Government Relations, Ethics, and Transparency Committee - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, everyone. Will the government relations ethics and transparency committee meeting of 06/17/2025 Please come to order. It is 01:33PM. I am your chair, Nohelani U'uhajans. Members in accordance with the Sunshine Law, please identify by name who, if anyone is in the room, vehicle workspace with you today. Minors do not need to be identified. Let's begin with committee vice chair, Tamara Palton. Good afternoon. Sawadee, I think is our word.

Good afternoon. Sawadee. Aloha. I am in the chambers today.

Thank you. Councilmember Tom Cook, good afternoon, and.

Aloha. Good afternoon.

Councilmember Gabe Johnson, aloha.

There's, no testifiers at the Lanai District Office. I'm alone on my side of the office, and I'm here and ready

to work. Thank you, chair.

Thank you. Council member Tasha Kammel, good afternoon, and Sawadee.

Good afternoon, chair, and Sawadee to you.

Is council chair Lee on? I don't see her. Okay. We'll back get to her in a bit. Council member Keani Rollins Fernandez, good afternoon, and Sawadee.

Aloha, chair. I'm Molokai Nuehina. I'm at the Molokai District Office alone here on my side of the office, and there are currently no testifiers here. Thank you.

Councilmember Shane Senensi, good afternoon and Sawadee.

Hey. Aloha and Sawadee chair. Happy to be here this afternoon, and no testifiers in Hanuchuk.

Thank you very much. And councilmember Yukile Sugimori. Good afternoon, Sawadee.

Good afternoon, Sawadee. I'm looking forward to, electric meeting. Okay. Yeah.

From corporation counsel, we have with us, first deputy corporation counsel, Mimi Desjardins, Brian Bildberry of deputy corporation counsel, and director Molina of public works. We have Maria Leon, committee secretary, Casey Apotakayama, senior legislative analyst, Clarissa McDonald, legislative analyst, Peter Hanano, legislative attorney, Michelle Kawasaki is not here with us. Lee Deneen, counsel services assistant clerk, and Jean Pokey Paula, counsel assistance in assistant service clerk. Do we have any testifiers signed up?

Chair, I don't currently see any testifiers signed up. Oh, one just raised their hand.

Okay. Do I need to read this whole thing? Okay. Behave, everyone. That's how I'm gonna start it.

No. Just

joking. Okay. Testifiers wanting to provide I'll I'll I'll run through it quick, JC. You can wait. Testifiers wanting to provide testimony should sign up in the lobby join at the online meeting via Teams link or call into the phone number noted on today's agenda. Written testimony is encouraged and can be submitted via the in comment link at mauicounty.us backslash agendas as well. Under the sunshine law, the chair will receive oral testimony for agenda items at the beginning of the meeting and as that item is called up. For individuals wishing to testify via teams, please raise your hand by clicking on the raise your hand button. If calling in, please follow the prompts via phone, 5 to raise and lawyer hand, and star star 6 to mute and unmute. Staff will add names to the testifier list in the order of the testifiers signing up or raising their hands for those on Teams.

Staff will lawyer hand once your name is call once your name is called and added. Staff will then call the name you're logged in under or the last four digits of your phone number when it is your time to testify at that time. Staff will also enable your microphone and video. Please ensure your name appears in Microsoft Teams as the name you prefer to be referred as or anonymous if you wish to testify anonymously. If you are in person, please notify the staff that you would like to testify anonymously.

Otherwise, please state your name for the record at the beginning of your testimony. All testimony is limited to three minutes per item. And if you are still testifying beyond that time, I will kindly ask you to complete your testimony. Once you're done testifying or do not wish to testify, you can also view the meeting on Al Kaku, channel fifty three, Facebook live, or mauicounty.us backslash agendas as well. We will do our best to take up each person in an orderly fashion, and we will now call on testifiers wishing to testify at the beginning of the meeting. If you could please call in first testifier.

Yes, chair. The first individual signed up to testify is the royal house of Hawaii.

Aloha. I'm I'm testifying on, everything, and, I'm a a real land tenant under three two three seven two. And I stand before you today, you all to assert that any attempts to pass bills, permits, or titles related to land in Hawaii are fundamentally flawed and potentially illegal. And the reason is simple. All land in Hawaii is held under a loyal title patent, title patented by the royal government of Hawaii, and this title lasts forever.

