House Standing Committee on Finance

Okay, we're going to convene the Committee on Finance to do our informational briefing. This morning we have the Department of Budget and Finance. Welcome, Director.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Luis Salaveria, Director of Finance for the State of Hawaii. If with your indulgence, may I introduce the members of the leadership team for the Department of Budget and Finance? So with me today I have Deputy Sabrina Nasir, which I believe all of you may have met yesterday.

Also with me I have Neal Miyahira. Neal is the administrator for the state's department of, or actually for the Division of Program Planning and Budgeting. So he is responsible for the overall development of the state budget. So you guys will obviously have to interface with him in many different capacities. Also along with us we have Rod...

Why am I forgetting Rod's last name? Rod Becker. Rod is essentially the administrator for the state's Financial Administration Division. Rod in many ways manages the state's treasury and so all of the functions that go along with the state treasury as well as the state's bond deals that we do on an annual basis.

I also have with me Tracy Ban is our administrative services officer that takes care of all of the administrative functions of the Department of Budget and Finance. And also we have Mark Anderson. Mark is the head of the Office of Federal Awards Management, which primary responsibility is to take care of and manage and keep track and account for all of the state federal funds that move through the State of Hawaii. He also actually manages the ABLE Savings Program for the State of Hawaii... And what other?

And duties as assigned, according to Mr. Anderson. I also have with me Tom Williams, he is the executive director for the Employee Retirement System for the State of Hawaii. And Derek Mizuno, he is the administrator for the Employee Union Trust Fund. And this is the fund that is responsible for both active and retiree health care plans for the State of Hawaii.

And also Jon Ikenaga, who is the head, who's the state's public defender for the Office of Public Defender, is an attached agency to the Department of Budget and Finance. So Chair, if you may, I'll just go ahead and dive into our department and then our request too as well.

Thank you.

Thank you. So it is the mission of the Department of Budget and Finance to really enhance the long term productivity of the State of Hawaii. Our primary responsibility and the mantra that we always kind of work on is that our main responsibility is to make sure and protect the state's credit.

And we do that by really managing the financial plan, making sure that all of the departments are operating in an efficient manner, and making sure that the appropriate and efficient use of public resources throughout state government, regardless of means of financing.

Essentially, we are your department's, you know, we are the department for you that helps manage the overall finances for the State of Hawaii. You know, we do that and we accomplish that by working collaboratively with all of the stakeholders in state government. Not an easy task with all of the multitude of different expectations and priorities that exist within state government. And we do that by really putting together a balanced budget so that we can meet the needs of the state's population.

You know, we plan and we direct and coordinate the state's investment strategy as well as all of the financing programs that exist within state government. We maintain the efficient use of federal funds, we make sure that we reduce bond issuance costs and we effectively manage the state's debt service program and payments.

We direct and we coordinate statewide retirement benefits actually for both state and county governments. Because the ERS is a multi-employer program that handles both the state and the county retirement plans. We administer health benefits and life insurance benefits for both the state and the county.

And we do this for both active as well as for state retired employees. And we also provide excellent legal services for those people within the community that cannot afford it for themselves. You know, our department's performance measures may be found in the program memoranda and the variance reports that you may see.

And these are also major responsibilities that the department is responsible for at the start of every session, making sure that you have the information in order to do your jobs appropriately. With that, you know, the department really is, you know, made up of different components in terms of like our overall budget.

We are the largest operating budget of any department within the State of Hawaii. And that's primarily because we manage all of the fixed costs for the state actually. So with that, I'll just quickly go over the requests that we have in this upcoming budget.

So for the upcoming biennium budget 26 and 27, we are asking for an increase of 23.5 million in fiscal year 26 and 63.7 million in General Funds for increased debt service fixed cost payments. We're asking for an increase of 41.8 million in fiscal year 26 and 76.5 million in 27 In General Funds for retirement benefit payments.

We are asking for an increase in 57.8 million 26 and 74.5 million in 27 in General Funds for health premium payments. We are requesting an increase of three full time employee positions account, six positions, and $272,460 in General Funds for the biennium for the Financial Administration Division.

We're asking for 1.6 million in both fiscal year 26 and 27 for salary increases for all budgeted public defender, deputy public defender positions. We are asking for 6.8 million in other funds for 26 and 2.8 million in other funds for 27 to migrate the Employee Retirement System's pension administration computer system to a new version and to a new platform. We are asking for $505,759 in 26 and 524,083 in 27 and other funds for the ERS to accomplish internal control compliance testing services.

We are asking for another 576,000 and 515,000 respectively in the two years for additional legal fees for the Employee Retirement System. We are also asking for 600,000 in 26 for imaging and indexing services for the Employee Retirement System. And lastly, we are asking for an increase in the state's Mass Transit Special Fund ceiling in the amount of 572,695,000 for both fiscal year 26 and 27. And this actually is just a ceiling increase.

And this, what this represents is this is the money that the state collects as a portion of the 1/2 of 1% GET that we essentially transfer over to the City and County of Honolulu for for costs associated with HART. And the reason why we're asking for this ceiling increase is that we have been collecting an amount in excess of the existing ceiling. So this is just to make sure that they are appropriately getting all of the money that's coming in that is associated with that GET increase.

Please note that, really, approximately 98% of both the FY26 and the 27 budgets for the State Department of Budget and Finance is really for non-discretionary fixed statewide expenses. Debt service, retirement system, the health fund, the Mass Transit Special Funds, even things like witness court fees and council fees.

So you know, really it, you know the department's operating budget really is 2%. It really is 90 million of the 4 plus billion that the State Department of Budget and Finance gets is really associated with direct operational expenses for literally for the entire $20 billion state budget for the State of Hawaii. So Chair with that, that concludes my presentation on the budget. I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have. And I do have staff here with me. If there's anything that I cannot answer, they're here.

Thank you very much. Members, questions? Bulk of the budget.

So the Mass Transit Special Fund. If we don't raise the ceiling, do we get to keep the money?

Thank you, Representative. Essentially what we do is we hold it in trust. The statute is pretty explicit in terms of what that one half of 1% is for. So the money essentially just sits in the state's treasury. Thank you, Representative.

So with that, the longer we hold it in treasury, then do you do short term investments? Right?

Yes, we do. And our investments are, our investments are guided by statute. So there are only specific instruments that we are actually by statute allowed to do it. And for the most part, we've been very fortunate because of the inverse yield curve right now, short term, short term gains are very high. And so, you know, with the management and Rod Becker, not remember his last name, with the management of Rod and the Treasury... I mean, the Treasury is currently achieving about a 5% return, actually.

Yeah, we had a slight spike that. Probably because of the pandemic and...

Yes, although if you look at... And again, you know, in managing the state's credit, the state's debt profile, I mean, this is a very extraordinary times when it comes to the investment of the Treasury. You know, the expectation is that, you know, short term interest rates will start to kind of like taper off, you know, in the near future.

Okay. Further questions? Representative Kusch.

So in that, that was the basis of my question was is there statute or is there limitations on carrying interest that we can recover while, you know, taking these funds into the trust before they're dispersed to the county for actual construction of their transit? I mean, is there, is there any kind of limitations or do we have to turn that interest over or is that a, you know, a source of revenue for your department that can be, you know, maximized? You know, if they're not going to use the money, can we hold it in trust until it's ready for the RFP or until, you know, construction?

Yeah. It is the Legislature's prerogative in terms of how much we essentially give them on an annual basis. So whatever money that exists in that portion or whatever money we do collect, again, does sit in the treasury. The request really is coming from, from HART.

They're the ones that are asking us to increase the ceiling because their expectations is that they are going to start to see an increase in the amount of expenses coming forward, especially as they get closer and closer to the urban core. So I'm not quite sure exactly. Rod, the interest earned on the... Is that part of just regular treasury or that state? The fund itself. Yeah.

Okay. So we have no carrying interest?

No, it would... It's essentially their money, so whatever interest is earned on it would end up just getting credited to them. Yeah.

Thank you.

So Rod is helping them, so we get compensated for that?

He's making them 5% interest per year. Yes.

Yeah. Okay. Further questions, Members? I'm sorry, you had anything else? Okay. Yeah. Yep. Anything else? Okay, thank you. You know, when you were giving us the financial plan, I asked you a question about a funded deferred maintenance and things like that. And then in passing you said you started conversations. Yes. So maybe just update the committee where you're at.

Sure. Thank you, Chair. So myself, Comptroller Regan. Comptroller Regan, Kalbert Young, vice president of finance for, for the University of Hawaii and Keith Hayashi did meet to basically start coming up with a process when it comes to deferred maintenance.

And what I had asked them is really, again, how we finance deferred maintenance is a very important thing because again, we don't want to, to your point, Chair. We don't want to, you know, bond finance things that are primarily, you know, annual operating expenses.

So really the conversation hovered around differentiating between routine R&M, which is the stuff that you do really on an annual basis, regular, or, you know, you fix a, you know, you fix a leaking pipe, for example, or even painting, for that matter. You know, things that don't necessarily extend a useful life.

And then major R&M, like if we have to replace an HVAC system within that. And so that we want to make sure that we're, you know, we're appropriately financing the expenses associated with it. So we've started that conversation, Chair. So I think as...

I don't know if they're done yet with their informational briefings, but this is something that I think is, to your point, is very important if we really want to start tackling those long term expenses that, to your point, really kind of get deferred during tough times. Well, now is a time where we can really start taking care of our physical plan. And so that was my request to them. They are ultimately the, the executing agents of those expenditures. But what I would want from them, Chair, is really kind of a delineation so that we can appropriately finance those costs going forward.

Thank you. Appreciate it. So the, and you know, those are the major departments that usually have a lot of costs, but at the same time there's others that Department of, well, DLNR, Department of Ag has some facilities that are of concern. Right. That they have to maybe maintain to some degree.

You know, one of the things that I, discussions that I had with DLNR was that. Right. They wanted to fix certain things with their special fund in cash basically. And I kind of told them that, you know these, it may be appropriate for it to be bond funded, but at the same time for it to be paid for by a revenue bond with such a small ass. Right. It can be, it won't pencil. So but at the same time... So my question is that we could do put it on the GO reimbursable. Okay.

If it was reimbursed out of a special fund. Right. But lumped together with your, when you go to bond market. As far as the 18.5% ceiling over three years and everything like that, based on General Fund revenue over the three year average. Because it's special funded, will this be separate? Could it be?

If we include it as part of the GO, Chair...

Because it's right... It's what's being paid for out of debt for debt service. So if debt service is being paid for out of a special fund, would it adjust that ceiling?

That's a good question. I'd probably have to bring that back to bond counsel. I don't know if we could pair out a portion. I guess we could do GO reimbursable. A portion of issuance is GO reimbursable with the reimbursable portion coming out being paid for by a special fund.

I know it's complicated, and I know. But at the same time. Right. But I'm telling them that to pay cash for it sometimes for something that should be bond funded, but I don't think we should GO bond fund it, right, out of General Funds. Paid that service out of there. It should come out of their special fund. But I just want to know how all that would work out.

I believe that there's probably a path there forward, Chair, but I could definitely take that back. We can have a discussion, myself with Rod and possibly with bond counsel, to see how we would structure a particular deal like that. But definitely kind of understand where you'd want to, where you would want to take that.

So there's other situations like that too. Right. So that could. We could. But if there is ways that it. Yeah, because I'm, you know everybody's coming up with all these different ways to fund things. They are going into these PPP agreements and essentially some of them, you know, they're leasing the improvements but basically it's being paid for out of General Funds. So in my mind, you know some of these agreements does cross over into General Fund debt. Right. So but I want to understand all the moving parts of all these different things.

Sure. We could definitely talk a lot more about it if you wanted to have a discussion around how these particular financing arrangements work. You know, the position that, you know, that our department has taken, especially when it comes to, you know, alternative structures in terms of financing costs, even, you know, public private partnerships for that matter. It needs to make sense for the State of Hawaii because at the end of the day, you are still entering into a long term contract which, you know, the state is, you know, basically, you know, you know, earmarking a portion of revenue going forward.

But it's got to make sense for us. If there's some other things that we get benefit on in terms of maybe like the operating and maintenance expenses associated with that particular arrangement, we have to look at it in its totality, Chair, in terms of, you know, how does it make sense for the State of Hawaii?

Yeah. And the only reason I'm bringing it up in this forum is that I think, you know, there are many proposals coming before the Legislature and everybody's trying to be creative. Right. And but at the same time we have to be responsible. So what we use, even though it's being financed through another mechanism such as a PPP. Right. It still affects, in my mind, affects debt. Right. But on the other hand, if it's coming out of special fund, that may be a different story. That's why I want to bring up those two situations, and then we should do an evaluation of the whole thing.

