The state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) received a transformational infusion of funding in 2022, when Act 279 — the “Waitlist Reduction Act” — became law, appropriating a historic $600 million to the chronically underfunded department. With a waitlist of 28,700-plus and a shamefully slow track record of providing homesteads to its beneficiaries, who are at least 50% Hawaiian, DHHL desperately needed the money.

Fast forward to the present. DHHL has spent or encumbered most but not all of the $600 million, and its director, Kali Watson, has a plan to spend $600 million more — if the Legislature will allocate it. House Bill 606 would add those millions of dollars to the Waitlist Reduction Act fund, and extend the deadline for encumbering that money by two years, until June 30, 2028.

Watson’s energy is commendable. However, as taxpayers will hear again and again as budgets are debated, grave uncertainties over federal funding, the global economy and even the costs imposed by global warming’s effects require that legislators carefully evaluate spending and limit obligations to be prepared for a range of possibilities.

Given this reality, the Legislature would do better to support DHHL efforts in a more measured way, allocating only funds that can be shown necessary to preserve project momentum through 2026. That “as needed” approach allows the state to maintain capacity to address the unknowns Hawaii may experience through 2028, and beyond.

Gov. Josh Green would seem to agree. Asked about his position on HB 606, his office responded, “Act 125 (2024) extended the lapse date of funds appropriated in Act 279 (2022). This provided DHHL $129 million in funds through fiscal year 2026 for lot development.” In other words: DHHL hadn’t encumbered all of the $600 million by the end of fiscal year 2024, and retaining $129 million gives DHHL something to work with.

The governor’s budget message, issued Dec. 16, also states, “We are working closely with DHHL to ensure that homestead lands are provided … more expeditiously,” praising the historic $600 million allocated and the department’s “aggressive strategy” to deliver “more than 7,500 homes and lots” over an upcoming five years. That indicates that Green is supportive of DHHL’s hard-charging approach — within fiscal limits.

Today, more than 29,000 Hawaiians languish on DHHL’s ever-lengthening waitlist, with more new applicants qualifying than homesteads provided.

Watson reports that all of Act 279’s $600 million has now been attached to housing projects that DHHL is “actively developing.” Additional monies would fund work on a “Phase 2,” more than doubling the homesteads created — not only on agricultural lands, but also in urban and suburban communities, and including low-income rental units and condominium homes. Testimony in support of HB 606 supports this approach.

One testifier commented that, as a Hawaiian, he “had his differences” with DHHL in the past, calling it “the Department of Hawaiian homeless” — but he supported Watson’s strategy, having seen young families receive homesteads far sooner than expected, beneficiaries given the option to live “in town” rather than a remote location, and beneficiaries struggling financially offered affordable options.

Supporting DHHL and reducing the homelands waitlist must remain a state priority because it is a legal and moral mandate, but one that has too often been shunted aside. Last year, the state began paying out $328 million in damages to Hawaiians misserved by DHHL’s failure to use due diligence in granting homesteads to waitlisters between 1959 and 1998. Shamefully, beneficiaries first sought relief in 1999.

Whether funding is project-based or a single mass infusion, “they all work,” Watson testified on Wednesday, pledging to continue maximizing all available resources. Now legislators must choose a path that safeguards the state’s fiscal stability, and also lets DHHL keep pushing forward.