LUC Nominees: On April 22, Governor Josh Green informed the Senate that he was withdrawing the nomination of Nancy Carr Smith for a second term on the Land Use Commission. According to the LUC, she will serve through June 30.
Three weeks earlier, the governor withdrew the name of another nominee to the LUC, Kuʻuleialoha Santos. Santos, who works in construction on Kauaʻi, had been nominated to serve a term ending in June 30, 2030. She withdrew as a candidate for LUC following her appointment by Kauaʻi Mayor Derek Kawakami to the Kauaʻi County Planning Commission.
Just two of the governor’s four LUC nominations went before the Senate Committee on Water, Land, Culture, and the Arts at its hearing on April 23. Both Myles Miyasato and Melvin Kahele, nominated for second terms, won the committee’s recommendation that the full Senate consent to their appointment. Miyasato’s term will expire June 30, 2029, while Kahele’s will end June 30, 2030.
That ADC Land: For the last two years, Environment Hawaiʻi has reported on the lot the Agribusiness Development Corporation owns in the Shipman Industrial Park, near Hilo. The lot has been used for years, rent-free, as a parking lot for trucks and tanks owned by Pacific Biodiesel, whose refinery is on an adjoining parcel.
Now, though, it seems the ADC may have identified a use for it: as a site for frozen and cold-storage of agricultural products. The agency’s executive director, Wendy Gady, stated at an April ADC board meeting that this project was one of several that had been confirmed by the U.S. Department of Agricultural Rural Development agency as eligible for federal grant support. The range of estimated cost runs from $1,187,500 on the low side ($950,000 in grant funding, $237,500 to be provided by the state) to $2,333,333 on the high side (federal share $1,750,000; state share $583,333).
Gady stated that grants would not be made until later in the federal fiscal year, ending September 30. ADC board members asked whether the state share would be available, since the current proposed 2026-27 budget does not include anything for this or any of the other federal grants ADC is seeking. Gady suggested that if the grants were awarded, the ADC would seek additional funding from the state.
Rudo Sentencing Delayed Again: Alan Rudo pleaded guilty in July 2022 to federal charges stemming from fraudulent acts while Rudo worked in the Hawai`i County Office of Housing and Community Development. Almost four years later, and after the trial and conviction of three men who conspired with him to cheat the county, Rudo still awaits sentencing.
Most recently, his sentencing, scheduled for April 23, was postponed until May 28. A sentencing statement and presentence investigation from the U.S. Attorney in early April prompted Rudo’s attorney, Gary G. Singh, to seek the delay, granted by Judge Jill A. Otake.
Singh alleges that presentencing report “has multiple additions and deletions from the draft PSR,” which, he adds, “appear to arise from information adduced at the co-defendants’ trial,” which occurred last spring. Those changes increase the offense levels, and thus also the sentence guidelines for Rudo’s offenses from a range of 135 to 168 months to a range of 168 to 210 months, he told the court, adding: “In the Offense Level Computation section, the Final PSR increased the value from $5,161,345.30 in the Draft to $11,048,000.00.”