Former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa was appointed to the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation Board of Directors by Mayor Kirk Caldwell on Monday.

Hanabusa will replace Carrie Okinaga, a former city attorney who recently took a job with the University of Hawaii. Okinaga was once the chairwoman of the HART board.

Former Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa will help oversee Honolulu’s over-budget rail project.

PF Bentley/Civil Beat

The Hanabusa appointment to the volunteer board comes shortly after the Legislature voted to extend a 0.5 percent General Excise Tax surcharge for rail by five years to bail out the cash-strapped project.

Officials have said the project faces a shortfall of up to $910 million.

Hanabusa is a labor attorney, who most recently began took on the Hawaii State Teachers Association as a client. She ran for U.S. Senate in 2014 losing in a tight race to U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz.

The 10-member HART board is tasked with overseeing the $6 billion rail project, which will run from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center.