COURTESY PHOTO
Naomi Kuwaye
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Gov. David Ige has nominated local attorney Naomi Kuwaye to fill an upcoming vacancy on the three-
member state Public Utilities Commission.
Ige submitted Kuwaye’s nomination to the state Senate on Thursday for consideration and potential confirmation.
Kuwaye is an attorney at Ashford &Wriston LLP who has experience representing clients in utility company mergers and other matters before the PUC. According to the law firm, Kuwaye specializes in environmental and natural resource law, land use, real estate development, telecommunications law, public utilities and administrative law.
Before joining Ashford &Wriston, Kuwaye’s career
included serving as an intern and legislative aide for then-Honolulu Council member Donna Mercado Kim and being a lawyer in private practice.
If confirmed, Kuwaye would serve a six-year term and fill a PUC seat held by Jay Griffin, who is chair and plans to leave the commission when his term expires June 30.
Griffin, who became a commissioner in 2017, had served as chief of policy and research at the PUC from 2012 to 2016.
The other commissioners are Jennifer Potter, whose term runs to June 30, 2024, and Leo R. Asuncion Jr., whose term runs to June 30, 2026.
