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Kamehameha Schools announced it would contribute $872.5 million to a proposed settlement fund for Maui wildfire claims, answering more of the question about how much various defendants will pay under the $4.037 billion tentative agreement. 

Hawaiian Electric Industries last week said the holding company and its utility subsidiaries would pay $1.99 billion toward the settlement. On Monday, Gov. Josh Green added more details in a television interview with KHON, indicating the state would contribute “close to 20%” of the settlement amount, or about $800 million.

The proposed settlement would resolve more than 600 lawsuits filed on behalf of victims of the fires, which destroyed much of Lahaina and killed 102 people a year ago Thursday. The agreement is contingent on resolving claims of insurance companies that are seeking reimbursement for billions of dollars in claims for property loss.

A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in Maui court to address that issue.

Although the amount paid by each party under the tentative settlement is confidential under a mediation order, some parties have begun to reveal how much they will pay.

These contributions total approximately $3.7 billion, or about 90% of the total, leaving the relatively small sum of about $337 million to be picked up by other defendants participating in the global settlement. They include Maui County, Spectrum Oceanic, Charter Communications, Cincinnati Bell, Hawaiian Telcom and several entities affiliated with West Maui Land Co. and Launiupoko Water Co. 

None of these entities have said how much they will pay toward the proposed global settlement, and a settlement term sheet filed in Maui state court does not say how much each will pay.

Maui County’s Contribution May Be Limited To $10 Million

A critical question for Maui taxpayers is how much the county will have to pay.

Maui County previously pledged to pay $10 million into the state-sponsored One Ohana settlement fund for personal injury victims and families of people killed in the fires. And according to people familiar with the settlement, the cash-strapped county won’t be required to fork out any more. 

In exchange, the county will drop a lawsuit it brought against HECO just weeks after the Lahaina fire arguing that the utility was to blame.

To pay to rebuild infrastructure, the county will pursue federal disaster relief fund grant money instead of damages from HECO, sources said. 

A cause and origin report being produced by the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms has still not been made public.

Even if that report were to show Maui bore significant blame for the fires, it wouldn’t necessarily follow that the county should have to pay a proportionally large contribution to the settlement fund, Green said. If a particular party doesn’t have the resources, it simply can’t pay more, the governor said.

“People love the idea that the report will show who is ‘guilty,’ and therefore they will pay a fortune. That’s not how the world works,” Green told Civil Beat on Wednesday. “The report can show what happened, but the resources are still finite.”

“No one that we were working with was trying to avoid responsibility, which was extraordinary,” Green added. “Just people said they didn’t have enough money.”

County officials declined to comment on Wednesday, citing confidentiality provisions of the mediation that led to the settlement.

“The County is subject to the confidentiality and privilege provisions of the parties’ Mediation Agreement,” according to a statement sent to Civil Beat Wednesday attributed to the Maui Corporation Counsel’s office. “The County will not disclose information protected by those provisions at this time, including but not limited to the parties’ respective contributions or credits to the Aggregate Settlement Amount.” 

Also unclear is precisely where the state’s contribution will come from. 

Green’s office declined to provide details, saying it plans to brief the Legislature next week.

However, on Monday, that the state plans to draw from insurance proceeds, as well as proceeds of an  paid by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and three U.S.-based subsidiaries of French pharmaceutical company Sanofi related to the drug Plavix.  

Green said the state’s contribution would be close to 20% of the total, which would be about $807 million. However, it was unclear whether that was in addition to $65 million the state has pledged to the One Ohana fund. If so, that would bring the state’s total contribution to $872 million, the same as what Kamehameha Schools has pledged.

Green alluded to the two parties putting up the same amount during Monday’s television interview saying KS’s settlement pledge made it an “equal partner to the state.”

HECO Is Expected To Provide More Details On Friday

The Hawaiian Electric companies’ $1.99 billion includes $75 million previously pledged to the One Ohana fund, the company said when announcing its decision. Precisely where this money will come from is not clear. 

HEI’s market value was $1.69 billion on Wednesday, according to . And while the company has been able to raise cash at fair rates by borrowing against accounts receivable, a battered bond rating has made issuing traditional corporate debt a costly proposition.

“HEI and Hawaiian Electric are working closely with their financial advisors to develop a financing plan for their settlement contribution and intend to finance the settlement payments through a mix of debt, common equity, equity-linked securities, or other potential options, although there can be no assurance at this time as to the availability or terms of any such financing,”  when announcing the proposed settlement. 

The company is expected to share more details  on Friday.

‘ contribution is contingent on an agreement being crafted between Kamehameha, which is the state’s largest private landowner, and the state of Hawaii and Maui County. In an email message on Wednesday, Jack Wong, the chief executive of the organization, said that KS is asking the state and county to “support laws to protect communities from wildfire and other natural disasters, including establishing clear, defensible standards of care for property owners.”

KS owns more than 1,000 acres near Lahaina that could be used to rebuild homes and businesses and provide Native Hawaiian cultural resources. A question is whether the state and county will promise to provide the infrastructure and regulatory entitlements and permits needed to develop the property. KS wants government promises memorialized in a “memorandum of agreement.”

“An essential condition for KS entering this settlement is the assurance by the State and County that they remain committed to Lahaina’s restoration,” Wong wrote. “The MOA will affirm this and seek their commitment to adopt culture-based, community-driven plans; restore cultural and historical places (e.g., Mokuhinia and Mokuʻula); build infrastructure (e.g., R-1 water line); create community gathering places; establish a learning center (with a kaiapuni preschool and K-12 kula kaiapuni facilities); and financially support KS’ restorative development projects so they can become financially viable.”

In addition, Wong wrote, KS’ settlement payment will have to be approved by the Hawaii probate court and the Hawaii attorney general. As a charitable trust established by for the benefit of Native Hawaiian children, organization expenditures for purposes outside of its core mission must be approved by the court and by the attorney general as the legal protector of the public interest.

Civil Beat reporters Marcel Honore and Kevin Dayton contributed to this story.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.