Conflicting versions have emerged of why one of the most powerful positions in the House of Representatives suddenly changed hands this week.

But regardless of how Rep. Chris Todd came to replace Rep. Kyle Yamashita as chair of the Finance Committee, the repercussions were immediate. Todd said Wednesday he wants to relax the iron grip the committee has traditionally held on almost all legislation, which has created a procedural bottleneck that kills significant bills every year.

Not long after the legislative session ended Friday, some mid-level House leaders approached House Speaker Nadine Nakamura with grievances. Their complaints centered on Yamashita.

According to some legislators, who spoke on condition of anonymity, those complaints mostly focused on communication failures at a pivot point in the session, and the issue snowballed into an uprising of sorts that led to Yamashita’s ouster.

But a Yamashita ally claimed the leadership change was actually a power play by the largest political faction in the House, which includes both Todd and House Majority Leader Sean Quinlan.

That legislator, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Quinlan faction capitalized on routine post-session grumbling over bills that failed to pass and used it to remove Yamashita. Quinlan denies this.

The House Finance Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee control all state appropriations, including the overall state budget that now totals about $20 billion a year.

Todd, 37, of Hilo, said Wednesday that the only bills that should require Finance Committee approval are those that affect state finances. That would be a simplification of the lawmaking process in the House that would shift power from the Finance Committee to other House committees.

“We are not looking to have the Finance Committee be the end-all, be-all decision-maker on all matters,” Todd said. House leadership is planning changes “in a way where we’re not dictating policy matters to subject matter chairs,” he said.

Such a change wouldn’t necessarily have any effect on how the Senate Ways and Means Committee operates, however.

Delays In Critical Voting

Yamashita, 65, is a seasoned lawmaker who took control of the Finance Committee in 2023. He had years of experience overseeing the state construction budget for the House.

A number of lawmakers declined to speak publicly about his ouster for fear of aggravating divisions in the House, but others said some House committee chairs were unhappy that important bills died late in the session and blamed Yamashita.

Under the current procedures, bills with fiscal implications must receive clearance from the House Finance and Senate Ways and Means committees. That must happen before bills can be approved by House-Senate conference committees and positioned for final floor votes.

In practice, almost every bill must pass through that bottleneck. Committee chairs wait in the final days of the session for “release” from the Finance and Ways and Means Committees, also known as the money committees.

By that point in the session lawmakers have invested long hours into hearings, amendments and negotiating the details of bills with their Senate counterparts. But the measures cannot advance without the approval of the money committees, and sometimes that approval never arrives.

Yamashita’s first year as Finance chair was marred by an embarrassing “cattle call” on the last day of House-Senate conference committee meetings as lawmakers scrambled to obtain approval for bills from the money committee chairs. A number of high-profile bills failed in the chaos.

This year many bills died again, including one housing measure that was part of the House majority package — a bill that should have been a priority for the ruling Democrats.

Some of the committee chairs complained to Nakamura, blaming Yamashita for the problems. Nakamura also asked committee chairs their opinion of Yamashita over the last two weeks, they said.

Some spoke highly of Yamashita and said they had a good working relationship with him. Others reported having difficulties communicating with him, saying he did not return calls and texts in the middle of the conference committee period when they needed him to sign off on measures.

He was slow in granting release from the Finance Committee even when the subject matter chairs in the House and Senate had agreement on the policy language on bills early in the week. That backed up committee schedules during an already busy time of session, lawmakers said.

There were rumblings among staff and lawmakers that the committees were heading for yet another confusing last-minute rush, but that didn’t happen.

Nakamura did not respond to requests for comment, but said in a written statement that “we sincerely thank Rep. Kyle Yamashita for his dedicated and trusted public service as Chair of the House Committee on Finance. We value his experience and contributions to the Legislature and are confident that he will continue to serve his Upcountry Maui community with the same thoughtfulness and commitment.”

“The House has decided to move in a new direction and appreciates Rep. Chris Todd’s readiness to lead the Committee on Finance,” she wrote.

Seizing Power?

Yamashita did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday, but his ally said Yamashita did nothing that would justify his removal.

That lawmaker pointed out there were a half-dozen new committee chairs in the House this year who were not accustomed to the process. There were some “hangups,” but the problems were not as serious as some suggest, the lawmaker said.

“In the end if you look at the record, everything that needed to pass, passed,” the lawmaker said. “Not everything that people wanted to pass passed, because they ran out of money toward the end.”

“I see it as opportunity for the Sean Quinlan faction to consolidate their power,” capitalizing on the unhappiness some lawmakers feel each year when their favorite bills fail to pass, the lawmaker said.

Quinlan and Todd both said that is not the case.

“I would like to think that virtually everyone who has worked with me or knows me knows that I’m not really the type to seek these kinds of things out,” Todd said. “I’m going to do my best with the responsibility that’s given, and try to be as collaborative as possible.”

Quinlan added: “There is not a perception among the House members that this was a power grab. The reason why Chris was selected to be Finance chair was in large part that the members felt comfortable with him, that there is a level of trust that’s built up over time in the building.”

Quinlan said the position is one of the most difficult jobs in the Legislature, and praised Yamashita for working long hours and leaving the state in good shape to weather the storm of federal budget cuts that seem to be on the horizon.

“Sometimes change is needed, and that’s really it,” Quinlan said. “There’s not a particular incident or anything. The House decided to move in a different direction.”

Several insiders said Vice Speaker Linda Ichiyama, a friend and close political ally of Yamashita, had resigned from the House leadership.

However, Quinlan said Ichiyama remains the vice speaker, “and we would love for her to continue in that role.”

Ichiyama did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Civil Beat’s reporting on the Hawaiʻi State Legislature is supported in part by the Donald and Astrid Monson Education Fund.