Maui Mayor To Lobby For Continued Federal Disaster Relief During DC Trip
Mayor Richard Bissen plans to provide updates to federal partners and Hawaii’s two senators on the county’s recovery 10 months after the fires.
Maui Mayor Richard Bissen is flying Friday night to Washington, D.C., for a nine-day trip to provide federal partners with updates about the county’s recovery from the Aug. 8 fires and to lobby for continued support for disaster relief assistance, according to a county news release.
It has been more than 10 months since the Maui fires killed 101 people in Lahaina, displaced about 12,000 others and destroyed more than 2,200 structures.
Bissen also will go to the White House to meet with Tom Perez, a senior adviser to President Biden.
He also will meet with Hawaii鈥檚 U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono; staff of U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, the Oklahoma Republican chair of the House Appropriations Committee; Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency; Marion McFadden, an official with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall; and officials from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the release says.
During a Hawaii on the Hill event, Bissen will be on a panel called 鈥淩ise Strong: Resiliency, Recovery and Disaster Preparedness.”
Josiah Nishita, the county’s managing director, will serve as acting mayor from Friday night through the morning of June 23.
Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.