Absolutely, Chair. I'm with you 100%. And you know, your department, you know, sometimes we get criticized as being relatively conservative in terms of our approach and things. But you know, creative and financing are not necessarily good words when you put together. So we do try to make sure that we are very...

So, you know, I think that's, you know, and that's a good point, right. That people always call us like, even to some people, they think of myself as conservative. But I think I always tell them no, I'm trying to be responsible. Right. And I think that's what you're trying to do also. Right.

So, but anyway, I just wanted to have us talk about that in this forum with the committee so the committee can start thinking about those things as these different proposals come before us. Okay. Any other questions? Do you have any closing comments?

Chair, sorry, just one correction. The interest earned on the, on the Mass Transit Special Fund does get credited to the General Fund. I was just informed, actually.

Good job. Go ahead.

I'm sorry, is that the case with all the special trust funds that you hold or...

No, it's not. Special, or trust funds. Special funds, for example, if we are holding it into a treasury do get credited. I think because the way that it was set up for, for the Mass Transit Special Fund, whatever we are being, whatever we're holding, we're essentially crediting to the General Fund.

But you hold a number of trust funds on behalf of other department, and I don't know, any other county, but just mostly state departments?

Mostly state departments, actually. I mean I would have to get back to you, Representative Kusch, on other counties that may have it. But basically every single dollar, whether it's General Funds, special funds, if it is part of the state's operating, it could be a DLNR Special Fund, could be a, you know, DOH Special Fund. It's all part of the state's treasury. The state's treasury at any given point in time, and I believe at where we're at right now, it's about $12 billion in the treasury right now.

Okay, and you guys manage that with, within short term portfolios or?

It is a short term portfolio. It's very specific. The chapter within HRS basically gives us the exact types of instruments. Primarily, it really is so that the state is not overtly extending its risk going forward. So really we're talking about US Treasuries, government agencies, short term instruments. Some type of like, like Farm Bureau or Fannie Freddie and stuff like that. Yeah, government agency.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Further questions? Okay, thank you. So just to be clear, Members, you're right, the what, the half percent that they're asking for comes out of the GET, which essentially is our tax. So we're allowing them to use our instrument to generate revenue. And I think that's why it comes, it comes to us. Okay, go ahead.

Just fast one. Clarification, that sunsets in like 2028 or 2030, the half percent? Or is that go on once HART is completed?

No, there is a sunset date. I don't know the exact date but, again, it falls back to the Legislature in terms of what are we going to look at at that point in time, when, when that, when that money set. And I don't know what the counties are proposing in terms of what their schedule of expenditures and the project is.

Thank you.

Okay, anything else? Okay, thank you very much.

Thank you. Chair.

Thank you. We are in recess.

Committee on Finance. Next up Members is the Department of Hawaiian Homelands. Welcome.

Good morning. My name is Kali Watson, Director of the Department of Hawaiian Homelands.

Chair Yamashita and Vice Chair Take no Uchi and Members of the Committee, what we'd like to do today is kind of, I'd like to start off with a little bit of history, especially for the new Members regarding what the Department is about.

Originally, way back in, I guess over 100200 years ago, when we first had contact in 1778, there were about 680,000 native Hawaiians here in Hawaii. Then at the time of the passage of this Guanols Commission act in 1920 and signed into law in 1921 through the Advocacy of Prince Jonah Akuyokalanouole, it was less than 24,000 Hawaiians.

So obviously our race was disappearing. It was on the verge of being eliminated, basically based on disease, relocating, alienation of indigenous people from their culture, basically of subsistence and the basic ahupua concept from the mountains to the sea, that's how they survived.

So the Prince Kuhio, in response to that, while a non voting Member of Congress, was successful in advocating for the passage of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act. The passage resulted while we were at the territory, in 200,000 acres being set aside, but no money.

And the lands that were set aside were primarily on the outer islands where not very close to infrastructure. So very, very isolated, very expensive to develop. And so, you know, the big island with the largest amount of about 120,000 acres. And then you had Oahu with about 8,600 acres, about 4% of our inventory.

And so as a result of that, over the last hundred years, the Department and its program has done very poorly. Let me also mention that in 1959 when we became a state, part of the condition that was imposed upon the admission was that the state would take on the responsibility of the Hawaiian Omnis Commission Act.

And in fact it was incorporated into our state constitution. So it's just part of state constitution. And in that taking over that responsibility, the state became not only the fiduciary responsible entity, but but more importantly, it was tasked with managing these lands as well as moving the program along. Unfortunately, the history has been very dismal.

We have I think about 10,000 homestead leases and the program was set up for both agricultural, residential and pastoral homesteads. It also allowed us the flexibility of leasing our lands out to non Hawaiians. We felt it was justified in order to generate revenues to support the program. Now as a result of that, in a Very.

We have about, I guess most of our homesteads are here on the Wild4443. The next large group of homesteads are on the Big island, where we have about 2,500. We have some on Kauai, Maui, we have a little less than 1500 Molokai, we have about 838.

But the fact is that we have this huge waiting list of over 47,000 applications, which are made up of 29, a little over 29,000 Native Hawaiians, some with duplicate application both for pastoral and residential.

And so in 2020 we did a survey which basically disclosed that most of the applicants wanted single family residential, but There was about 6.7 on the list that were okay and desired affordable rental apartment or condominiums as their first choice. So as a result of that, this Legislature in 2022 passed Act 279, setting aside $600 million.

And we'll go over that and give you some highlights on what is the 28 projects that we are now pursuing. We've distributed based on our strategic plan, which was reviewed by this Legislature, which which has been revised. And part of the nice thing about the act, it also allowed us to acquire new lands.

And so we've done that. We've acquired new lands in great locations close to infrastructure, which will result collectively in over 6,000 new homesteads. And so we're excited about that.

And so though we come to you asking for more money because with the large waiting list that we have, the 600 million, while large is not enough, we need close to $6 billion in order to eliminate our waiting list, which is going to grow.

So even if it were to stay static, we still wouldn't have enough money to eliminate the waiting list because it is going to grow. When I was the Chairman of a little over 20 years ago, you know, when I started, it was about 3,000. We did about 3,100. When I left, there was 7,000 on the waiting list.

So, you know, it's just very likely and anticipated that it will grow. So we do need additional funding. But one of the other things besides our desire to address the waiting list are these lands. And these lands, you know, also require maintenance and repair. And we do have infrastructure as well as facilities that need to be addressed.

And so that has grown regarding the cost of trying to repair and maintain what assets we have. And so that also is part of the budget that we are presenting to you in our budget. You know, it is based on the mandate of our constitution, which requires you to provide sufficient sums.

And we have four purposes that are laid out in Article 12, Section 1 of our state constitution. One requires the development of agriculture, farm and ranch lots.

The second item talks about loans and the third item talks about the rehabilitation projects relative to what we're doing to maintain as well as projects that our beneficiaries have suggested to us based on our consultation with them. There's also just operational Administration and operating budget that requires us.

We have close to 200 employees, but they're spread out throughout the state and we are in a predicament where we generate a lot new homesteads but we don't have sufficient staff.

So that's the thing that we're asking for also besides additional funds, but to fill and finance some of the while the 19 project or 19 positions, full time employees that are authorized by you but are not funded.

So we're asking for your kokua in funding those positions, including an additional 16 that we need to kind of assist especially on the outer islands, some of the district management offices that we have.

So today what I'd like to do is maybe with your agreement chair, to kind of highlight what we're doing and give a highlight as to some of the projects. Not all of them. We got 28. So I obviously it would be too long to go through all of them.

But with your indulgence, we'd like to do a presentation. So I'd like to. Doctor, before you go into your presentation, maybe introduce your people here. Thank you. I'm sorry, sometimes I stay overly focused and centered in the brain. So Kalani Franda, he's our land management and Katie Lambert, our district Deputy Director.

And then maybe the people in back, if you can introduce yourself starting with Dean it. Anybody else? Okay. So anyway, we do have this PowerPoint. It's fairly short, but it does highlight the projects that I think will, you know, move the program along. We're looking at like I mentioned, over 6,000. Let me also mention just the approach.

Historically the Department has, you know, the development approach has been somewhat disconnected and resulted in very slow development. Part of the problem is the lack of funding.

But we do have, and that's one of the reasons why the Governor asked me to come back is, you know, I've been a developer, primarily affordable housing development for the last 20 years. And we've done a ton of projects across the state.

And so, you know, it was an opportunity and privilege to come back and make sure that the 600 million is used in the best way it can.

And that clearly requires leveraging the other thing about the use of the 600 is to spread it out and try to not only do the development in a way that we can use the funds more efficiently, but in a way that as a developer, I would do it in the private sector.

And that would be to do projects in large quantities rather than 4050 units at a time, or separating the infrastructure from the vertical construction. We're giving and entering into developer agreements with developers that have the capacity to do large developments. And the reason for that is that by doing large developments, the per unit cost goes down.

It's also constructed a lot quicker rather than piecemeal. Then when you combine the vertical construction with the infrastructure, you don't have a situation where one contractor will be pointing at the other. You know, there's a fault with the infrastructure not lining up with where the vertical construction is supposed to go.

So not only does it move it along, but it avoids the litigation. And I used to be a litigation attorney even for the Department where we had to litigate and go after a whole bunch of developers, not a whole bunch, but some developers that were not doing it properly and we resulted in poor products for our beneficiaries.

So we actually went after developers, the architects, the subs and a whole bunch of people to get the units repaired. But the other thing is not only do you are able to develop a lot quicker, but you can do the numbers, the numbers in an expeditious way. Now, also recognize that the development there's certain limited capacity locally.

There's just so many developers that understand affordable housing financing, which is totally different from a market approach. And the market approach, you try to Max out your profits and charge as much as you can. Affordable housing.

And we work closely with the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Court as well as different other like the private, the nonprofits, in order to access funds that you folks will be looking at funding such as the rental housing Revolving Fund, Tier 2, Tier 1, as well as the DURF as well as the tax credits which our state entity, HHFTC manages both state and federal.

Now, those funds are very, very critical to the success of this program because the makeup of our wait listers are fairly Low income, a lot of elderly.

And so in order to build facilities that they can afford, or not only to buy, but in some cases rent, we need to subsidize a lot of the funding in order to offset those costs that are passed on. And we'd rather it be more focused on the maintenance and operational costs rather than large mortgages for our Beneficiaries.

So that's part of what we're trying to accomplish. The other thing is, while we're looking to you to provide us significant funding, we've also put together a team to go after a lot of the federal funds that are just sitting there is the inflation reduction act, the bipartisan infrastructure Bill. That is significant funds.

So we're working with consultants, we have people in place in D.C. as well as locally, as well as consultants that specialize in these kind of applications. The applications we're looking at large applications involving significant funds.

We also are working with the different state entities, including dot, we're working with the different counties because most times, you know, if you go in where it's a collection of beneficiaries and not just the native Hawaiians, the feds are more receptive to funding those kind of applications. Another thing is when we go and we've been to D.C.

already and we show them, hey, we got 28 projects, we have the lands we have in this case, we're going to move forward in making what we call paper lease awards. So we have the actual beneficiaries in place. But also the fact that we have state funds that are committed to this project, that's impressive, that encourages.

And just from a matter of standard responses, they're more inclined to provide us funds. So we're doing a full court press on that also. And so we're excited. I think the coming years we're looking at the Act279 funding.

It's going to take us about 10 years to use up the money as well as get all the construction going. But we do have a lot of projects. But again, there is limitation on the capacity of our developers to build so many houses per year. So that's kind of been a hindrance and something we're trying to address.

So we're looking at maybe doing a modular manufacturing plant, looking at importing modular homes from possibly Korea and elsewhere. I know that's not that exciting for some people, but, you know, the reality is the workforce here needs to be expanded. And that's something that's been a challenge.

So anyway, with that, I'd like to now move into more specific, highlighted projects we're doing as well as the basis of why we're here. So I'll turn it over to Kalani.

Aloha Chair representatives. First thing that we'll cover is just a status of our Act 279, what we've encumbered and also what we we have expended so far. And so as of June 302024 with the 600 million, we have targeted roughly about 6030 awards that we would be awarding out and lots that we would create.

Right now as of June 2024, we have about 471 million that's been encumbered over 18 projects. And for the lapse fix we have remaining 129 million which will cover about 10 projects. In addition to what was submitted, this gives a summary of what has been encumbered and what's been expended so far.

Moving on to our request, we've highlighted in our testimony and what's been submitted and really did a breakdown of the different projects, how it applied to projects and monies that are being requested in your areas and how it impact your communities.

