The Audible Audit

Governor Josh Green launched the kauhale initiative in 2023 to rapidly expand deeply affordable housing for people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness.  Through emergency proclamations, the Governor suspended procurement and other requirements that ordinarily govern State public works projects.  Those proclamations allowed the State to move faster, but they did not suspend accountability for...

In 2021, the Legislature transferred the Farm to School Program from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Education (DOE), created a Farm to School Coordinator position, and set a clear target: By January 1, 2025, 10 percent of the total cost of school meals was to come from locally sourced products. By 2030, that number is required to reach 30 percent. DOE had three school years to...

Audit of the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation In 2019, the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) told the Legislature that it needed help to ensure that vessel owners cover costs the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) was incurring to salvage grounded vessels, testifying that, since 2002, more than $2.2 million had been expe...

An AI generated and office reviewed report summary. Report No. 25-07  Audit of the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority   In 2020 , as it entered its third decade, the Hawai‘i Tourism concluded that it needed a change.  Its continuous drive to increase visitor numbers had taken a toll on Hawai‘i’s people and their natural environment. What was needed was a “re-balancing” of priorities, and for that reason, “...

An AI generated and office reviewed report summary. In January 2016, Governor David Ige announced in his State of the State speech that he was working to cool 1,000 classrooms by the end of the year.  That May, the Hawai‘i Legislature approved $100 million in general funds to cool 1,000 public school classrooms by the end of that calendar year.  The department’s plan would later be referred to as...