Maui County is about to put a full-time investigator on contractor fraud tied to the Lahaina rebuild. The County Council last week unanimously advanced a bill that adds a seventh investigator to the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, and a second and final vote is scheduled for Nov. 13 (via Honolulu Civil Beat).
Mayor Richard Bissen asked Council Chair Alice Lee to introduce the measure after the prosecutor's office saw reports of post-fire contractor fraud climb. Maui Now reports the bill, Bill 147, passed first reading 8-0, with Vice Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura excused.
The position is an Investigator III job paying $5,107 to $7,278 a month, or roughly $61,000 to $87,000 a year, according to Maui Now. The bill doesn't add money to the prosecutor's budget. Prosecutor Andrew Martin said savings elsewhere will cover the salary, and an Oct. 15 letter from Budget Director Lesley Milner said the job carries no immediate cost. Milner wrote that the need "arises from the unforeseen scope and complexity of investigating potential contractor fraud."
Martin told the council these cases are slow and paper-heavy. Staff first have to work out whether a complaint is civil or criminal, then wade through financial records gathered by subpoena and search warrant. "These investigations are incredibly time-consuming," he said. "I need to be able to assign an investigator to this full time."
His office already has a deputy prosecutor and an investigator spending most of their time on the cases. A newly hired deputy prosecutor, a former assistant U.S. attorney with complex white-collar experience, starts Nov. 6 and will also be assigned full-time.
The prosecutor's office started referring contractor-fraud tips to the Maui Police Department in May 2025, then opened its own investigation to move faster.
Bissen said the crime used to go underreported because victims were embarrassed or didn't know where to turn.
The push follows a September investigation by Civil Beat and Inside Climate News. Reporters found dozens of fire survivors had reported serious trouble with rebuild contractors: crews that stopped showing up, contractors who couldn't account for large payments, and work so poor it had to be redone. Police reports they reviewed showed losses from about $20,000 to more than $500,000. Some of the contractors weren't licensed by the state.
That report also found the state's Regulated Industries Complaints Office had logged 12 post-fire complaints against contractors, with no fines, license revocations or injunctions announced. Hawaii prosecutors have to show a builder took money for a job they never meant to finish; otherwise the dispute stays in civil court.
The August 2023 fire destroyed more than 2,200 structures and displaced nearly 13,000 residents, and about 580 homes had been rebuilt as of mid-August, according to the investigation.
On the council floor, Lahaina member Tamara Paltin said she knows survivors who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars. One contractor who later took people's money without delivering had even presented to a council committee, she said. "It's through no fault of their own, because you expect people to honor their word, even if it's not written down," she said.
South Maui member Tom Cook, a general contractor, told Martin, "I think you need 10 investigators." He added that the extra scrutiny would "raise the profession up to a higher level." Cook also raised the state's Contractors Recovery Fund, which pays homeowners only a capped amount per contract. Martin said that if the cap "can be increased, it should," and said his office has brought the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs into its work.
Why it matters for Contractors
For licensed shops working in West Maui, more enforcement is good news. Every operator who walks off with a deposit makes the next homeowner slower to sign, a point Cook, who builds for a living, made himself.
The practical side is paperwork. Because investigators start by sorting civil disputes from crimes, the documents on a job will carry a lot of weight if a project goes sideways. Hawaii law already requires licensed contractors doing home construction or improvements to explain lien rights and the homeowner's bonding option before contracting, and to give the owner a written contract signed by both sides before work begins. A clear draw schedule tied to completed work, receipts for materials and written change orders are what separate a contractor who hit real delays from one who took the money.
Note, too, that the recovery fund only covers homeowners who hired a licensed contractor whose license was active when the contract was signed. That's a selling point for licensed builders, and a reason to keep your license current if you're bidding rebuild work.