So we'll start off with Hawaii county and here you'll see a snapshot of what's being requested for fiscal year 26, fiscal year 27. And if I may note, the lots that you see that are being developed here is on top of the 6,000 that we had accounted for in the Act 279.

So there's 830 lots that we would develop with these monies that are being requested in this new request. For Kauai we have another 302 lots for Maui, another 296 lots for Honolulu, and another 330.

And then statewide we've highlighted this because it actually captures scattered lots that we have in communities that have been developed and it's been sitting vacant. And so we want that to be occupied.

So we've been awarding that both for owner builder opportunities as well as for turnkey and working with Kanaka Builders, utilizing the emergency proclamation to engage those of native Hawaiian descent to be able to assist us with moving forward our mission. So we'll start off with Hawaii County. We have several projects that we're highlighting.

This will start off in west Hawaii and Kona. At Laiopua we have. So on top of what we've requested for the in the Act 279, which was roughly about 39mil, we have another 28 million that would assist us in being able to complete 200 lots.

So note that with Act 279 monies, we've used that for some partial on site infrastructure as well as for some off site infrastructure.

And the off site is working on improving the water system, so securing couple of well developments, working with the county on with water credits and then with that comes the wastewater improvements that for all of our new developments we are making sure that it complies with the county standards. So.

So at the end of the development, we're actually able to turn those over. So that includes everything from water systems to wastewater sewer improvements, the roadway systems, the street lights, et cetera. And that helps us from.

As you take a look at the end of the presentation, we'll cover purpose four and I'll go more into detail on that. But that'll help us from preventing the carrying cost on going further in having to maintain all of these improvements and developments that we have developed. Moving on to. So moving on to Kamoela at Lalamilo.

This has been one of those projects that we had started and because of different types of issues such as UXO, we. We finally got through some of those hurdles and moving forward. And that's the reason for this new request that we're requesting for 34 million.

This will assist us in being able to build out the remaining increments that we've started. We've done some work in increment one, but there's a lot more to be done. And part of the reason why is there is no wastewater system. The county actually lacks the capacity in this area.

And so we are working with the county very closely as well as with DOT on some of the roadway improvements to be able to activate development in this area. And so the wastewater system is really key for us to move forward on the 151 lots.

So that is the reason why we are really focusing on finishing off increment one, building out the wastewater system and then also completing the entire infrastructure for and civil work for increment two. And that this will give us the opportunity to move forward on developing the 151 lots. We move next to this in Honoka.

This is an area that, as chair had mentioned, was very inviting for us to pursue an acquisition. And the beautiful thing about this is the county actually has great capacity for wastewater. And so this really provides us an opportunity for us to build out in Honoka'a roughly about 296 lots. But we would start off with.

We started off with the 10 million, which included the acquisition of this as well as some preliminary studies to start moving forward on the development of this particular area.

The request for 10 million assist us in some on site infrastructure and off site infrastructure as it relates to water and wastewater development and will provide us the opportunity to put forward 70 develop 71 lots in phase one.

And just a side note, we are also having discussions with Kamehameha Schools, which owns lands right next to this for some of you who live on the island know that there's been a long standing eucalyptus build out. It's been sitting there for a while. And so we want to be able to address this.

And so we've had that discussion to look at a property that's adjacent to this where we can be able to achieve some sub ag development. So sub ag lots, which would be about half acre lots, so we can start to reduce our ag wait list for Hawaii Island. Moving further towards the east side, we have Honomu.

We had the wonderful opportunity of awarding 68 lots in East Hawaii, 16 at Honomu and then the remainder of it at Maku'u.

And it was exciting to see it because there were many families that were waiting for decades and just wanting the opportunity to not not only be able to have and receive a lot, but also be able to pass it on for the next generation. And it was an exciting time.

And so this would the phase two is to assist us in finishing off our sub ag lots. This would assist us with developing 50 lots with 18.7 requests, $1.0 million requests that we're requesting to build this out. Now what this provides for us is similar to phase one is the paving of roads.

Because the work that we've done in our planning office and working with our beneficiaries on what type of lands they would like to see in this area, it's not a full build out of the water system as well as the wastewater system. It really provides kind of that Kulean opportunity.

And because of the amount of rainfall that we have in Honomu really structures the opportunity for us to look at catchment systems individually for the different farmers.

And so we're looking at once again 50 lots providing easy access to that area as well as an opportunity for them to utilize it for domestic farming and just to be able to support their families with this. I just want to highlight as well with this the awards that we did with Honomu and Moku.

We have a standing relationship, the Department does with ctahr and this provides us access to resources and Intel of how to utilize our lands, how to take a look at the soils and what can be done there.

And so it's been really a great marriage in a sense for us to be able to have that relationship and provide opportunities for their agents to reach out to our beneficiaries. So that's been very successful. We've also built a relationship with the federal and federal, state and county agencies that really focus on food sustainability.

And this assists us in providing not only the intellectual type of resources but also financial resources. This is a small request really to build out 48 lots, roughly about 7 million. And it's one of those areas that are highly coveted. We haven't done any recent activity in this area.

And so really highlighting being able to complete some of the things that we had discussed with our beneficiaries as well as identified in our island and regional plans. This area is one of is one of those areas where we have taken a look at lots that have reverted back to the Department very large lots.

And so in order for us to assist in reducing the wait list is being able to subdivide it, make the and create smaller lots so we can be able to address more of the wait list.

And so it's a request for 1.5 million to create 10 lots in these two areas of Keaukaha and Panaewa Panaeva Ilama Road, a much larger development. And the area that we are requesting monies for is just the phase one.

And this will address the opportunity for us to be able to provide 300 lots that will impact and reduce our residential our residential list wait list for Hawaii county. With Act 279 we had allotted some money so 1.0 million towards the preliminary studies.

We've also worked with our Nahasda group to address some of the funding that they could provide to start off with some of the studies that's needed in this area. The 75 million would accomplish further planning, development and actual construction to provide these lots for full development.

We're going to jump over to the other side of the island chain. And the reason for this is because we're going in alphabetical order. So H and then K. That's the only reason.

So with Kauai we had appropriated roughly about 17.8 million for work to be done at Hanapepe phase one and, and I'm sorry, phase one, phase two, we have about 30 lots that the developer had pursued Li Tech funding and was successful in receiving that.

And so we're moving forward on the awards for the 30 lots there for litec products. So explain what LIHTC is sure for not sure if some of you guys know about LIHTC on the Low income housing tax credit. And it really is an opportunity for us to look at different types of products for our beneficiaries.

Not everybody can afford the mortgage and the build out of a turnkey development house that they have. And some just struggle, you know, just it's life struggling with credit and so on. And this provides them an opportunity to actually live in a place.

And as we spoke with some of these developers, because of the tax credits that they've been able to to provide and pursue the capital stack that they're pursuing, they're actually able to build out a house that is valued roughly at about 1.2 million. Amazing.

And they're able to live in at a very reduced rental cost for 15 years. Now at the end of 15 years, typically, as we know, real estate appreciates in the event of this, it doesn't. And they're able to purchase someplace that's almost valued at about 250,000.

And also, you know, the concern would be who is it that's living in there that I'm going to assume and buy this house for 250,000. Well, it was them.

So this allows for the developer and the management company to work with these beneficiaries in repairing their credit and providing an opportunity for their families to actually own a place that they can receive at the end of 15 years and a lease agreement for that.

So this is one of several areas that we are working with developers on lihtec. But once again we have a number of different methodologies, a number of different capital stacks that the developer as well as us as the as the Department is, are looking towards to be able to provide and meet the needs of our beneficiaries.

And I'll go further into some of the programs that we're working on with them at the end of slides of the lot development which is the purpose one and so for Hanapepe it's a request for 17 for 15.65 million and that really is the complete the remaining 52 lots in Hanapepe.

Phase two Lihue is an area where we had purchased from Grove Farm and it's a highly desired area because it's right in the center of town in Lihue itself. And we were able to purchase it as well as start to create some preliminary reports with Act 279 funds roughly about 22 million.

And so we're coming back and requesting for an additional 120 million. And this over the period of the two fiscal years will help us be able to build the off site infrastructure as well as. And the offsite infrastructure includes as I had shared with you wastewater, water, roadway improvements.

Some of the discussions that we've been having with the county is once again their capacity.

There's things that they need to improve regarding the wastewater in Kauai and so this will actually we can work hand in hand with them to be able to improve that and also look at what is it that they need for us to bring it up to standard so we can actually turn this these types of public facilities over to the county to run thereafter.

The so this is Lihue and I'm gonna. This also impacts some of the work that's being done in. In the next one in Wailua. So the county is needs an area for their R1 waters to be distributed to.

And so we've taken a look at Waialua and this 1.0 million will assist us in not only the design of redesigning some of the. What we had initially planned several a couple of decades ago and that was this area was. There's a lot a large area for.

For residential because right up the road with Lihue we have a number of residential that we're looking at roughly about 1100 I believe it is that we would with full build out this would really assist us on addressing the AG or sub AG which is about half acre lots that we could get some farming or some ag usage there and be able to address our AG wait list for Kauai.

Jumping over to Maui which is the next on the alphabetical list is an area that we had purchased from A and B. This was the last phase in Kamalani that hasn't been developed yet. It's in Kihei fairly you know it's a. It's a nicely built out area. We purchased that for about and.

And also with the monies that was appropriated we used it for acquisition as well as Some preliminary reports, some off site infrastructure, and that is 45.6 million and also doing some on site infrastructure.

For phase one, the request that we are coming in with 40 mil is to assist us on being able to develop 250 lots in this area. Staying on Maui, we're going to go up country to Keokao, Waihuli.

This we've started on different parts, different phases of this and we are now continuing on with phase two which would provide for us the opportunity to provide 46 lots and develop 46 lots to reduce our Maui residential wait list. Jumping over to the city and County of Honolulu.

This is area where our wait list is the largest and we're making a big impact here. One of it is the amount of project leases that we will be going out with for this area. I'll go into detail on what those project leases are.

And so for Act 279 we've appropriated about 140 million that is used for preliminary reports, infrastructure and also the backbone of the entire development, which requires quite a bit. And so we are coming in with a request for 68 million and this will move forward the development of 250 lots in this area.

We also have, and I'll just kind of point to it on the slide, the LDA3 which is in this area that I'm running my cursor on as well as 2a provides for further opportunity. And I'm just highlighting it that the request that we're coming in with is specifically for 2d and the areas that are in yellow.

But these other two areas will provide for what chair had mentioned our pursuit to look at reducing our wait list with multifamily opportunities. So just to kind of highlight that more for your information and not for our biennium, not for the request that we have.

Before you let me add, you know, one of the things that I think is important is that the Department has to get innovative in its different products that it generates. Typically you have a single family residential unit and that obviously is very desirable. But for example, we just broke out on the Bowler drone.

It's a two acre parcel that if we had stayed with a single family would have been maybe able to do eight homesteads. By doing a high rise, a 23 story high rise. We are able to do 72 story townhouses next to the stadium park.

We're also able to do, you know, 271 condo units and more importantly, you know, at the end of the day and we're in the process of making where it can have an option to purchase for the tenants. So we're working on that. But that particular project is innovative.

It's the first time the Department has ever done a, a high rise. And we're doing it on Oahu because as I mentioned, we only have maybe 4% of our inventory is on Oahu, but we have the largest 11,400 people on our wait list that need to be served.

Now if we were to do just single family, that as a good example would be very limited versus 278, hopefully people coming off our wait list. And you know, it's a different type of living and people argue it's inconsistent with the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act.

But at the same time, if we also acknowledge that act was passed over 100 years ago when agriculture was primary, that's not the situation today, especially on Oahu. The families are looking for a place to house their family, a safe place where the kids can have an environment that is secure and protected.

You have the elderly that also may want one bedroom condo. And then you also have, you know, a situation that we were able to raise over $145 million through various sources.

And so not only did we end up Legislature authorized 80 million in private activity bonds allocated to that project, which we anticipate again doing for some of our other projects.

But by doing that, as well as accessing Federal Funds, the 220D4, which is a funding source that kind of filled in the gap, as well as the rental housing revolving Fund that you folks hopefully will be looking at funding, especially with the support of the Governor, which is very supportive of that, we were able to do this high rise and hopefully reduce our waiting list more quickly in an area urban Honolulu, where there's a need.

I mean, it's a great location, close to the University, close to jobs, close to restaurants, close to public transportation, as well as up the street from Ala Moana center as well as Waikiki. And so we want to start to be more innovative in what we develop.

And similarly, with the LDA parcel next to the parkway, we're looking at doing mixed use as well as multi units. And again, it's a matter of reality kicking in that we just have so much land.

