State Senate confirms Tamamoto for HCDA board

The state Senate confirmed local business executive Brian Tama­moto for continued service on the board of the Hawaii Community Development Authority. With a 20-5 vote Tuesday, senators approved the nominee of Gov. Neil Abercrombie to the position guiding the state agency regulating development in Kaka­ako. Tama­moto’s term runs to June 30, 2015.

Tamamoto has been an HCDA director since December as an interim appointment by Abercrombie to fill a seat reserved for a small-business representative. Tama­moto, executive VP of a subsidiary of major Hawaii development firm Koba­ya­shi Group, attracted flak from two senators over whether his employer met the definition of a small business, which HCDA defines as a business independently owned and not dominant in its field of operations.