New Acting Lt. Gov. Chosen in Hawaii As Luke Takes Leave Of Absence

Sylvia Luke, the embattled lieutenant governor of Hawaiʻi, said Thursday she will take an indefinite leave of absence without pay.

“This decision is not made lightly,” she said in a press release. “Serving the people of Hawai‘i has been the honor of my professional life, and I remain deeply committed to the responsibilities entrusted to me.”

She added, “I understand that allegations which have been made against me are concerning. I ask for the public’s understanding and to allow this process to move forward appropriately.”

The announcement came just hours after Luke met with Gov. Josh Green at the State Capitol.

On Wednesday, Luke’s attorney confirmed the Hawaiʻi attorney general’s Special Investigations and Prosecution Division considers Luke a target in an investigation of $35,000 given to an influential state lawmaker in 2022.

Thursday’s press release said Luke would not give any interviews.

In a written statement, Green said he asked Luke to take leave “until the investigation is resolved, so government can remain focused on serving the people of Hawaii.”

Later Thursday, the governor designated Keith Regan, comptroller of the Department of Accounting and General Services, to serve as acting lieutenant governor.

“Regan will assume the constitutional duties of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor during this period, while continuing to serve as comptroller and support the administration’s work to ensure continuity of government operations,” according to a press release from the administration. “This designation is consistent with state law governing the continuity of duties within the Office of the Lieutenant Governor.”

Regan previously worked at the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority and in Maui County. He was Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa’s managing director in charge of overseeing county departments during the time the largest bribery scandal in the state unfolded. Regan was not implicated in the case, a federal investigation that involved wastewater company owner Milton Choy making payments and providing other illicit gifts to officials in the county’s Department of Environmental Services.

Choy later became an informant for federal investigators, leading them to state lawmakers he had bribed, including Ty Cullen and J. Kalani English. The state investigation into Luke and others is an offshoot of the federal criminal case brought against Cullen.

Luke will retain her security detail for the time being because she is still the lieutenant governor, according to David Patterson, spokesperson for the Department of Law Enforcement.

She met with the governor Thursday morning, leaving his office around 9 a.m. She did not speak to reporters about the meeting.

Luke announced last weekend that she was abandoning her reelection bid.

“I’m saddened to hear about the news regarding the lieutenant governor,” said House Speaker Nadine Nakamura. “We respect her decision to take a leave of absence while the investigation continues.”

Concern About Momentum For Luke’s Key Initiative

Luke had been working on a number of initiatives as lieutenant governor, including her signature Ready Keiki program which sets out an ambitious plan to provide preschool access to all 3- and 4-year-olds by 2032. In 2022, she successfully led lawmakers in making a historic $200 million investment to build preschools across the state.

Since then, lawmakers have set aside an additional $120 million to renovate and build more preschool classrooms on public school campuses. But the future of the program is now unclear.

Some advocates are concerned that the push for universal preschool could lose momentum as Luke steps away from office, said Malia Tsuchiya, early childhood policy and advocacy coordinator at Hawaiʻi Children’s Action Network. Luke was a key advocate for early learning, she said, and made significant progress on an issue that lawmakers had debated for decades.

But Tsuchiya said she’s hopeful lawmakers will continue to support early learning programs, since the state already faces a legislative mandate to provide universal access to preschool in the next six years.

“We hope that this was truly something that our legislators valued internally and were not just on board because it was popular,” she said.

The School Facilities Authority, which is tasked with building public preschools, will continue to construct new classrooms regardless of what happens to Luke, said executive director Riki Fujitani. But it’s unclear how much lawmakers will continue to invest in the initiative, he said.

Since 2023, the authority has renovated and constructed 81 preschool classrooms and plans on opening another 26 classrooms this summer. The authority recently requested $31 million in state funding for the construction of more preschools, although the current version of the budget only sets aside $4.9 million.

Civil Beat reporter Megan Tagami contributed to this story.

This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.