And so the only way we're going to really whittle down that wait list is to use more density, is to make units that are more affordable, especially for our elderly. Elderly, they don't necessarily. Or Kupuna, they don't necessarily want a 34 bedroom home. So what is the choice? Maybe a townhouse.

So even on the parcel A we're also looking at doing mixed use. We're looking at doing kupuna housing. We're looking at doing a little bit of commercial and various other things to create holistic community that has a variety of residential products for our beneficiaries.

So it's an exciting time, but it's also a pivot by the Department to provide more opportunities, I view, to our beneficiaries.

I'd like to deviate a quick one just to kind of share what's going to be happening very soon on February 1st. And it really relates to this, this particular area and it's project leases. We had issued out at some time ago. The the Department had issued out undivided leases.

And this provided an opportunity for a lease to go towards a beneficiary. And the critical part about that is that the beneficiary can be able to pass it down to a successor that actually is 25%. Little different. If you're an applicant, your successor has to be 50%.

So this really provides that opportunity for the next generation to hold on to something, to have that Pala Pala to be able to be able to be a 25 percenter and receive something for their family.

And so for this year, we actually are where we have orientations and lot selections and awards every month starting we started off in January, on January 6 at Puhona in Maui. And we're going to go all throughout December through December every month doing something issuing out roughly about 20, almost about 2300 leases.

Exciting times for the Department and of course busy but exciting. And so this.

Yeah, let me also add on this particular Kaulookahai. It involves 700 leases. So I just wanted to point out that, you know, you have a situation where we have a developer agreement with Gentry in this case where they're responsible for building all 700 units.

So with respect to the funding, the 140 million would be phase one or do 450. The second phase they would also be responsible for and they already have, you know, the designs, the models as well as anticipated costs for the units.

But more importantly, they would have, because of the way we're doing it with these paper leases, 250 people in waiting to move forward, assuming you folks or the feds are willing to give us the additional 68 million.

So transitioning into the second phase would be very, very easy versus us trying to go out and do look for another developer and piecemeal it, take it out to bid. So this is really an idea where we do all 700. We get all the beneficiaries lined up and then we kind of put them in categories as to.

And that's. Let me also add the other thing about this program and the Colima case is a product of that is where we've bypassed a lot of people on our wait list who have died. In the sad situation with the Colima, a third of the beneficiaries have already died.

So they're not going to really get the benefit personally of the award and settlement you guys entered into.

So one of the ways to eliminate that is to give them leases, a paper lease, even if their particular house is going to be built for another 34 years, at least they got a lease that they can pass on to their beneficiaries and especially if they're only 25% Hawaiian.

And the other thing is by giving the leases, it also opens up accessibility to our direct loans, which are limited to lessees.

So that also is an area that by making this change of paper leases, getting a developer to be responsible for all 700 units in this case is really a way that we, I think are moving the program along a lot quicker.

And the way the Department is looking at this, as chair mentioned that we're not bypassing. So as we award these leases, we're working with them on what is this financial capacity, what is it that what is assessment of the developers, what are they working with.

And from there they're designing what they're not only their capital stack, but how they would be developing these areas, whether it be rental with option of purchase, some of it to have the opportunity to enter into a purchase for a two bedroom or three bedroom or four bedroom.

So it'll really structure how they design the remainder of this build out. I'm going to jump over to a place that's kind of exciting. You haven't seen any homestead in Hawaii. Kai and so we purchased the. We're in the process of purchasing from Kamehameha Schools.

And this actually this subject matter had come before the house back several years ago when there was money, it's roughly about 1 million that was appropriated for the Department to look at purchasing and doing some kind of arrangement or engagement with Kamehameha Schools.

And so we're moving forward on this and really have been successful in our discussion with them. As we took a look at the assessment of what we could actually develop. We're looking at doing something a little different in what we do, but very similar to what they do.

I mean what they have in that area and all around this, with the exception of one part of the community, but towards the left, right, and in front of it there's a multi family townhomes.

And so with that we're going to do the same, provide the same type of product where we would be able to provide 80 leases, 80 units for people to be able to reside in Hawaii Kai.

Of course I tell the people who live in Hawaii Kai Technically, if you take a look at Mokuahau and Moalelo, you live in Waimanalo.

Let me also add that as is reflected in our inventory, with the majority of the lands being isolated and no infrastructure, we're in the process of trying to flip that by looking at state lands as well as county lands that can be transferred into our program.

There's a lot of lands out there that are just sitting, they're not being used, whether it's uh, or HCDA or Department of Ag or dlnr. So right now we're doing an assessment of all the state lands throughout the state and identifying properties that make sense to be transferred to our program.

And it's not just for residential, it's also pastoral, agricultural as well as income producing.

And so by flipping this, hopefully with your support, this inventory, we can start to develop more effectively in areas that are not being used or poorly being used and then also transferring certain unusable for preservation or, you know, other purposes independent and not consistent with the Hwan Om's Commission act to other agencies that really that should be their responsibility.

The Department is set up to create homesteads. It's not set up to preserve and protect the, you know, the watersheds and all that. We are.

And our focus is going to be to identify lands that make sense in our program because there's nothing in the act as well as the constitution or law that prevents the state from reassigning existing state lands to the program. So we're going to take advantage.

At least that's my interpretation of what the responsibility of the state is to make and help the Native Hawaiians. And part of the process is making accessible lands that are usable for the, for the program and they can support it. So we're excited about that.

We've identified a whole bunch of lands, probably get pushed back from some of the directors that have the lands. But you know what, that's why I'm here to push back and push for and hopefully you folks will agree that the program needs to be supported not just with money, but transfer of lands. That really makes sense.

So with our existing inventory as well as lands that we are in the process of acquiring and also looking at having these discussions that Chair had mentioned. One of the active things that we are doing is working with other agencies, whether it's agencies like DOT or also the municipalities on shared infrastructure as they're doing work.

What are some of the projects that make sense for us to kind of look together on being able to complete so they can complete what they need to do as well as assist us in being able to develop what we need on the lot developments for what's called purpose one.

This particular slide actually captures some of that that we're doing. We are working with need some engineering studies to be able to push forward on consulting work that we're doing, being able to address some of the wildfire programs that we are supporting both within our homesteading areas as well as our land management areas.

For the awards program, as you heard, we have about, we have an event that's happening every. Every month. It's not really easy to find venues for about 3,500 people to come and listen to what are. What is it that we're looking at awarding.

And so, for example, there is some monies that are required to be able to rent these spaces, such as the convention center. Thank goodness it is a state entity, so we have a little bit of discount, but not much.

And it still requires some monies to be able to put forward for that type of work as well as bringing on the necessary resources for us to be able to deliver something that is very quality for them to be able to appreciate and understand.

This is what we're offering, this is what we're doing and really get families excited. As Chair mentioned, we anticipate that our wait list number will increase because there's activity and work being done at the Department. We also have some items on here that talk about individual assistance.

And this really assists on our loan side as well as the development project financing, which allows for the developers to be able to create a revolving loan. And that as you guys know, with evolving loan, we are able to put it into an account outside of the trust.

And as they close out on the mortgages, we're able to replenish that and use that again for other projects. And we also have our scattered lots development program. Something I shared with you earlier, that we have roughly about 107 lots all throughout the state and all the different counties. And we really want that occupied.

And so this is one way for us to move forward on this. That is our purpose one, which is the request that was Placed for lot development, very high level on purpose four. This is repairs and maintenance. Fortunately and unfortunately we are still tasked in managing some areas that are in our homesteading communities.

And the reason for this, these are older aging communities that we built many years ago. And we're still. We're trying to bring this up to standard so the counties can actually receive and be able to manage what they needed to be committed to. And so we are working on improving this sewer improvements, roadway improvements, drainage improvements, etc.

This also assist speaks to our vegetation management. We are very. We had held a symposium, firewise symposium last year and that was really key for us to be able to contribute to letting the communities know as well as our beneficiaries that this is important to us.

And we want to make sure that we do our part in managing firebrush and vegetation.

And so there's a number of communities that are coming up that are becoming firewise and that's really exciting not only for the Department but also for the communities that getting the involvement of our benefit of our lessee's involved in being more mindful of how they manage not only the four corners of where they live, but also the communities that they live in.

That's the end of the for purpose one and purpose four. I know with chair as well as Deputy they have other items that. And we wanted to share as well.

Katie.

Chair mentioned in his speech earlier that one of the things about growing our program development wise is that we do need. We then do need staff in order to appropriately manage not just lot development, but really we have as Kalani ended existing homestead. So we do have.

The Department has historically we've heard from beneficiaries, we've heard from our. From the representatives who represent the beneficiaries about delays and transactions. Right. So once you become a leasee, there's a number of things that the Department needs to do administratively for you. Whether that's processing a transfer or somebody perhaps has died and you have.

And now you have a successor. And so those types of personnel needs will continue to exist or currently exist and then will grow as we grow our communities going forward. So we do have 19 authorized but currently unfunded positions. In fact, 16 of those 19 positions were identified for deletion. We were successful with convincing the Governor.

You know, it's not fair that these have been, these, these have been basically we're not able to fill them without the funding and they're going to continue to be on the chopping block every year. We're going to have to argue to keep them. And we do. It's hard for us to do anything with them. Right.

Whether that's redescribe, whether that's reclassify to. To fit our current needs going forward. But that has been a priority request for us is to restore the funding for the 19 positions and see how that can help us support. In particular, we have needs at the entry level.

So practically speaking, we have, you know, a lot of the transactional things are handled by our Homestead Services assistant assistance. And what's happening right now is that those assistants are being bogged down because they also have to do clerical type things. And that eats into the ability of them to actually do the processing. Right. So it's.

It's not just the higher level, you know, engineers and architects that we need, which we do need, but we also need even the beginning level, entry level type of employees and that we have at least, I think it's four or five of those positions that are currently authorized but unfunded. So there is a critical need.

They also represent a pipeline. So what happens at dhhl? Because we are such a unique program, people are attracted to us for our mission and they often. But they don't necessarily know much about the program. And what happens, they come in at an entry level position and then they move. Move up. Right.

They find out things about our land agents, which, you know, requires some unique knowledge of how our land management works under the Hawaiian Homes Commission act, they become homestead assistants and they, they move up within our organization, which does require some amount of knowledge. You know, you can learn that.

But it is a way to get into our program. And we have very dedicated employees. Employees after 101520 years, 30 years in fact. So I just want to advocate for the restoration of the. Of the 19 unfunded positions, they are on our table 11. We also would like to help staff our neighbor island.

So again, a lot of our neighbor. A lot of our lot development strategies does try to expand development on our neighbor islands. And currently, for example, on Maui, where we have a lot of lot development coming up in the next biennium, that district office is staffed by only two people. Currently.

We're trying to solve that by adding a second homestead Services assistant. But there's only so much that we can do with the current amount of authorized and funded positions. So we are asking for the creation of 16 additional and funded positions. I believe, for example, I brought up the Maui office. I believe in that one.

We're asking for one additional homestead assistant and one additional land agent, actually, because all of the land agents right now are housed on Oahu. So when there are issues such as environmental issues with wildfire or what's more common criminal trespassing, there's homeless issues that happen on a lot of our unencumbered properties.

Our staff on the neighbor island have to wait and confer back with our team on Oahu as to what can be done. So there's a delay and it can be a very serious safety issue. So we would like to help to address that with hopefully staffing that's dedicated to those neighbor islands.

And that's what the sisting positions represent. It's help to staff the transactional type of things that happen.

That's the whole point of having basically these district offices is to help beneficiaries who live on there with the transactional requests, but also to have a additional staff on island that can be there to immediately go down and survey for us, you know, do due diligence what is happening when we get a report that somebody has broken in, or there are campers or there are homeless issues that is causing trouble for our beneficiaries in their homestead.

So that is the. We really want to bring those up. Those are priorities for us in this biennium as we also look towards growing our program with all of the developments that are happening.

Okay. That's it.

Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you for your presentation. Members will open to questions. Okay. Representative Hussey.

I guess I'll start off by following up on your. Your last comments. Deputy, those individuals that you need to hire, would it be helpful if they had, I guess, essentially police powers?

You know, and the reason I'm thinking about that is that, you know, DHHL is, is a unique institution in Hawaii because it is, you know, it's a Native Hawaiian Trust, which enjoys a measure of federal recognition. And it's very common in federal and federally recognized tribes or tribes across the United States to have.

For those entities to have their own police forces with varying amounts of power. And I'm curious if that's something that you've contemplated at all for the homestead services that you're thinking about.

Actually, DHHL has. We didn't introduce it. It's not part of our package this session, but in the last at least two or three sessions, we actually had law enforce, or I forget what exactly it was called, but it was to ask to basically establish more positions for compliance and law enforcement. The what?

