DHHL Director Kali Watson will not seek reappointment after four-year term ends

Department of Hawaiian Home Lands director and chairperson of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, Kali Watson announces he will not seek reappointment following four-year term. “Kali Watson came back to public service to get more Native Hawaiian families onto their homelands. He brought urgency to a waitlist that has spanned generations and pushed homestead projects forward across the state,” said Gov. Josh Green. Watson previously led the department from 1995 to 1998 where he coordinated the development of more than 3,100 residential lots on Hawaiian Home Lands, as well as legislative funding and approval of the $600 million settlement between the state and DHHL. The latter included the transfer of some 16,518 acres of state land, which made the DHHL trust whole. Under the federal Hawaiian Home Lands Recovery Act of 1995, Watson was instrumental in the transfer of more than 900 acres of federal lands into the trust.

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