Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 36, Number 5, 1 May 2019 — Restructuring OHA's governance model [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Restructuring OHA's governance model

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loha Kākou, In January 2019 I spoke about the

work ahead for the Office of

Hawaiian Affair's strategic plan. While that has been an ongoing project, your Trustees have taken on another monumental task of taking a hard look at the Office of Hawaiian Affair's governance model, stmcture and implementation. On January 24, 2019 the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to fomi a Permitted Interaction Group to

take on this very task. The Permitted Interaction Group was to consist of myself as chair, Chairperson Tmstee Machado, Trustee Waihe'e, Tmstee Robert Lindsey, all our respective staff, Ka Pounui Sylvia Hussey as

project manager, Ka Pou Hana Kamana'opono Crabbe, administration staff, corp eouneil, and staff from research. We were given an aggressive timeline of 4 weeks to complete our work. This was to consist of analyzing our current by-laws, policies.

procedures, advocacy platforms, and the last 5 years of Board of Trustee action iterns. We also had a mo'okuauhau of all current policies drawn up, so we have a history and understanding of how these were developed over time. A study of how the other Ali'i Trusts govern themselves, other native groups and governments both on the continent and abroad, with an international context, were looked at. After many hours of research and meetings here are the outcomes of this group's efforts. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is restmcturing it governance starting from the top down. These 5 elements were adopted by the Board of Trustees whieh will carry us forward to the next phases of the transition into

new governance; 1 . Identity : Ho'oulu Lāhui Aloha, a State Agency with the

responsibility to manage a Trust, that identifies and operates more similarly to Ali'i Trusts with a lāhui rnindset 2. Values and Mana: Acknowledging the surrounding intangible yet invaluable roles of this in governance 3. Statutory Basis: OHA was established under the Hawai'i Constitution, article XII, section 5, with powers described in article

XII, section 6, HRS chapter 10 provides that OHA is meant to address the needs of the Native Hawaiian People. 4. Policies: There will be 3 distinct levels of policies. L-Lāhui Policies /

T-Trustee Policies / C-CEO policies. 5. Supporting documents and Practices: BOT Executive Policy Manual, Operations Manual, standard operating procedures, guidelines, operating manual, and eonsistent practices. The development of Lāhui policies is

a new concept for OHA and at the time of this printing the work of that Permitted Interactive Group will have been completed and the next Group working on updating and revamping the by-laws will be half way thm their work. Other Groups will follow in suit to address Tmstee Level Policies, CEO Level Policies, supporting docurnents and an implementation Permitted Interaction Group to oversee the seamless transition over the newly drafted documents and that no holes are missed. This is an exciting time at OHA. Between a new governance model, whieh will be more efficient, transparent, and with more accountability, and the coinciding work on the strategic plan there is mueh for beneficiaries to look forward to in the coming year. ■

Brendon Kaleiaina Lee VicB Chair, TrustEE, At-larga

0HA's new proposed governance model. ■ lllustrotion: Courtesy