I think the way to answer that question is that I think the preference was to try to work with the Department of Law Enforcement. So my understanding is that when they were created, they were in particular supposed to help service the Hawaiian homelands. We. I don't think that we have been able to really get to there yet.

Right. So I do know that in the iterations of the Bill in the past sessions, it just didn't have as much traction. There was a lot of questions about the logistics of DHHL as a Department having its own police force and being able to manage, train what that would look like. So. But it is an issue.

There is an awareness, and we would, you know, we would be happy to continue discussing solutions and how we can perhaps work with other agencies that might be better suited for criminal enforcement working with us and having us as a priority.

Okay, thank you. And then the other two questions might be for Chair and for Kalani. You know, thinking about the 6030 lots that are in process of development through the. Through the monies that we have previously appropriated. I just wanted to highlight that I think that's a really good use of money. You know, it's.

And it shows a very intelligent and kind of synergistic way for the State of Hawaii to leverage its resources to attract private capital. Because essentially, you know, the monies that are going to be coming in are going to be from other sources for the eventual completed Developments. And you know, again, DHHL is kind of a special institution.

Right. In some ways it's like a county. It's a county distributed across all the different islands. And you are doing work which I would love for the counties to do, which is actually to put in the infrastructure so that private developers could follow on and build the houses that our people want to live in.

And I'm glad to hear chair that you're looking at mixed use developments. One of the magical powers that DHHL has is it has a theoretical ability to do its own permitting and its own planning and mixed use of elements is really what we need in order to move away from automobile dependent communities.

So I'm glad to hear that you're looking at that. What is the current status of the development of your own internal kind of permitting authority or building out that piece of your.

Yeah, we did bring on Tim Hugh. He used to be the head of DPP here on Oahu and he was I guess responsible for the third party review process that was used by the county in order to expedite processing of permits.

So he's met with all the different DPPs across the state as well as we've actually our first project in Kalailoa, New Yorktown was I believe a 20 unit homeless shelter that we're doing. So we're renovating that. We issued our own permit to move forward on it. So that's a start.

I personally, especially on the vertical construction, think it would. As long as we follow the building code, we should be able to issue it. Now with respect to the utilities and the hookups, that's a little bit different story.

We do want the different utility entities to review and approve because the idea is to have them not only take it over once it's finished, but manage it. And if there's a problem, they come in and they fix it.

So that is a little bit different and I think by necessity as well as recognition of their importance, because we got to hook up to systems that are outside of our lands that don't want to be adversely impacted by us hooking up to them. So we want to ensure that we build it per their standards as well.

As get their authorization as well as. Their participation in possible funding. So that like on Maui, excuse me, on Kauai, they got to relocate their. Sewer plant that's close to the ocean in Wailua.

So we're looking at actually relocating that one on our lands so that we can use the discharge or effluent, the R1 to irrigate our farmlands that are going to be right along the main road in Wailua and then also kind of reduce the dependence on the Lehua sewer plant.

So that will free up capacity for residential development in Lihue. So there's interplay as well as participation with the county. But getting to your specific questions. Yeah, we are looking at expediting the permitting process, our ADUs, or supplemental dwelling units. That's an area that really has been kind of an opportunity, especially when you look at the homeless.

If we, because we have very large lots, in many cases in the older communities, allow our beneficiaries, which we do by law, by our rules, to build these supplemental rental units on their lots, they can provide housing for other Native Hawaiians.

And, you know, we got a Ohana program where we want to bring their Ohana back to the homestead that they've vacated, probably because of overcrowded, poor infrastructure. You know, a bathroom can only serve so many people.

So if we can create more ADUs on our existing lands, it's also an opportunity for them to generate some income for them. Also by building it, maybe the elderly couple can move into that unit and rent out the bigger house.

So we're trying to get a lot more flexible, but, you know, that funding has been a problem, so we've set. Aside some funds for that.

We're working with the Sam Moku and the state regarding doing a pilot project here on Oahu to do some ADUs in which we can kind of alleviate the homeless situation, maybe provide some funding as an incentive, as well as use. Our NAHASA funds for rental subsidies.

So that's another program where we are looking to issue our own permits, because. I don't see why not, as long. As it's built according to the building code. We've talked to the county and a lot of DPP there understaffed, they're overworked, and, you know, they actually to a certain extent welcome us doing that.

But again, the differences on the utilities, that is a little bit different area that we have to be very careful on.

That makes sense. I have one last question, if that's okay. And for Chair Watson, you know, and for Kalani, the. There's a lot of. There's interest, I think, from a lot of state entities and developers to look at tax increment financing as a way of. Of financing projects.

And currently, obviously, the statute does not allow for DHHL to take advantage of that mechanism. I think it's reserved only for counties. But I guess my question is if the statute were amended to Allow for dhhl. Is that something that you would have any interest in utilizing tax increment districts?

Zero, definitely. We'd definitely be interested. I mean, you know, we brought on one guy, this guy, Keone Rivera, that used to work in affordable housing for. Michael's group as well as on the. Mainland, specifically to look at alternative funding.

You know, you have the Tod Station, with a certain funding that's available, has to be approved by, you know, the IRS and the Feds. So we're working with our federal legislators. To look at that. We're looking at our own ability to issue bonds. You know, under our statutes, we can't issue bonds.

We got about 80 million in capacity for issuance of these bonds. OHA has capacity to issue bonds. You know, we're looking and exploring the possibility of jointly working with them in various locations regarding housing, mixed use. They can handle the commercial. We'll take care of the residential.

HUD has a 221D4 program where 30% of the funding can be used for commercial development, unlike your LIHTC funding. So we're, you know, we're exploring other funding approaches. The private foundations, I'm starting to meet with them, the NHOs, you know, regarding applications, just a variety of different approaches.

Because we can't Fund all of this infrastructure with what's available, we need to create these, not necessarily new, but approaches that are used elsewhere successfully.

Thank you, Chair Wilson. Thank you, Chair.

Okay, thank you for the questions, followed by Kusch.

Thank you, Chair. My question is about your comment that the list, you anticipate the list to grow. How is that going to happen when the blood quantum seems to be getting diluted more and more?

There are still a lot of native wines out there, 50% and not as many pure, but there are significant numbers. I think there's like over 400 something.

Thousand only in the State of Hawaii or New Hawaii? No, no.

Off on the continent also.

So those who live outside of Hawaii can apply?

Zero, for sure, yeah.

Do they know that?

Well, they're on our list. There's a large contingency of people on the wait list that don't live here. In fact, there are more Hawaiians living on the continent than here in Hawaii.

Well, I'm just. I know that my uncle, who is one of my last relatives who would qualify, is in California. And I don't think he knows that he can apply.

Yeah, he just needs to go online. Dhhl, you can look at our website, Google it. And then the application process right on there.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, that's the other thing we're trying to digitize in the process whereby we can work with beneficiaries regarding applications as well as processes of leases. So working we brought in some consultants, we're trying to. And we actually are using Salesforce, which is used by, I think, 18 different agencies throughout the state.

The DBED as well as DCCA are very active users of that. And one of the challenges is the processing of documents as well as accessing and understanding the situation with the processing of maybe transfer of a lease and what have you. So this physical document hard copy approach is archaic.

I mean, we got to get off of that and that's what we're doing.

Thank you, Representative Kush.

Thank you, all three of you, and the rest of you for coming out this morning. It's really encouraging all of the kind of progressive ideas and really working with modern planning concepts to increase your density and look at those aspects of your planning throughout. In regards to a couple on Hawaii island.

zero, let me speak to some larger statewide issues rather regarding the land transfers, which immediately came up in my mind when you started speaking. Are they only. Are they swaps? Are they transfers? So I know like in PI'ihonua, you have a bunch of probably watershed quality land. You have some that, you know, residential lots above.

But when you look for land, do you look for swaps or are they just properties you would take in?

Well, right now we're working with commitment schools. They have some learning institutions on our lands. A lot of preschools in Nanakuli Village, they have a Kalanihu'oka Cultural learning center. They have a resource center in Maili. They're looking at doing more things on our lands.

And one of the things I don't want to do is have it encumbered and taken away from our inventory for homesteading. Granted, it's services that are needed. So actually talking with them, we've identified some of. I mean, they got over 380,000 acres throughout the state, some really choice land.

So we're looking at some of those and have actually identified some where we would do a land exchange now that requires the Department of Interior's approval. You know, we have to do appraisals. Which we've done in some other situations. We're going to do that and then move forward with it. That's been a long drawn out process.

So we've kind of not circumvented it, but we facilitated their coming onto our lands by issuing them leases with the intent to eventually do a land exchange. So we're trying to get them on the lands quickly but yet at the same time I don't want to encumber.

And you know, we charge them a fairly nominal rate and so if we can get other lands which we've identified some great locations so that you'll be hearing about in the future.

Yeah, and that's great. With a private entity. I was speaking more with state lands. Is there any kind of procedure or can the state. Is it just a one way gifting.

Or is there swapping on the state lands? We've done a variety of approaches with the hhfdc. We've purchased lands like for the Kalpeia project, we paid them a little over 8 million for. For that. It's located right next to the Kapolei High School. We've acquired lands in Leolii as well as. What do you call it?

Lei'li Laiopua Kapolei. And in some cases we've paid for the infrastructure that they put in. In other cases like in Lili above our project there, we're looking at them transferring the Kalaiola project which they're putting in. DHS is putting about 450 transitional units but they're putting all this infrastructure that is very, very expensive like our Lely.

It's going to cost us about $376,000 per lot for infrastructure. So it's horrendous. So I was actually not really seriously thinking about acquiring the Mauka lands from them because it's just too expensive.

But when this came up whereby DHS and the state was willing to put in the infrastructure and then they've also agreed after 5 years we can acquire that. Also trying to get the Kilohana project that the FEMA is putting in, they're a little bit more hesitant to that.

So if you guys can support me on that, we might be able to get that one too.

Okay, well it sounds like you got a bunch of that going. My next question was with the Lalamilo lots. You said you were working with County Hawaii on a wastewater system up there? Nymao, yes.

Okay, so they're gonna there you guys are collaborating and going to try and build a wastewater system because there's currently nothing up there for that. It's all iws. Correct. Okay, that's great. And then in the Pana Eva slide, it didn't look like Panaewa or Kilka. Where's that activity happening?

That particular one there were. So those were actually lots that are within those different communities and we're taking it back and actually dividing it up.

Yeah. You don't know her specifically because the slide look like more like Hamakua.

No, I can provide that to you.

Okay. It looked too clear, but okay, that's fine. And then adus, I know that's been really exciting on the, you know, outside of dhhl and I'm glad that you guys have your own program. Is there any thought of doing.

You talked about funding for them, but is there any kind of thoughts put towards loan programs, you know, Low interest loans to help homesteaders Fund those improvements?

Yeah, we're working with Hawaii Community Lending. So they've also been helpful in getting the construction loans for the ADUs. So the permanent takeout, that's something that we're working with. And then we're also trying to tap into some of the funding out there that's available for ADUs. I mean, we're not restricted to just our funds.

I mean, the more we can get from other, whether it be the county or the feds or wherever, we're going to go after those too. But it is kind of challenging. We do have a lot of, especially in the older homesteads where you have kupuna that need their house to be repaired, the roof is leaking or whatever.

So we do have a program at Habitat for Humanity as well as we're starting to identify local contractors in the communities because they have a vested interest in helping and the passion as well as commitment. We are working with the carpenters union and looking at doing a program where there's training.

And so in our Kalailoa development, you know, one of the hangars we're looking. To acquire, we're going to do a. Modular housing, modular manufacturing plan. So we went up actually shortly to Denver to look at one that's being is located there. And so that will create maybe 100 new jobs.

And then the headquarters site out there, we work to convert that into a school. And then working with use challenge, you know, at risk kids that come out looking for a job, one of the things they can do is go get a job. So unless we have jobs for them, it'd be a challenge.

So in addition to the modular manufacturing house, there's another parcel. We're looking at doing a raceway part. So that will also create jobs. And so and then we're expanding the residential development.

There's a site adjacent to the Gentry project that we're going to convert and expand our housing developments on that particular site on the Waianae side of Kalailoa. There's a lot of things we got Going on.

Great. Yeah, no shorts. Thank you so much for your answers. Thank you. Templo.

Hi. Thank you, Chair. Chair Watson, thank you for sharing that you have a digital list on Salesforce regarding your application process.

Do you guys have any initiatives to make it public and to I guess put it on some type of blockchain and engage the public more on the waiting list and how to get on there and more information with spreading it and whatnot?

Yeah, we just started and I got to thank Lehua with our NAHASA program on the Salesforce, our Puahona project. We're doing a lot of NAHASA loans, which is the best loans out there. And so we've incorporated the Salesforce process whereby people can actually submit in their documents as well as applications. Applications on Salesforce.

