The Hawaii governor鈥檚 office is racing to fill state boards as more members quit over a new law requiring them to publicly disclose their financial interests.听
Gov. Neil Abercrombie on Friday appointed three people 鈥 Vernon Char, Ulalia Woodside and Christopher Yuen 鈥 to the seven-member Board of Land and Natural Resources, pulling聽it from the brink of being unable to meet for lack of a quorum.
鈥淏ecause of several recent resignations, these appointments were expedited to ensure that the land board would have sufficient members to conduct business without interruption to its meeting schedule,鈥 Abercrombie said in a .听
The list of resignations had grown to 26 members across 10聽boards by Friday, according to the governor鈥檚 office.听
, which took effect Tuesday, added 15 important聽boards and commissions 鈥 roughly 120 members altogether 鈥 to the who聽already have to file public financial disclosure statements.
The say where the person works and provide business affiliations. Salary information is given by letters representing broad ranges, as are details about how much a person鈥檚 property is worth, along with stock values and any loans.听
Abercrombie, who decided last week to let the legislation become law without his signature, has said the new requirement will deter people from serving because they won鈥檛 want to share their financial information with the public.听
Supporters of the law say there are still plenty of qualified people in the community who are willing to serve and abide by the financial disclosure requirement.
While the governor鈥檚 office scrambles to find聽people to fill four seats vacated on the University of Hawaii Board of Regents, five seats on the Land Use Commission and many others, Abercrombie seemed pleased with the BLNR appointments.
鈥淰ernon, Ulalia and Chris all have in public service, and Hawaii鈥檚 resources will benefit from their commitment and passion,鈥 he said.
The land board, which oversees the , wields considerable power. The agency聽manages聽public lands, water resources, minerals and聽750 miles of coastline.
Woodside resigned from the Natural Area Reserves Systems Commission to accept the land board appointment. She fills the seat vacated by Reed Kishinami.
Char fills a seat that became available聽due to a member鈥檚 term expiring. Yuen’s seat was vacated by Wesley Furtado, who .听
The five LUC resignations have left聽the nine-member commission without a quorum, halting its ability to conduct business since it cannot meet to take action. There’s been no word from the governor’s office on the effort to appoint at least one new member to give it a聽quorum.
Here is the list, as of Friday afternoon, of people who have resigned:
University of Hawaii Board of Regents
- Saedene Ota
- John Dean
- Carl Carlson, Jr.
- Tom Shigemoto
Land Use Commission
- Sheldon Biga
- Dennis Esaki
- Ernest Matsumura
- Carol Torigoe
- Lance Inouye
Agribusiness Development Corporation Board of Directors
- Derek Kurisu
- Patrick Kobayashi
- Joan Namkoong
- Kekoa Kaluhiwa
Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation Board of Directors
- Paul Kyno
- Ralph Mesick
Board of Land and Natural Resources
- Reed Kishinami
- Wesley Furtado
Commission on Water Resource Management
- Ted Yamamura
Natural Area Reserves Systems Commission
- Ulalia Woodside
Hawaii Public Housing Authority
- Trevor Tokishi
- Sheri Tanaka
Hawaiian Homes Commission
- Patricia Sheehan
Four ex-officio members 鈥 Donald Thomas, Todd Low, Lawrence Visocky and Brian Moore 鈥 of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority have also resigned. These are non-governor appointments and no resignation letters are needed.
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Nathan Eagle is a deputy editor for Civil Beat. You can reach him by email at neagle@civilbeat.org or follow him on Twitter at , Facebook and Instagram .