Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 8, Number 7, 1 Iulai 1991 — Keep Hawaiian justice in Hawaiian hands! [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Keep Hawaiian justice in Hawaiian hands!

by Louis Hao Trustee, Moloka'i & Lana'i

Aloha mai, I have eome to a realization that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) should begin to incorporate its own legal services of Hawaiian lawyers, to | address "Hawaiian Native Rights" and

"Hawaiian issues." A battery of attorneys paid for by OHA and loyal to OHA and its intended purposes, such as bettering the conditions of Native Hawaiians and Hawaiians alike. The addition of a legal division (a judicial branch) will supplement the existing administrative services (executive branch) and the trustees' responsibilities (legislative branch) by offering full-time legal work for OHA as our agency, and to address the legal needs of the Hawaiian people on a full-time basis. Currently, OHA is contracting legal services through the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation (NHLC), a team of lawyers, to reviewand address certain land issues and related Hawaiian problems. This will cost OHA about $700,000 for the coming biennium. The office also contracts a number of legal services to address trustee concerns and administrative issues that impact the Hawaiian community. There are other attorneys hired by OHA to address the federal issues, particularly congressional legislation and ceded land. At the same time OHA may choose to use the services of the state attorney general's office to represent OHA where appropriate. But this approach has often created a conflict, because the attorney general is basically loyal to the State of Hawai'i and the governor of this state. That may or may not be in the best interest of the Hawaiian people. And this is our priorify, the Hawaiian people eome first. This is of major importance to this trustee, because the legal system is where our rights as Native Hawaiian and Hawaiians will be addressed and decided. Therefore we need to "pool" our

resources and hire our own lawyers, loyal to the Hawaiian cause. I have prepared a brief summary of legal services, in terms of budgets *and staffing requirements in the respective counties and the attorney general's office. The following is for your review: County of Maui: Corporation Counsel Prosecuting Attomey Totals Budget: $1.9 mil. $2.9 mil. $4.8 mil. Attorneys: 8 26 34 Staff: 8 41 49 County of Hawai'i: Corporation Counsel Prosecuting AttorneyTotals Budget: $1.3 mil. $3.2 mil. $4.5 mii. Attorneys: 8 22 30 Staff: 11 43 54 County of Kaua'i: Corporation Counsel Prosecuting AttorneyTotals Budget: $426,000 $476,000 $902,000 Attorneys: 6 5 11 Staff: 4 7 11 City and County of Honolulu: Corporation Counsel Prosecuting AttorneyTotals Budget: $6 $14 $20 Attorneys: 40 110 150 Staff: 40 140 180 State of Hawai'i: Attorney General Judiciary Totals Budget: $25 mil. ($ unavailable) $25 Attorneys: 140 ($ unavailable) 140 Staff: 160 ($ unavailable) 160 OVERALL TOTALS STATE & COUNTIES: Budget: $55.3 mil. Attorneys: 365 Staff: 454 As you ean see from the above, the counties and the state of Hawai'i are equipped with a battery of attorneys with sufficient staffing to address their needs. If the Office of Hawaiian Affairs expects to compete in the same arena, we must focus on legal services or we will be forever in the "minor league." To keep Hawaiian justice in Hawaiian hands, OHA needs to direct appropriate funding for this addition, and to acquire the services of dedicated legal professionals, specifically for our Hawaiian people. Mahalo.