And so that by doing it, it not only reduces the work and it's less labor intensive, but more, you know, you have the documents and you can use that to approve and process the loans. So yeah, and then we're trying to expand that into our other loan products.

We're working with American Savings Bank, Billy Piper, who they also have Salesforce and they just recently got certified for 184A loan program. And so they are also sharing, you know, the concerns and whatever they have regarding the process. But you know, the Salesforce is a winner in that you can share it with the different lenders.

The Everett Dowling who's doing our Maui project, he's using Salesforce and he's actually working with us. So you got the Department, you got the lenders, you got the developers and then you got the beneficiaries, all can collectively use the Salesforce to expedite the process.

Follow up question, by chance, are you going to have it, I guess, integrated into your website so the public can view the digitized application waiting list? I know right now on the website there is a PDF file, but having it, I guess digitized online, is that something you guys are looking into?

Yes, we are. We're also looking at, you know, just processing the applications, not just a wait list, you know, actual lease, leases and you know, like I said, we gotta get into the 21st century and kind of very laxed and we can't do that. We gotta, you know, we gotta get. More.

Active in the use of all these different wonderful tools out there. We're also looking at actually using Salesforce in combination with AI. You know, when you have certain individuals and you gotta figure out, well, what loan product is best for them, why not do AI?

And we can easily incorporate all the details and specifics and requirements of the different loan products. Just tap in and insert the financial information of the applicant, and it'll tell you immediately which is the best loan product. So that kind of stuff, even on the.

Like, we're working with the Department of Health regarding documents, so even AI on that can tell you if it's a forged document or not. I mean, it's amazing what, you know, the technology out there. So the Department of Health, they are in the process of digitizing their documents.

We're working with OHA that has already digitized quite a few, even some of the documents we have. And so we're working, or going to be working in partnership with them. They have certain beneficiary trying to accomplish, but at the same time, you know, they do want to work with us and partner with us.

So I think in sharing information, as well as what they already have, they have a really good digitized inventory and record of a lot of the documents that would could be used in Salesforce.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Representative.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you guys for being here. Thank you for the early morning call and commute that morning. And I just want to really say thank you to Linda Chin and Andrew Choi, who I have worked with for many, many years. I wanted to walk back to the 19 positions.

If you could just give me a thumbnail sketch. I heard clerical positions, people within, you know, land division on the respective islands. Could you share with me that Deputy, just a thumbnail sketch of what those 19 positions are?

Sure. With respect to the 19 unfunded positions. Table 11. Table 11.

The unfunded positions. If you look about a little more than three quarters of the way down in the budgeted amount column, you'll start to see hash marks. And so that represents where we don't have the funded position. So you can use that as a gauge. It basically is the last 19 down.

And those are the positions that we currently have authorized but are unfunded. So if you take a look, you know, we have a program planner, we have an office assistant for that was, you know, the secretary three, the account Clerk three.

So those are the types of, you know, the people that really make the program go sometimes aren't the high. You know, we're the high level. But the people who really are the heart of the program are the people on the ground doing the daily tasks, the mundane tasks. And that's what these positions represent. Absolutely understand that.

Saw that on the table. I wanted you to share that because my next question is, we heard loud and clear Hawaii island has the most lands within this trust portfolio. I'm trying to understand those unfunded positions and how they're proportionally related to the land holdings on each respective island.

Has any thought been given to those unfunded positions and how they're actually directly impacting services on an island that has the largest acreage?

Do we have any idea? So if I'm not mistaken, Most of the 19 unfunded positions would be housed on Oahu. Currently, the west. The East Hawaii District office, if we're talking about Hilo, actually only has three positions, so not proportional at all. Our West Hawaii District office. So representing. And actually we.

Our offices in Waimea, we have leases down in Kona. It's quite a commute for those lessees. We've heard it. We have been trying to see. I'm not sure if it's in the budget, but we did talk about a Kona District office that's closer, but yes, not proportional at all.

So we have, I think, through four positions because it includes a groundskeeper in West Hawaii, but not proportionally. So if we did have that, we can look at shifting positions, but we just, you know, it doesn't make sense to shift an unfunded position at the moment. Right. So we're looking at what we do have.

So in the case, I had brought up Maui District. So we did basically move a position, one of the few that we had to try to make a second Homestead Services assistant, which we're recruiting for. But that's what we have to play with right now. It's with the night with less 19. We're a very small Department. Right.

We actually only have 200 generally funded positions. If you -19, that means we only have 181. We currently have filled 100. I believe at last count, we're at 145. So we actually have done a really good job in the last two years of trying to address our vacancies.

But there's only so much we can do when we have 19 of them unfunded.

No, absolutely. And thank you for helping me walk out that exercise. I think we've heard a lot from the disparities this Department about the creative financing and stacking of dollars.

But I think it's time we really take a look internally and how we structure staff in a way that's having a larger impact to the beneficiaries that we serve. Kind of open to it, but I think if we had a little bit more conversation on how to retool those 19 positions would be wonderful. I also.

I'll just put it out there because Hawaii island does have its largest land holdings. We heard a lot about residential products, but we also have the largest pastoral lands and we also have the largest mercantile leases. And as a Department, I know a lot of that lease rent helps Fund all the other positions.

And so if there was a way to really tool those positions to really start extracting these dollars in a way that helps Fund the positions, I think would be ideal, especially those mercantile leases.

I wanted to talk a little bit about the internal building permit process that you guys are embarking on and have had my own conversations with Tim Hu. And as policymakers, some of the areas that we ran into was this inspection process. There's the internal vertical structure, as you mentioned.

Right.

My challenge is the authority having jurisdiction that's given under hrs. 461 and a half 13 to the counties for this internal evaluation of a building permit.

And I'm asking because is that an area that we as policymakers might want to think about addressing specifically for Hawaiian homes so that you guys can truly exercise your sovereignty and take on the building permit application process?

Well, I think, you know, one of the things that creates a concern is that when we start to do that process, is our beneficiary going to be able to get insurance? You know, is our permit issued acceptable to insurance companies? So that's something that we're really sensitive to now.

I also recognize that, you know, insurance costs and premiums have gone through the roof. I know there's potential legislation where the state might take that on, including Issuing it and funding it. So if they do, then that'd be great. You could kill two birds on Let us issue our own permits but also provide insurance.

So we're looking at that. But the key is the safety of our beneficiaries. So that's why the building code is so important, provides guidance. And, you know, Tim is real sensitive to that as well as, you know, we don't want to build anything that's going to fall down and kill somebody.

So we definitely want to build it the right way. We want to follow the guidelines issued, but, you know, it's constantly involving for the better. I don't know. So. But I do want to keep that flexibility where we do protect our beneficiaries, but we do expedite the process, but in a way that is insurable.

Which walks me back to those 19 unfunded positions. If there's a way to look internally to help this overall ecosystem of housing for our beneficiaries. And then finally, I had a question around the infrastructure and DHHL's responsibility and stacking of dollars to help create infrastructure.

My curiosity lies when that infrastructure is completed, is it completed to county dedicable standards so that it's turned over? Is that.

Yeah, new projects are going to do that.

And then the old projects we mentioned, we're trying to upgrade, will upgrade. And will those be built to dedicable standards to then be turned over?

That's the plan. But, you know, sometimes the counties, for whatever reason, they'll maybe, you know, zero, no, you didn't do this part. And then, you know, the next week it's another, well, you miss this part. And, you know, there's an inclination to not accept it because it's more work and expense for them.

And that's why I'm glad the Legislature did pass that law that mandates they need to take it over once. But there's that escape mechanism Director I.

Know all too well. Yeah, you know about that. That escape. Yeah. And if we could think around those tools around dedicable standards and it being kind of moved over to the Department of Transportation or our county roads.

And I'm only asking this because I had a personal experience where we were trying to pave roads within Keaukaha and Paneewa and we wanted to put in speed tables, and the county came back and said the only way we can put them in is if DHHL pays for it.

And that made no sense to me because paving of county roads is funded by fuel tax. It's whoever puts gas in their Car.

And so I just want to have some clarity around that because I would hate for us to build a lot of this infrastructure and then the county come back and keep asking for more money when there's another taxing mechanism that helps repair and maintenance over time. Okay, thank you guys so much again.

So good to see Linda and Andrew back there. Chair, I yield.

Okay, further question, Representative Holt.

Thank you, Chair thank you, Director, for being here today. So, by my count, you said there's only 10,000 total leases out. So that's like in the past hundred years, only 10,000 leases. And in the last two years, you guys have plans for 6,000 additional units.

Well, that's over a period of time, you know, actually building it. We're going to issue paper leases, and then as the development moves forward, then we can have the recipients actually choose specific lots, depending on what category they're in.

You know, that's a lot of units. At the same time, is there any concern about overbuilding or not having capacity, you know, statewide to build out any of these projects?

Overbuilding? There's no problem there. There's such a tremendous demand. We're not going to be overbuilding, underbuilding. If anything, that's why we need to build more. That's why we're trying to, you know, kind of get the density up so we can build more units, especially in key areas like Oahu.

You know, we got over 11,000 on our waiting list. And, you know, people want housing and, you know, with meeting price of homes at over a million, that's not much choices.

And so when you're going through all the projects and there was another column that had additional units with additional funding, was there a total number of units that you guys have the units and the funding, Was there a total somewhere in the.

So there was only specific to the projects and the slide itself. I mean, in the presentation itself, in the testimony. I need to take a look at it. There is a table where we had address total amount of lots specific to our budget request.

Is that attachment?

Yeah, I need. I'll look for it for you.

It's. It's on there.

It's in there. Maybe just a ballpark. 20.

About 220020.

200 additional units? Yes. And about how much would that cost?

So we are requesting roughly around 620 million.

Okay, thank you. You're welcome. Representative Grandinetti.

Thank you so much for your presentation. Really exciting to see what can be done when we commit to funding. My question is about the land transfers and, and specifically wondering if you can Share a little bit more about conversations and collaborations you've had with state and county Tod programs.

Because there's so much energy and public investment around Transit Oriented Development. And it seems like we should make sure that that aligns with that pivot, with DHHL's pivot to more density, so that we can make sure that beneficiaries who are interested in that kind of living are, are benefiting from the public investments we're making in broader Tod.

Yeah, I think the one that most is reflective of that pivot as well as lands that we have is our Kalai Ola project. Excuse me, Kaulookahe project in Kapolei that most of the development we've done is on lands that we acquired. You know, there are some adjacent lands that we're looking at acquiring.

DLNR wants to give us a piece right across from the Tod station. There's some issues with the acacia indigenous plant that, you know, we're not in the business of preserving indigenous plants. So unless we can relocate it or if it's already gone, we might not take that.

But there's other lands there as well as across more either side of that that, uh, has over 300 acres. So we're looking at those lands. You know, they're not as, they're not developing that and they admit it in an aggressive way. Student population hasn't increased as they had anticipated.

So we're looking at those lands to acquire and do some good things with. I'm not at liberty to really disclose at this point, but we working with some of the li'I trusts and others to maybe make those lands a lot more productive and usable, but more importantly address the needs of our beneficiaries.

You know, one of the things that's nice about the Tod station is, is the fact that you have other activities. For example, we have the Kroc center, we have the large homesteading communities surrounding that area. Further down Makai, there's a, uh, West Oahu right there. And in accessibility you have two Tod stations right in that area.

And then, you know, it's Kamakana There's some ag activity. You know, there's just a variety of things. You got the development by private developers that is expanding. So there's a lot of synergy in that area. So we want to be a part of that.

And so the lands that are state lands, we want to Max out our inventory and take them all if we can.

How about closer to the urban core, like further down the planned line?

That's more challenging. Getting there, we were looking at the Kunia lands. That's really closer to the urban core. But Wahoo is real tough, is very expensive. So that's why we're looking at state lands. We're actually looking at county lands that are kind of scattered through different areas.

Even by Diamond Head, that the Kailua, the transfer of lands are. We've, you know, we're working with Esther and Kiana and Tommy Waters and getting some lands in Kailua so that we're doing our due diligence. So that might result in additional lands. Haikai is another area. Some trust lands with the Kamehameha schools. They're all over the place.

We. Even on the North Shore, there's lands that we're looking at grabbing. But I don't want to say too much, because then different departments will start, the red flag will go up, and, zero, here comes Kali. They got to close the door. And, you know, I don't want that.

I want to convince everybody that there's this tremendous need. You know, it's not about moving lands over. It's about addressing needs. And you got people dying on our wait list. You got people incarcerated. You got 3040% of the incarcerated are Hawaiians homeless. Majority are Hawaiians. So what do you do?

