Council won’t pay for HART employees’ lawyers

Rail authority employees who have been subpoenaed as part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation into Honolulu’s train project will each have to hire their own lawyer if they think they need one, according to Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation Executive Director Andrew Robbins.

HART officials have said “a handful” of employees received subpoenas in July in connection with the federal investigation, but have declined to identify those employees, citing privacy concerns.

The city corporation counsel last month asked the Honolulu City Council for permission to hire the San Francisco law firm Rosen Bien Galvan &Grunfeld LLP to represent current and former HART employees who received subpoenas, and Robbins said at the time those people are entitled to legal representation by the city.

But the Council’s Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee dead­locked in a 4-4 vote on Aug. 21 on a resolution that would have authorized spending up to $300,000 to hire the firm to represent current and former rail employees who were summoned for interviews in connection with the federal probe.

In an interview earlier this month, Robbins said that city lawyers are still available “for whatever help they can provide, but we certainly encouraged employees to reach out to private attorneys if they felt that they should.”

HART has various funding sources of its own, but Robbins said it is “doubtful” that federal funds or revenue from the half- percent state excise surcharge on Oahu or the state hotel room taxes that lawmakers earmarked to pay for rail can be used to hire outside lawyers.

The city also issued tax-exempt general obligation bonds to provide additional funding for rail, but Robbins said he does not believe that money can be used to pay for outside lawyers for employees either.

“I think it’s fair to say the employees were disappointed,” Robbins said.

Looking ahead, Robbins said HART will consider whether it should request money for outside lawyers when it submits its budget request for the fiscal year that begins July 1. HART is in the early stages of assembling that budget, he said.

“We’ll think through whether we want to budget for potential legal counsel,” he said. “Any use of city funds will have to be approved by the City Council.”

HART in February was served with three federal grand jury subpoenas seeking tens of thousands of records, but it is still unclear what the focus of the federal inquiry might be.