As such, any efforts to create new land trusts or schemes, that contradict the existing royal patented allodial titles that would be, titles would be a a crime on an international level. This is because these titles are rooted in the constitution of Kamehameha three and the laws of the Kingdom Of Hawaii, will supersay any subsequent attempts to alter or undermine them. It's perplexing to hear testimonies about waiting to create land trust for regular people when in fact the land is already held in perpetuity under royal patented title titles for specific families. These titles established during the Mahele provide a clear framework for governance and decision making regarding the land. And why is Kanaka getting put on Crown Lands, making it from DHHL, and they have allodial titles already?

And Kanaka is for supposed to be for all the people no matter what, and kanakas get all the royal patents already. And given the historical context and the exist existing legal framework, is evident that the native Hawaiian people with their royal patented titles would be best to to govern and decide what happens on their ancestral lands with the reparations from The US after after all they have lived through and from the challenges and the effects of the land mismanagement and would likely prioritize sustainable and community driven solutions, avoiding massive evictions because we never would evict people. I urge the senate committee to respect the existing legal framework and recognize the native the rights of the native Hawaiians to their lands as established by the royal patented allodial titles. Any attempts to undermine these rights would be a continuation of the injustices that have plagued our island before, since and before 1893. Follow Kamehameha III's laws and contact the descendants of the royal patent royal patents as needed.

And please correct me if I'm wrong, and mahalo for your attention to this matter. Any questions, please feel free to let me know.

Thank you very much for your testimony. Members, any clarifying questions? Seeing none. Next testifier, please. Chair, the

next testifier signed up is JC Law.

Aloha kaaha. Kalana o Maui. Aloha. Word for bird is manu. M A N U.

Thank you. Do we have anybody else signed up to testify? No, chair. Would you like me to

do a last call? Please. If somebody would like to testify in the chamber, please let staff know. Or our Microsoft teams, please raise your hand. This is final call. Three, two, one. Chair, it appears that nobody wishes to testify. Thank you. We will

move on then to the first and only item on the agenda we have before us, resolution 20 five-one 128, which would approve the settlement of the claim filed on 11/19/2024. The claim alleges streetlights owned and operated by Hawaiian Electric Company Incorporated and Maui Electric Company Limited for the county of Maui threatens the survivor and recovery of three critically imperiled seabirds that are native to Hawaii and are protected under 16 USC section fifteen thirty one of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. At this time, I'm gonna ask for brief opening comments by deputy corporation Brian Bilberry before I call for more testimony.

Oh, there we go. Thank you, chair. So you'll recall we've been here before to discuss this lawsuit with you. And as the chair indicated, it is a federal lawsuit that has been brought under 16 USC section fifteen thirty one through fifteen forty four, which is the Endangered Species Act. And the claims essentially say that artificial lighting well, let me back up.

The the claim has been brought on behalf of the Conservation Council for Hawaii and the Bird Conservancy. And the complaint that was filed essentially alleges that human artificial lighting to include street lights causes seabird fallout and illegal take of federally listed endangered seabirds. The complaint says that it's likely that streetlights cause seabird fallout and illegal take. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit seek an order from the court directing Maui County to apply for a federal take permit, and they assert entitlement to a preliminary injunction seeking an order from the district court that Maui County take temporary measures to mitigate against seabird fallout pending disposition of the lawsuit. Maui County's position is that we do not concede that streetlights cause seabird fallout or illegal take is distinguished from the other overwhelming sources of human artificial light on the islands of Maui and Lanai.

And we do not believe streetlights are approximate cause of seabird fallout or that streetlights cause illegal take. That being said, we are willing to take mitigative measures to address seabird fallout, but we're not prepared to apply for a federal take permit without an adequate showing of proximate cause and by the plaintiffs and by a court order. So as I indicated, we were here before to discuss this case with you folks, and we were given some settlement authority towards resolution of the claims in this case. At this point, we have a proposed interim agreement, which would be at best a partial settlement of the claims pending entire disposition of the suit. And so we're here today to discuss that with you and then discuss increasing our settlement authority for possible disposition of the entire case down the road.

And that being said, I would ask to go into an executive session to give you some details of the interim agreement that we're proposing and to discuss increase in settlement authority.

So moved.

