Jobie Masagatani will step down as director of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands when the legislative session ends in May. Gov. David Ige has not announced who will replace her.

Ige, who won re-election in November, announced in January he was reappointing both Masagatani as director and William Aila as deputy director of DHHL. However, Masagatani struggled to gain the Senate votes needed to approve her confirmation, and her name was not submitted to the Senate for confirmation hearings by Friday’s deadline.

Aila is scheduled to appear Tuesday before the Senate Hawaiian Affairs Committee for a hearing on his nomination before there is a final vote by the full Senate.

Masagatani has been director of DHHL and chairwoman of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, which oversees the department, since May 2012, when she was first appointed by former Gov. Neil Abercrombie. Even if appointed to the post during Ige’s second term, by law she would have had to step down in May 2020 because of an eight-year limit on serving in the position.

“In consideration of this time frame, we are using the remainder of her appointment to effectively transition the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands toward new leadership and a chair who is able to serve the full duration of my second term,” Ige said in a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Earlier this month Ford Fuchigami, Ige’s administrative director, said Masagatani was having a tough time obtaining the needed majority of votes in the Senate.

DHHL oversees a land trust of more than 200,000 acres throughout the state that is reserved for Native Hawaiians who have at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood and is tasked with administering homestead leases. More than 20,000 beneficiaries are awaiting residential leases.

Masagatani was criticized by lawmakers in the past for not producing any new housing in fiscal year 2017 and closing out that year with $30 million in unspent federal housing funds.

Masagatani countered that the agency put its federal housing funds to good use paying for homeowner financing and infrastructure for homestead communities.