcomes of each round of voting. There will be a minimum of two rounds of voting. Nominees who do not receive at least one vote in the first round will not be considered in the second round.
The new Hawai‘i Island Trustee must be approved by 6 of the 8 remaining OHA Trustees. The Hawai‘i Island Trustee approved at the 2/24/22 meeting will be seated effective 3/1/22.
In the event that a replacement Hawai‘i Island Trustee is not approved on 2/24/22, Chairperson Lindsey may schedule additional votes at subsequent meetings held prior to 4/2/22.
Saturday, 4/2/22: Deadline for OHA BOT to approve a Hawai‘i Island Trustee replacement. If the OHA BOT is unable to approve a replacement by this date, Chairperson Lindsey shall notify the Governor of the need for him to fill the Hawai‘i Island Trustee vacancy by 5/2/22.
On January 26, 2022, Keola Lindsey, Hawai‘i Island Trustee, notified Chairperson Lindsey and the OHA Board of Trustees (“BOT”) of his resignation from the OHA BOT, effective February 1, 2022.
The process to fill a vacancy on the OHA BOT is provided by state law as follows:
§17-7 Board of trustees, office of Hawaiian affairs.
In summary, the Hawai‘i Island Trustee vacancy must be filled by a Hawai‘i Island resident appointed by a 2/3 vote of the remaining members of the BOT (i.e., 6 of 8 members) within 60 days of the vacancy (i.e., April 2, 2022). If the OHA BOT does not fill the vacancy within 60 days, the vacancy shall be filled by the Governor within 30 days thereafter (i.e., May 2, 2022). The appointed Hawai‘i Island Trustee will serve until the 2022 general election (i.e., November 8, 2022).
Pursuant to HRS 17-7(b)(1), the Hawai‘i Island Trustee seat will be placed on the ballot for this year’s general election and the elected Hawai‘i Island Trustee will serve out the remaining two years of the Hawai‘i Island Trustee’s current term.