You do developments on where there's a need. And this island is a big need. So we have only so much resources.

Granted, it's challenging in development, but I think we have approach, especially on affordable housing financing that we can use to move these developments forward where a lot of the other developers can't, the private developers really can't compete with us. When we go into hhftc, they've amended the rules where we get priority.

And then we also have our own funds, and we also have our bonding capacity. We also have the ability to work with nonprofits that can access money. So we should be, and we will be, the biggest developer in the state.

I think once we get going, once we identify the lands that are not only in our inventory, but the new lands we recently acquired, as well as these new lands that I'm looking at to acquiring, we want to not only address our needs of our beneficiaries, but also the needs of construction. You know, it's.

You know, I don't know what this new Administration at the federal level is going to impart, how that's going to impact. We're worried about the tax credits and whether by reducing the IRS responsibilities of large corporations, the tax credits don't become as attractive.

So that would reduce A particular funding source for beneficiaries that are 60% AMI and below. So that's a concern. HUD, you know, their financing and funds, that's a concern. Are they going to be more restrictive? Hopefully not. Because you know, a lot of this development do benefit the wealthy in the construction area.

So I'm hopeful that that will create an incentive to, you know, there's the tax reduction that law is going to be expiring so they're going to continue the extend tax reductions on, you know, what the corporate entities are charged.

I don't know if they, if it's lost and then tax credits become more attractive or if it's increased unless. So there's all these uncertainties that we got to deal with.

But I do know that, you know, while I'm here, I'm going to try and at least at a minimum flip this inventory of lands that we have into good lands so that the next hundred years, you know, we're going to do some good stuff. That's the idea.

Thank you Representative Kitagawa.

Thank you Chair. Thank you Director and all of the HHL for being here. I just have a couple of questions. One's about process in awarding.

So when someone's on your wait list and you award them, say they deny or they don't, don't want to take the offer that you provide, do they then go back in the wait list in the number that they were at or do they go at the bottom or how does, what's the rotation? They stay in this.

So they could be potentially offered many, many times and continue to.

And that's happened.

Okay, so then each time that they don't take an offer, you go down the list, the next to the next one until somebody does take the offer.

Yeah, well, you know, this orientation that we're having on February 1st, we're inviting about 3,000 people on our waiting list because there's 700 lots that are going to be awarded. And so you know, we don't do the entire 11,400.

The first 3,4000 on the list are invited and then they have the opportunity to come to the orientation so they learn about the houses.

They also learn about the approaches, the new approaches we're using where you can do a turnkey where you got to pre qualify or you can do, if you're lower income, a Low income housing tax credit with option of purchase. Then you have that 15 year compliance period.

Then after that then you can convert to in taking out the, the outstanding balance that's owed on the loan and then getting the ownership of the vertical construction. Unlike our previous program, we're going to make it where we give them a home set up front.

Under the old program, if you died before the 15 year tax compliance period expires, you get nothing, you lose out. So that we're changing then we're very actively working with Habitat for Humanity. And then also there are people that want to build their own house.

So we'll give them a finish lot so that orientation period or presentation will inform them about all these different approaches that hopefully one of them they can fit into. And then we're also doing kupuna housing.

We have a couple sites, we're doing one next to the One Eye computer and then we're going to do one in Kalailoa, looking at several sites. So we're working with Lunalilo Homes so that would be an option.

And then we also have a transitional housing program in Maili, the Ulu Vehi, where if you can't fit any of those unit or categories but you need help and you need an affordable unit to put your family in, at least on an interim basis till you qualify for one of those categories.

We have this transitional housing project that we're renovating the ulukekukui project into 40 units so you can move into that which I also have a multi service center with Hawaii Community Assets and Catholic Charities along with Lunalulu Homes that's running our certified kitchen.

So you can live over there, get prepped and then when one of these projects open up, bang, you can move into that one. And then when you vacate, we put another person that needs that assistance. So those, you know, we're also providing rental assistance especially for the kupuna using our Nahasa Fund.

So there's all these different options that we will be explaining at our orientation. And so whatever one, you know, fits your circumstances, then go for it. We will have workshops to explain all the different categories requirements. Then also let me say that just because you get a paper lease doesn't matter, result in you automatically getting a lot.

You as the recipient have certain obligations. You got to go through the workshop. In the case of turnkey, you got to qualify for a loan. Now if you don't take the effort or make the effort to get a loan in place, you get nothing.

Because we can't, you know, give you a paper lease and you don't have any funds to take out and pay for the house. So it's. But we don't. You do have a lease. It's a Paper lease, subject to your meeting certain conditions.

Just like the Habitat is only for certain people, you know that 0% interest loans, as well as insurance coverage, you know that's for certain individuals of a certain income. And it's also dependent on your ability and willingness to provide sweat equity. If you're not, then you don't participate in that program.

So there's all these thresholds and requirements that you need to go through on your side as a beneficiary before you actually get to the point where you can choose a lot. Which the developers laid out and said, okay, our habitat are going to be over here. Our lihtack are here. You're next up.

So you can choose within that category that you're in, what house you want.

Okay, great. And then one more question. So I'm looking at your capital improvement program request on page 119 of your testimony and I see that you're requesting lump sums. So lump sum lot development was is 441 million for this first year.

I'm wondering how that breaks up because I added up all the requests in your PowerPoint which doesn't come out to the same amount. So I'm wondering what that lump sum, if you can quickly just do it. I mean, if it's a list, you can send me that or give me that Info.

But I'm wondering how these lump sums break up because it doesn't total what's in the PowerPoint.

I representative. So we had actually highlighted the areas where we felt we could move forward on. And so it's only highlighting some of what was presented in the. In our request. And so the total of what is what we had highlighted actually comes out to about 573 million in the PowerPoint.

Yeah, so it's actually 421 for fiscal year 26 and about 152 for about fiscal year 27. So it's a little different than what was submitted. It's a little less than what we are requesting in the testimony itself.

Okay, so what your priorities are are what's in the PowerPoint.

That's correct.

Okay. And that's the breakout of the lump. So even the. I see you have a lump for existing infrastructure statewide for the 50 million this first year and the 32 million that. That's separate from what's in the PowerPoint.

Correct.

And then you have a breakout of where all these infrastructure projects are. I mean, you can just give that to me. But I'm just wondering what the breakout.

Of these lump sums it was in the Event where we needed to move forward on some of those. So we didn't list the specifics in the presentation or in the testimony itself. It kept it flexible for us to be able to utilize it statewide.

Okay. But if you can give me what you have that be helpful.

Thank you for the question, Members.

Thank you. Sorry, I think this is a basic question, but I was wondering, once lessees get awarded a sub ag lot, does DHHL provide support to actually, like, start producing on that land? Like.

No. On the subsistence ag lots, you know, our rules allow up to, I believe, three acres. And so one of the things good about that one is it's a subsistence aglon with the option to or put a house on it. So you might have a residential lot somewhere else.

And then you want to grow for yourself or family as well as maybe neighbors. So you have the opportunity to put, you know, grow crops. And that's where the CTAHR is so important. The University of Hawaii will provide that technical assistance as to for that particular lot.

What is the best they might do a soil and analysis and what have you, as well as be familiar with crops in the area that have grown successfully, that you also have livestock that you might want to raise. And so they also talk about that and they'll provide you assistance.

But more importantly, you know, if it's just a subsistence, that is an option that you can put a house on. And we at our presentations have brought in contractors and we can have displayed their different products and things that they build.

So you not only get the consultation regarding growing crops as well as livestock, but you also have these options, including financing that's provided. You know, historically, unfortunately, the Department has been like, zero, hegelat and good luck. That doesn't work.

You know, it's very unfair to somebody that's never built a house or is not a farmer, but wants to grow their own. So that's why it's real important that we work with not only these different organizations, but there's nonprofits, there's other community groups, especially in the area that they can join. And so we want them to succeed.

We don't want to just have all these vacant lots. So some of the vacant lots we're actually taking back or not taken back, but we're approaching them and asking, what's the problem? Why is it vacant? You don't know how to choose a contractor to build your house.

Okay, well, here's somebody that can help you, or you don't have funds. There's funding for you. So we're not you know, it's not like the hammer approach anymore. We want to go in and find out what.

What is the challenge that you're facing that we can help you not only get over, but more importantly, get activity on that particular lot. And so that's why we've identified quite a few of the lots. Our enforcement has gone into the different communities, identifying these vacant lots. Some cases, you know, it's drug dealing, whatever.

So we come down hard on those guys and get them out. And then sometimes it's, you know, people illegally occupying our lands. Like on the Big island, we have an individual that's occupying our lands that involve thousands of acres with his cattle.

So we recently got him off, and we're moving to bring in some of the existing ranchers who will not only occupy, but assist in providing us guidance as to water development and, you know, how to be successful in the raising of cattle, because you got to know the area and so we don't know.

So that's why bringing in successful ranchers. And also we're looking to award subsistence pastoral lots, quite a few, not only in Humula, but what do you call it, South Point Kau. And we're trying to fix the water and working with the water supply.

So these different developments are designed to get the lands out of our inventory and into the hands of the beneficiaries where they belong. But we got to do it in a way that they will succeed.

So part of it is making resources available to them, but also using the local knowledge and experts in the community to help and maybe expand their, you know, homesteads. Like the Conejos, they got 100 acres each.

It's five of them, 500 acres, but we got like 67,000 acres over there that need to be issued out in homesteading. But we want to do it in a way that makes a lot of sense. But the resource development is real, especially water. That's real key with pastures. Working on that.

Okay, thank you. Further questions, Members.

Okay, we lost our. So but anyway, he has another meeting he had to go to. Actually had some questions for you. I think he's going to set up a separate meeting for you. Sure. The. I just had a couple of things. So, you know, one of the things discussions that I'm having with the counties and others.

Well, a little bit with the county, but more with the state entities at this point in time is, you know, as we been authorizing development throughout the state, there has where I'm trying to move into an area where we kind of do more master planning, where it takes into consideration not only to meet the demand of housing, but also quality of life after that.

Right. So I know that you're saying you're trying to buy better land and buy that. I mean, I think. I think you are saying that it's probably better, closer to infrastructure, different kind of services and things like that.

So it has been the practice of the counties for a while now that they have been having the developers develop water, develop sewer capacity, interior roads, things like that, even collector roads and things to be able to develop.

And what that has done for the state is it has ended up with spot zoning, where especially, you know, your discussions. I know you have plenty of projects all over the Big Island.

And I'm asking this specifically because I have large concerns about the Big island, where many of the developments are far from schools, far from medical services, social services, ambulance service, all these types of things.

So as you're building it out, are you considering it's very expensive for the state on the back end to pay for these services because they're not clustered, they're not around sewer and water infrastructure and then, you know, building out from there.

And the example I always tell people there are, we spend more on vehicles with the Department of Human Services on the Big island than anyplace else because they build. They think they're building cheap housing in the middle of nowhere, but on the back end, many times these are the people that actually need social services.

So they're driving out long distances and then hence more vehicle use. Right. And things like that. So as you're building these things out right on the back end, are you thinking about those kind of services that they will need on the back end that the state has to provide and may add to cost for the state? Right.

So is that part of your analysis? Because I never heard you mention that at all when you talked about developing out. Yeah, because it seems like you're doing what's available to you. And I appreciate that. Okay, let me finish a couple more things, points, and then you can answer the whole thing.

And I appreciate that you are looking for better lands in the urban core to address the different needs of your beneficiaries and things like that. There are powers that you have that, you know, to represent Hussey's point. You are like a county. Right. But you have those powers where you can have your own permitting, right.

Do certain things. And I understand, I understand that you at some point have to tie to utility, and so that's always an issue. But for example, you brought up the appropriation that the Legislature put in for Hawaii Kai. Right. So that was a residual parcel that was supposed to be for a bypass road.

Well, I mean, I don't know if it was that one, but there was other parts in there. A different one. Yeah, different one. Right. That was the odd piece that was on, but there was another piece. Right. A longer piece, and those were designated preservation. Right.

So you are probably the only one that can do development on preservation. Right. And then. And build, you know, urban. And so when I, when we were discussing about the purchase from Kamehameha, part of it was that. Right. We. And the reason why the Legislature put the $1.0 million was because it was unentitled land.

So we thought we should have got it for less.

So as you are doing all these things, even what you did with grow farms and what you did with A and B, are you buying entitled land from them and then paying a premium, or are you buying unentitled land and then using your powers to be able to develop on those kind of things?

Well, we've used different approaches. For example, the huay kai LA 10A that you're talking about, you guys set aside a million. That is preservation. It is unentitled, but with the conveyance to our inventory, it becomes entitled.

