Hawaiʻi lawmakers have advanced a bill that would allow the Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority an exemption to the open meetings, also known as the Sunshine Law, during its transition period.
Critics of the measure say the exemption would erode public trust in the authority during a critical five-year transition period.
But supporters of the bill, including authority members, argue the body needs this flexibility to meet the deadline for transitioning mauna management away from the University of Hawaiʻi by 2027.
John Komeiji, Chair of the Maunakea Authority, said without an exemption, the all-volunteer board is limited to working in permitted interaction groups, or PIGs, which can be time consuming.
"We have one employee right now. So we have a working group. Our working authority members draft job descriptions, draft consultants’ agreements, have to hire an executive assistant, and the inability for us to meet and discuss matters individually, without committing to a vote is severely impacting our ability to move forward," he said.
"Let’s say we want to meet with our attorney. I gotta create a PIG that then has to go and report what they found one month later. We cannot ask any questions to clarify what that report is until the next meeting, so it takes us three months to do things."
House Bill 2692 was approved this week by the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee with Reps. Sonny Ganaden, Daniel Holt and Kanani Souza voting no.
The measure now awaits a floor vote in the House.
