A second Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee who supervises her daughter has been looking for a new position for her to comply with Hawaii’s new anti-nepotism law that applies to all state employees except the state Legislature and Judiciary.
OHA Trustee Luana Alapa, who was elected in 2020 to represent Molokai, supervises her daughter, who works as an aide, which
violates the spirit of the
anti-nepotism law that the Legislature passed during the past legislative session, while exempting state
legislators.
Alapa did not respond
to multiple requests for comment. But she plans
to comply with the new
anti-nepotism law by finding her daughter a new position, according to people within OHA.
OHA Trustee Brickwood Galuteria, who also supervises his daughter, became the first state employee to request an exemption to the anti-nepotism law before the Hawaii State Ethics Commission, which was denied on July 20.
The commission, however, granted Galuteria a three-month extension to find his daughter a new position or a new supervisor to comply with the new law. The law represents a broader effort to clean up political fundraising and provide other ethics transparency following the guilty pleas of disgraced former state Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English and then-sitting House Rep. Ty J.K. Cullen on bribery and corruption charges as the 2022 legislative session got under way.
Asked about Galuteria and Alapa, OHA Trustee
Keli‘i Akina said that, “what I’m aware of is that both of those trustees are taking steps with the Ethics Commission in order to comply and resolve the situation. That’s an important step and I’ll be standing by, along with my colleagues, to see what happens. I believe that one of the intentions of the new law is to bring uniformity to ethics practices across the various branches and agencies of government.
“While it would not be appropriate to rush to judgment,” Akina said, “we should expect a high standard of ethics from our public leaders. That sometimes means the appearance of impropriety should be avoided as much as impropriety itself.”
Robert D. Harris, the Ethics Commission’s executive director and general counsel, said Wednesday that he did not immediately know whether Alapa, like Galuteria, had applied for an anti-
nepotism exemption for her daughter.
Harris said he could not comment on whether the commission had received complaints about Alapa over her daughter’s hiring and whether the commission was investigating because it cannot disclose whether any investigations are under way.
Asked whether OHA trustees and staff had been officially notified of the new anti-nepotism law, Interim CEO Colin Kippen said in a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Wednesday that, “OHA trustees have been informed of the newly adopted law related to nepotism. OHA is not able to further discuss personnel matters.”
At its July 19 meeting, the state Ethics Commission voted to give state employees until Sept. 11 to find new roles or supervisors for family members.
The law was designed to allow for exemptions in rural communities with employee shortages, such as health clinics on neighbor
islands, which can apply for an exemption.
Violations can vary depending on whether the commission finds that a violation for hiring or supervising a family member occurred once or every day.
Administrative fines cannot exceed $1,000 for each violation.
Other potential penalties include reprimands, probation, demotion, suspension and firing.
