Lawmakers passed a measure this week that will give $50 million in grants to nonprofits that have been impacted by federal cuts.
The bill allows the Office of Community Services to contract with Aloha United Way to help manage the distribution process.
Two senators and two representatives chosen by the Senate president and House speaker will be the evaluation and selection committee to decide which nonprofit applicants get awards.
Although Rep. Della Au Belatti supported the bill's intent, she raised concerns about transparency because the bill exempts the committee from having meetings open to the public.
“My reservations stem from the fact that this conference draft bill creates a committee of four to decide who gets $50 million of precious state resources,” she said.
“This committee structure came out of a conference draft. It was not before any of the prior committees, so I was very surprised when it came out. This is constitutionally deficient. Article III, Section 12 of our state constitution says, 'Every meeting of a committee in either house or of a committee composed of a member or members from both houses held for the purpose of making decisions on matters referred to the committee shall be open to the public.'"
Au Belatti explained that this could be fixed during a special legislative session. Lawmakers have been asked to block off dates in August, September and November to reconvene to address federal funding impacts.
When asked if the process would be transparent after lawmakers voted on the measure, House Speaker Nadine Nakamura said, “There will be a process... We wanted to work very closely with the Aloha United Way to find out how we can best get those funds to the community that needs it the most, and to really deal with the social safety net."
Separately, the House of Representatives is being sued by residents for not holding meetings open to the public when it amended its operational rules earlier this year through its Advisory Committee on Rules and Procedures.
The Hawaiʻi Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations applauded lawmakers for passing the measure.
“To our knowledge, Hawai‘i stands as the first and only state to take such extraordinary legislative action to shore up nonprofit funding in direct response to the impacts of the new federal administration,” said HANO President Melissa Miyashiro in a written statement. “This commitment is a powerful testament to the remarkable and irreplaceable work that nonprofits perform across Hawai‘i.”
The measure will next go to Gov. Josh Green for his signature.