Thank you very much, mister Gilbert. I do have to take testimony, and then you can can move all the things you like. But before that, do we have anybody signed up for to testify? Chair, an individual did raise their hand,

but they've already testified at the beginning of the meeting. We only have one item, so otherwise, we don't have anybody signed up for this item. Would you like me to do a last call? Please. Somebody would like to testify in the chamber, please let staff know or on Microsoft Teams, please raise your hand. This is final call. Three, two, one. Chair, it appears that nobody wishes to testify. Thank you. Members, saying there

are no, more individuals wishing to testify without objection, I would now close oral testimony for this item.

No objections.

Thank you. And as a reminder, written, testimony will continue to be accepted. Members, we're going into discussion period. I will remind you that we do have another meeting at 3PM this afternoon. So out of respect for the next committee, I'd like to be done in about, hopefully, less than an hour so we can make that transition. We are gonna go into a three minute questioning period. And as a reminder, again, we most likely need to go into executive session. So if you have any questions you'd like to ask in open session, please feel to do so now and you can raise your hand. We'll start with member Kama.

Thank you, chair. Just wanted to know if you knew Mr. Mulberry. How many seabirds have been impacted by these lights?

We have done some discovery process, and we have, I would say, well over 1,000 incident reports that the plaintiffs have produced in this case of seabird fallout events, and we have not seen any indication that any of those reports identify streetlights as a cause of any individual fallout incident.

Okay. Thank you.

Does anybody else have any questions that they would like to ask in open session? Nope? Okay. Well, in that case then, I will entertain a motion to convene an executive meeting in accordance with section 92 dash five a four, Hawaii revised statutes to consult with legal counsel on questions and issues pertaining to the powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and liability of the county, the council, and the committee, and section 92 dash five a eight, Hawaii statutes to deliberate or make a decision upon a matter that requires consideration of information that must be kept confidential pursuant to a state or federal law or court order. So moved.

Thank you. I have a motion made by member Palton. Second by member Cook, to enter to executive session for resolution 25 dash one two eight. Any further discussion? Seeing none. Yeah. Okay. Member Johnson, if you are with us, can you please turn on your camera before we go into executive session? I saw that you were having a little bit of technical okay. Good. Good to see you. Thank you. We're good to go?

Yeah. Sorry. Trying to get on.

All good. Thank you. Any discussion? Nope. Seeing none, all those in favor to go into executive session, please raise your hand and say aye. Aye. Chair, that's eight ayes, zero nos, one excused member, chair Lee. Motion carries. Thank you very much. For the record, the following personnel will be attending this executive session meeting.

All council members in attendance including myself, committee chair Nohe'u Hajins, committee vice chair Tamar Palden, council member Tom Cook, council member Gabe Johnson, council member Tasha Kama, council chair Alice Lee is not with us, council member Keani Rollins Fernandez, council member Shane Senensi, and council member Yukile Sugimura. Office of council service staff that will be with us include Peter Hanano, legislative attorney, and Maria Leon, committee secretary. Do we have anybody else? No. Yeah. That's it. Oh, chair's on her way up. Okay. Well, Chair Lee will be with us too. She'll be in person.

From corporation counsel are are and director Molina, are all three of you folks gonna be with us? Okay. So we have first deputy Mimi Deja, then deputy corporation counsel Brian Bilberry, and the director of public works Jordan Molina. At this time then, do I have to wait for Charlie to be with us in open session before I call a recess to move into executive session? We don't

Thank you, chair. I I don't think it's necessary that

she's Okay. In that case, I'm gonna call a 6 recess then. Oh, no. Five minute recess to come back at 01:55 p. M, and we will reconvene an executive meeting. This great committee is now in recess. Good afternoon, members. Will the government relations ethics and transparency meeting, please reconvene. It is 02:44 p. M. We have just completed our executive meeting on resolution 25 dash one two eight. And right now, I'm gonna ask mister Hanano to please provide us a summary in accordance with Hawaii revised statute section 92 dash four.

Thank you, chair. Your committee met in executive session to discuss settlement efforts and discussions of the case, litigation strategies, and defenses to the claims alleged, as well as the rights and liabilities of the company.

Thank you very much. At this time, I would like to entertain a motion to recommend adoption of Resolution 20 five-one 128, including any non substantive revisions. Second. Thank you. I have a motion made by member Cook, second by chair Lee. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor please raise your hand and say aye. Aye. Chair, that's nine ayes, zero no. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Members, this item will move on to full council for its consideration. At this time, this concludes this meeting. Thank you very much. As a reminder, we have drip coming up in fifteen minutes, and it is 02:45, and this meeting is adjourned.