Hawaii County Council LAAC Meeting - August 4, 2026
Committee on Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions Meeting - August 4, 2026
The Committee on Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions (LAAC) met on August 4, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 9:03 a.m. in the Kona Chambers. Chair Heather L. Kimball presided. Present were Councilmembers Kagiwada, Hustace, Kānealiʻi-Kleinfelder, and Villegas. Councilmembers Inaba, Kierkiewicz, and Galimba were absent. The sole agenda items were Communications 904 and 904.1, concerning a Permitted Interaction Group (PIG) for the Waiwai Grants. No public testimony was offered.
Discussion Items
- Comm. 904: Requested formation of a Permitted Interaction Group to evaluate and review the 2026-2027 Waiwai Grants application process, discuss code amendments, and develop recommendations for the 2027-2028 process and scoring rubric. A motion to close the file on Comm. 904 had been previously made.
- Comm. 904.1: Transmitted a report from the ad hoc committee’s findings and recommendations. No separate action was taken on this communication.
Key Outcomes
- The committee voted to close file on Comm. 904. The vote was 6 ayes (Kimball, Kagiwada, Hustace, Kānealiʻi-Kleinfelder, and Villegas) and 0 nays, with three members absent (Inaba, Kierkiewicz, Galimba).
- Chair Kimball thanked Councilmembers Kagiwada, Inaba, and Galimba for their support of the ad hoc program, and Jessica Valdez in Chair Inaba’s office for her work on improving the process.
- The meeting adjourned at 9:03 a.m.
Meeting Transcript
Aloha. There we go. Great. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the 28th session on the Committee of Legis on Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions. We are located today in the Kona Chambers. It is August 4th at 9 a.m. We have with us Councilmember Kagiwada, Councilmember Houston, Councilmember Connie Lee Kleinfelder, Councilmember Viegas. I am Councilmember Kimball and our fellow colleagues will be joining us shortly. Um with that, Mr. Clerk, do we have any testimony this morning? We do not uh Chair Campbell. So I if you don't mind, I shall just proceed to reading communication 904 and 904.1. Please do. Alrighty. Communication 904 request formation of a permitted interaction group regarding the bye-bye grants from legislative approvals and acquisitions, Chair Heather L. Kimball, dated April 3rd, 2026. The permitted interaction group would evaluate and review the 2026-2027 application process, discuss any code amendments, and provide recommendations for improvements to the 2027-2028 application process, develop a scoring rubric for the 2027-2028 application process and make recommendations on the six-month process report and review process. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. All right. As mentioned, there is already a motion on the floor to close file in communication 904. Um you do have the report from the ad hoc in communication 904.1. If there are any questions on the report, um there should be a motion to postpone to the next committee meeting. If there are no questions, we can move forward with the vote on closing file. So I will leave it to the body to see if there are any questions or comments on the process. All right, seeing none, I want to thank Councilmember Kagiwada, Councilmember Inaba, and Councilmember Galumbo for their continued support of the ad hoc program, and of course, Jessica Valdez in Chair Inaba's office, who has been doing so much legwork on helping us improve the overall by process. With that, we will take the vote. All those in favor of closing file and communication 904, please say aye. Any opposed? Mr. Clerk, you have uh six ayes. Council members Inaba Kirkowitz and Galimba absent. With that, and no further business on our agenda. The time is now 9.03 and we are adjourned.
openpublica.com