And so when I first looked at it and there's a purchase agreement that I kind of inherited, and, you know, it's for over $4 million. And I said, we're not paying that, guys. You know, it's overpriced. So we negotiated it down to I think, a little over 2 million. But, yeah, so you're right.

We're not going to pay a premium as well as for lands that are unentitled. So we made an adjustment and we came to resolution regarding kind of middle ground. But it is a great location. We are going to kind of do multi units.

And consistent with the area now on the Kauai purchase of approximately 300 acres, those are ag lands that are unentitled. And so we're paying about 60,000 per acre for this unentitled. And I think we turn in some affordable housing credits in order to get it.

But that's a situation where we are looking to do about 1100 units, 1000 residential and 100 subsistence anchors. Okay.

But in General, you paid for it as. Okay, very good.

So, you know, we've been working with Gross Farm and Don Horner has been excellent, real fair. And we've, we've gone through a bunch of different lands looked at, and, you know, he's saying, no, those are Entitled that cost too much.

And you know, he's been really good about showing he understands my approach where we buy unentitled lands at a reduced cost, especially ag and we get it entitled by transferring into our inventory. So. So that approach has been used. No premiums, just if anything offset by including some affordable housing credits that they need for their Lihue development.

And then, you know, I'm sorry I mixed the two together but actually I wanted you to also address the. If you consider services as you are building out.

Zero, okay, you want me to address that? Yeah, sure. And you know, on the services, again, we like Lihue. Those lands, while they're ag, they're in Lihue next to the hospital, Wilcox next to the airport, next to the government building, next to jobs, next to existing infrastructure, next to residential.

And so you're right, we look for lands that are, that come with a lot of good neighbors, so to speak. And so that definitely, you know, and I also agree with you, if you got to put in all these schools from the, from scratch, that's very expensive like our kupuna housing.

Our model is located into existing hospitals so that they can age in place. As a developer, I don't want to be putting up these care facilities that require us to put in medical clinics and all this other stuff. So our approach on that is again similar to what you're talking about.

Put it in not necessarily transportation area issue, but a care services issue that need to be addressed as people age in place. And so we've kind of, you know, used the different approaches depending on our target group that we're trying to service.

But in essence, I guess my point I'm trying to make is that I just want to be careful that you know, we in a rush to build out housing, but at the same time we're not thinking about how is this going to play out long term as far as quality of life. Right. Beneficiary.

So I mean, is that considered. I mean, is that a big. We do have a planning office and. Because it's not only like even our local developers when they come up. Right. They always plan for, okay, it's a fairly good sized development. We need to put an elementary school there.

But they don't consider how far that development is from the high school and middle school. Right. And then at some point that becomes an issue for them. Right.

Especially families that may have kids that are far apart in age that you're going to have to put one in elementary, one in middle, one in high, that may be all far apart. Right. So I just.

Without master planning to consider all those things, I think that's why we, on the back end, the state has a big problem with that, because the counties, as, you know, build schools and some of those services that I talked about all across the country in our state, the state builds it, but the county controls zoning and planning, but they don't plan for those things.

And then so it becomes a huge expense for us on the back end throughout the whole state, the adequacy of elementary schools are fine because the developers and the counties, everybody considers that when they're making these developments.

Where we lack is middle schools and high schools, because there's no development that is big enough to consider five elementary schools, a middle school and a high school to be a whole development. Right. So. And again, because the counties don't pay for it, it's never part of the planning.

So I'm just concerned that as you're doing all of this, that we consider the quality of life of the beneficiaries also.

Well, you know, I guess. What is quality of life? Well, I understand everybody wants different things, but.

And the point I was going to make is in, like, Kahiki Nui, that's way out in the boonies, and the quality of life for them is being in an isolated area that they can appreciate the environment, the fishing, the mountains, all that stuff they chose that they want, that they've told us, you know, that's the life we want.

So all we're doing is putting a little bit of infrastructure and they're doing their thing and they want that. The Kuleana approach. So there's a variety of approaches, but again, you know, we have a variety of beneficiaries.

But, you know, as I looked at some of your developments, that's why I was just kind of wondering where it is and how it's clustered, because they don't seem to be like that situation. Kahikunui's situation. Yeah, that's the exception. Right. So I'm just, as you're thinking about it and right on the back end.

Do a lot of planning. Yeah. Are you? We are. Okay. Because that is a big problem at the county level as far as how they coordinate with the state. And I would hate for our own agencies. Right. Within the state, we're not having those conversations also, we are internally about schools and all these other things. Right? Yeah.

Okay. As long as you're having it, then maybe you can fill us in. Okay. So we actually have to go head down to session. So I want to continue.

But what I would like is I was going to ask these questions, but if you can send us information historically, what's happening with Nahasda money, before when I got in the Legislature, that used to be part of the budget aspect, but it's not being put in there anymore.

So I'd like to see where the money has been spent and what's going on. We can get all of that to you. And then maybe also an update on a large infusion from the Federal Government is coming in for broadband. Right.

So maybe an update on that giving just send it to the Committee so we can see where that's going. But thank you very much and we look forward to working with you. And Members, we're going to be in recess till 2 o'clock.

We're going to be taking, just so you know, we're going to be taking them out of order. We're going to have the Department of Human Services go first and then the Attorney General go second because Senate scheduled Department of Human Services later. So we I, I'm thinking that that may be a long conversation.

So I'm going to have them go first. Thank you very much. Okay. Members, we're in.

We're going to reconvene the Committee on Finance for our informational briefings. As I announced before we recessed last time, we're going to be taking Human Services out of first. We're going to take... And then ATG will go second. Good afternoon. We thank you for being here with us today. I know that you have a now they're hearing with the Senate. That's why we're kind of putting you first to make it go. But just so you know, the Members were required to come up with 20 questions each. Yeah. So might take...

Old habits die hard, right? Okay. Aloha. Thank you. And again, I wanted to express our appreciation to Fin's Chair and Members and staff, as well as to the Attorney General's Office for allowing us to kind of go first ahead of them due to our 4:00. Chair, again, thank you.

It's my first time presenting on the budget like this as director. Nice to see you again. I remember us sitting over here and you behaving and getting promoted and me moving down the ranks. So the same thing. Right. So I appreciate it. I know we talked about how to proceed today, so I will be brief in our review so we can address questions from the Members. Again, it's an honor to be here on behalf of the department as well as the Green Administration.

So just wanted to highlight for everybody, the department provides financial assistance, medical assistance, and social services for persons who are found to need assistance. DHS administers programs through an integrated and multi-generational approach design to improve social well being, economic security, productivity of the people of the State of Hawaii to reduce incidents of intergenerational poverty and dependence upon public benefits.

Just for everyone's edification, our FY request is 4.459 billion, 1.5 billion in a funds, but that will equate to about 2.9 in federal funds. We have about 2,300 permanent employees and about 86 temp. And right now, we're carrying around 650 vacancy. Okay. I did want to go and proceed to highlight some of the staff's leadership as well.

They have their staffs here. But very quickly I have my two deputies, Deputy Joe Campos, who has been doing the Ka La'i Ola housing development and the Pu'uhonua o Nēnē shelter on Maui. Both of the two deputies during the Maui incident took it upon themselves, took leadership roles and helped respond on behalf of the department being out there many times daily to service the people of Maui.

I also have Deputy Director Trista Speer here, and she can be here to answer any questions regarding disaster case management program as well as the rental assistant program post-Maui disaster. Fortunate, I actually have Carolina Anagaran, my budget planning and management lead, Jennifer Muraoka and her team from HR, and Tricia Oftana, our auditor.

And just let you know we did ask, I did ask staffs to be here. As you know, I've been at the department nine months, and with this size of department with all its complexities, I have an overall vision. However, the people that service the department and then the people in all of our communities are the people behind me. So wanted to make sure they are here to answer any of your questions. Today we also have from Hawaii Public Housing Authority, we have Ben Park on behalf of Hakim. He was not feeling well. So Ben can answer questions regarding federal state public housing, Section 8 vouchers, and things like moving to work.

From the Office of Youth Services, I have Leanne Gillespie. Just to let you know, she does the Youth Services Centers, the Foster Youth Independent Living, Hawaii Juvenile Justice State Advisory Council, and then the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility. I also have from our Benefit, Employment, Support Services Division, Scott Morishige. And just let you know, they do the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Temporary Assistance for Other Needy Families, the SNAP Nutrition Program, employment and care programs, and general assistance, as well as some of the other aides to age, blind, and disabled.

I also have Daisy Hartsfield from Social Services Division, primarily Elladine who's in charge of child welfare is out due to medical reasons. So she wished she could be here, but we have Daisy here to address any questions that you may have regarding adult as well as child welfare issues, from adult foster care and licensing certifications through things like child welfare, missing children website, Family and Youth Services.

Also from we have from Med-QUEST, I think we have Judy here. And just let you know, Med-QUEST, they administer our Medicaid program. Okay. Also we have Division of Vocational Rehab, Lea Dias, Rusnell Pascual-Kestner. They do the statewide independent living program, the State Rehabilitation Council, and the services for the blind, who actually we service downstairs on the first floor, so we're very happy with those services. We also should have here State Office of Homelessness and Housing Solutions, John Mizuno, that could talk about the kauhales.

And again for our department, we also have the Commission on the Status of Women as part of us as well as the LGBTQ Commission and the Fatherhood Commission. So just really quickly for our Members before we go into questions, I did want to... When I used to sit on your side. Right.

And then we give you all these, as a department, we give you packets. Kind of just wanted to summarize the importance and the breadth of this department just so that you know, for example, under our benefits, our BESSD program, they service through snap as of November 24, 158,000 individuals, 83,000 households.

They typically receive recently over 7,129 applications in a month. During one month, they received over 40,000 phone calls. And due to some recent federal rules that they have over 10,000 clients that need eligibility reviews. They also do the summer electronic benefit transfer program or Summer EBT. Just as you know, First Lady Jaime Green took a leadership role with that helped us working with our department, and they serviced over 90,000 public high school students. Okay. With about $177 per child.

And just to let you know that we have been working hand in hand with first lady on things like food security as well as working on supporting our foster youth. Chair, we also been working with former chair and lieutenant governor on Preschool Open Doors Program, which help over 2,000 children ages 3 to 4 and working with them under her leadership on expanding the program.

Under Medicaid, just to let you know, there's a number of requests, but just to highlight Judy them had been working with over for 406,000 enrolled individuals. Right. So just to be aware on the scope. Vocational rehab services, which typically uses about 4.4 million, will have a result federal match in return of over $16 million. So. And then, you know, that was, that's why you'll see an increase regarding increasing the ceiling for the Randolph-Sheppard revolving account. Okay.

And then under our Social Services Division, Child Welfare, you know, under Daisy's leadership, we've been looking at a number of ideas including the differentials as well as working with Chair to look at other ways of supporting staff so we can recruit and retain members within our staff to support them.

And again, we have Office of Youth Services with their priorities. And we also have Ben Park here regarding Hawaii Public Housing Authority and all the great things that they're doing. I will stop here because I know that there was an opportunity to just share what the variety of things we do. We do a number of other things as well. But I know that it's important to address questions from your Members, Chair. So unless you want me to highlight anything, do you want me to move to Q and A?

Yeah. Why don't you go over some of the major highlights that may, and then we'll move into questions.

Highlights in regards to our budget priority...

Maybe a Table 6 ask and things like that.

Okay. So as I get that, one of the things that we've been working with with Chair as well as Vice Speaker we've been working with first lady as well as others regarding our child welfare. One of our top priorities is requesting $3 million for differentials. The Legislature did do that previously and once that was coordinated that was implemented summer of last year, we would like to continue that and to see the value of using that to help recruit valuable employees.

We are currently again working with your Chair to look at ways of retaining those that currently have employed, and we are finalizing some of that with House leadership. Other things, I'll go off of what our department budget priorities had in. We are asking for Benefit Eligibility Solution, the BES development testing program. We're asking for monies for that.

I know currently it's under the CIP, but we need that due to helping BESSD address some of the issues on the improving the computer system to better serve the people. We do have some others. I'll go over some of the I'll skip over the ceiling increases, Chair. as well as some of the transfers.

We will also let you know that we are supporting things like currently the services that were supporting the Maui fires. We have money in for that not only to continue the DCMP program but also for the build for the housing. We also, just let you know, had the funding for the addition of the auditor position that reports to the director's office that's able to be very flexible in regards to not only looking at fiscal issues but also being flexible enough to provide training and addressing current needs.

Just let you know, she has currently been assigned and directed to support Child Welfare. We also have other requests in we have an additional we're asking for $50 million a year for kauhales to build out Governor Green's plan to supporting health care through housing.