The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is considering asking the Legislature to exempt meetings of its board of trustees from Hawaii’s Sunshine Law.

OHA says it needs to be able to act expeditiously and discuss confidential and financial matters that could be hampered under the public meetings law. The office is also proposing safeguards to ensure some public reporting and participation stays intact.

The proposal is part of OHA’s bill package for the 2025 legislative session. The board is scheduled to discuss it in committee meetings Wednesday morning.

Proposals to adjust how OHA’s salary commission is appointed and to eliminate seats for developers on the island burial councils are also on the agenda.

OHA officials declined to talk about the proposed bills until they are vetted by the trustees this week.

OHA lays out its justification for asking for an exemption from the Sunshine Law in meeting materials posted ahead of the hearings.

OHA likens its work to that of the Legislature, which is also exempt from the Sunshine Law, and argues that it needs to be able to hold private meetings to speak candidly without worrying that disclosure of information could jeopardize negotiations or legal cases.

The Sunshine Law also requires public boards to post their agenda six days before scheduled meetings. OHA says that it is often dealing with time sensitive issues over land claims and cultural preservation. 

“Responding quickly to a land sale or development project that affects Native Hawaiian cultural sites may require immediate deliberation that cannot wait for formal public notice,” the summary said.

OHA also argues that trustees need the flexibility to hold community meetings and meet with cultural practitioners and legal experts outside the confines of the public meetings law.

It also wants to be able to discuss legal matters and investment practices dealing with the Native Hawaiian Trust, valued at nearly $600 million, in private.

OHA wants to be able to discuss personnel matters and grievances in private as well.

“The Sunshine Law’s requirements can hinder trustees’ ability to have frank discussions on these topics without fear of public misrepresentation or premature disclosure,” OHA said.

OHA says it would still issue regular public reports summarizing key decisions and hold quarterly or semiannual public forums, even if not bound by the Sunshine Law.

It also suggested setting up rules that keep discussion on things like grant awards, various programs and certain budget issues open to the public while exempting cultural matters and other negotiations from public meeting.

But the board of trustees can already take up many of those matters in executive session, Brian Black, executive director of the Public First Law Center, said.

“This proposal to exempt them entirely doesn’t make sense,” Black said.

Black said it would be better for OHA to ask for a more narrow scope of exemptions.

He pointed to the county councils which have a limited exemption for hosting community meetings without needing to worry about violating the Sunshine Law.

Lawmakers have also eased requirements for the state’s Employee Retirement System over the years. Discussions over investments that may include proprietary or confidential business information can be held out of the public eye. Some records related to those investments are also shielded from public disclosure.

“It’s a matter of OHA being able to articulate what exactly they are trying do and why that needs to be confidential,” Black said.

Another proposed bill would give the trustees the power to convene OHA’s salary commission.

Right now that power rests with the governor. Commissioners are supposed to meet every four years to recommend salary adjustments for the trustees, but OHA said past administrations have failed to convene the salary commission.

With a salary of $58,560, OHA trustees are some of the lowest paid elected officials in Hawaii.

Another bill up for discussion on Wednesday would eliminate seats on the island burial councils reserved for developers and large landowners.

The island burial councils oversee the treatment of iwi kupuna on each of the main Hawaiian islands except for Kahoolawe. 

The current law allows each nine-member council to have up to three people representing development or large land interests. The five-member Molokai council can have just one seat dedicated to those interests.

OHA’s proposal would get rid of those seats on each council, and reduce the number of seats from nine to seven.

OHA said those interests are already represented through consultants and attorneys that appear before the council and in other discussions of burials.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Native Hawaiian issues and initiatives is supported by a grant from the Abigail Kawananakoa Foundation.