One ‘Ohana Fund reaches $175M in offers

Gov. Josh Green announced Thursday that the One ‘Ohana Fund has offered the full $175 million available through the compensation program to families of those who died and people who suffered serious physical injuries in
the Aug. 8, 2023, Maui wildfires.

The fund, formally known as the Maui
Wildfires Compensation Program, has made offers on 162 eligible claims
as of Aug. 4, including
102 death claims and
60 serious physical injury claims. More than
$155.7 million has already been distributed.

“That never covers their tragedy, but we hope that it helps people rebuild some of their life,” Green told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Green said that
compensation has been offered to the families of all 102 people who died in the wildfires, with 101 accepting the $1.5 million death benefit provided through the program — one victim had been experiencing homelessness, and the family declined the payment, so the state plans to make a donation in that person’s honor to support homeless housing on Maui.

Payments for serious physical injuries vary based on the severity of the injuries and can total up to
$1.5 million.

The compensation program is separate from the $4.037 billion global Maui wildfire settlement, which remains in litigation. Eligible claimants may receive additional compensation through that settlement, although payments from the One ‘Ohana Fund may be offset against compensation for the same losses.

Green said attorney fees for participating families were capped at less than 1%, compared with the typical 30% to 40% contingency fees in wrongful death cases.

An April court order directed One ‘Ohana Fund Administrator Keith Hunter to withhold no more than 1% of each award for potential attorney fees, allowing payments to be distributed while the court finalized the fee issue. Green said that meant a family receiving the program’s $1.5 million death benefit would pay about $15,000 in legal fees instead of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The program has operated in two phases. During Phase One, more than
$38.7 million was distributed through 30 claims, including 23 death claims and seven serious injury claims. All Phase One payments have been completed.

In Phase Two, the program received 226 claims, with 132 determined to be eligible for compensation, including 79 death claims and 53 serious physical injury claims. All eligible death claims have been paid, with more than $117 million distributed. The remaining eligible injury claimants have been offered a combined $17.8 million and are working through final agreements and healthcare lien requirements before payments are issued. The deadline to
accept an injury offer is
Aug. 15.

The One ‘Ohana Fund was created in November 2023 through $175 million in contributions from Hawaiian Electric Co., the State of Hawaii, Kamehameha Schools, Maui County, Charter/
Spectrum, Hawaiian Telcom and West Maui Land Co.

Green said contributors including Hawaiian Electric and Kamehameha Schools initially debated whether to contribute to the fund before the outcome of litigation was known, but he pushed for immediate financial assistance for affected families despite those
concerns.

According to Green, that early cooperation helped build trust among the parties and later made it easier to negotiate the much larger global settlement.

He also pointed to other steps the state took to reduce financial burdens on survivors, including eliminating certain Medicaid and hospital liens through executive orders, persuading
insurers not to seek reimbursement from One ‘Ohana Fund payments through subrogation claims, protecting wildfire survivors from predatory land purchases, and providing housing assistance regardless of immigration status when federal aid was unavailable.

Green said Maui’s recovery remained his administration’s top priority for more than a year, even as the state continued pursuing other initiatives, including tax cuts, housing projects and the climate impact fee. He said Hawaii was able to fund recovery efforts without
tapping its rainy day fund because the economy remained strong and rebuilding efforts helped fuel
economic activity after
tourism rebounded.

“It became a whole
additional government,
really,” Green said, describing the scale of the recovery
effort.