STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3638

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    GOV. MSG. NO. 434

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Energy and Environment, to which was referred Governor's Message No. 434, submitting for study and consideration the nomination of: 

 

Director for the Office of Environmental Quality Control

 

G.M. No. 434

KATHERINE PUANA KEALOHA,

for a term to expire 6-30-2011,

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     Your Committee reviewed the personal statement and resume submitted by the nominee, and finds Katherine Puana Kealoha to have the necessary qualifications to be nominated as the Director for the Office of Environmental Quality Control.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of the nomination of Ms. Kealoha from the Director of Health, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, one Hawaii State Representative, Carmelite Monastery, and seventy-eight private citizens.

 

     Your Committee finds that Ms. Kealoha holds a Juris Doctorate from the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii at Manoa; and a Master's of Science in Criminal Justice Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Chaminade University of Honolulu.

 

     In the 1991-1992 legislative session, Ms. Kealoha served as a program budget analyst with the Senate Committee on Ways and Means in the Legislature.  In this capacity she evaluated the operating budgets for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the University of Hawaii Community College System, and the Waikīkī Aquarium.  Her duties included analyzing state budget trends and exploring alternative funding methods for each of the departmental program areas.

 

     Your Committee finds that Ms. Kealoha's professional experience includes more than twelve years of litigation experience as an attorney practicing in the areas of environmental, family, real estate, business, criminal, and civil law.

 

     From 1995 through 2001, she was a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney at the City and County of Honolulu's Prosecutor's Office.  During her tenure, with the support of such agencies as the Department of Land and Natural Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and the Department of Agriculture, and various environmental groups throughout the State, Ms. Kealoha was able to initiate the Office's first environmental crimes unit.

 

     Between 2001 and 2006, Ms. Kealoha was the primary supervising attorney in her private practice, The Law Office of Katherine Puana Kealoha & Associates.

 

     In 2006, Ms. Kealoha rejoined the Honolulu City and County Prosecutor's Office, and is currently a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in the Career Criminal Division.

 

     Since 1996, Ms. Kealoha has also served as an adjunct professor at Chaminade University's Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice Administration.

 

     Ms. Kealoha has also been the President of the Kahala Community Association, a board member of the Star of the Sea Elementary School, and a member of Alpha Phi Sigma, National Criminal Justice Honor Society.  She is also an American Jurisprudence & Corpus Juris Secundum National Award Recipient.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee, after full consideration of the background, experience, and qualifications of the nominee, has found the nominee to be qualified for the position to which nominated and recommends that the Senate advise and consent to the nomination.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy and Environment,

 

 

 

____________________________

RON MENOR, Chair