Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 2, 1 Pepeluali 1993 — Network gets homesteaders involved [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Network gets homesteaders involved

by Jeff Clark One of the most painful losses of the Overthrow was Hawaiian lands from Hawaiian hands. The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act was enacted in 1921 by the federal govemment as a "rehabilitation" program to return Hawaiians to their 'āina. Laek of funds for program administration and infrastructure development, the transfer of acreage for use by nonHawaiians, and the leasing of water found on homestead lands are some the monumental obstacles faced by the program in its more than 70 years. Only about 3,800 Hawaiian families have settled on land; they have settled about one-fifth of the land set aside for them since 1921. There are approximately 14,000 applicants on the waiting list. To die waiting for a homestead is so eommon it has become a eliehe and is the topic of a Hōkū award-winning song. Approximately 2,100 other Hawaiians have been granted homesteads but cannot settle there because basic infrastruc-ture-roads, water, electricity-is laekine.

In response to these problems, a group of beneficiaries has formed the Hawaiian Home Lands Action Network (HHLAN), a nonprofit corporation dedicated to finding ways of speeding up Hawaiians' settlement on their homelands. HHLAN was formed by homesteaders and other individuals who lobbied during the 1992 legislative session to get more funding for the

Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL). According to HHLAN chair Ka'imo Muhlestein, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. (NHLC) suggested they get together to discuss the '92 session and future homelands concerns. Objectives, goals and priorities were developed, and the group has been

m e e t i n g m o n t h 1 y since May. The netw o r k received a $1,500 grant for education from the loeal ehapter of the People' s

Fund. Mary Minehew is vice chair, Nancy Walsh is secretary and Deborah Cohen is treasurer. The HHLAN's articles of incorporation state that its purpose is "to protect, preserve, and promote the rights of indigenous Hawaiians to the lands to whieh they are entitled. ..." The HHLAN's goals are to present breach of trust claims to the newly-created homestead claims review panel and to monitor their resolution, to protect water rights pursuant to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, to increase funding for DHHL and the Hawaiian Homes Commission (HHC), to enhanee the accountability of DHHL and HHC, and to promote greater self-governance for beneficiaries. Muhlestein said the action

network was designed to work with the department for the benefit of the beneficiaries. Communication still needs to be established, however. "We invited them to eome and participate with us in our monthly meetings," Muhlestein says. DHHL spokesman Ken Toguchi said the department did not receive invi-

■ tations and so has not attended. Lately the network has been busy preparing for the legislative session. It has drafted a bill, whieh

Muhlestein calls a "self-determi-nation bill," patterned after similar legislation enacted in Indian country. If passed, it will direct the department to give preferenee to Hawaiian companies in issuing contracts for services, such as construction and planning, provided to homelands beneficiaries. It will also give beneficiaries more input into the decision-making process. "There are Hawaiian businesses capable of providing the services. It provides opportunity for native Hawaiians to take more control of their needs. ... to take control of their lives," Muhlestein said. "This is one active step toward sovereignty." HHLAN will also support two upcoming DHHL bills. One would authorize the department to establish up to 40 permanent

staff positions, and the other proposes a state law that would lift real property taxes on Hawaiian homesteads. Maui and Hawai'i counties have already exempted Hawaiian homesteaders from paying this tax, but Kaua'i County and the City and County of Honolulu have yet to do so.

The network also seeks to educate legislators. HHLAN member Elmer Ka'ai said at the Jan. 9 network meeting that the majority of Hawai'i's legislators are unfamiliar with the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act. The group decided it must identify those legislators who understand the act and educate the rest. Reps.Virginia Isbell, Peter Apo and Annelle Amaral were said to be the most knowledgeable. Muhlestein said of the legislators, "They say they want to help, but ... I guess the network

has to prove itself. We're going to have to do some real hard pushing over there." The next meeting of the HHLAN is March 6. Call Muhlestein at 455-8472 or Wayne Akana at 521-2302 for the time and plaee. A meeting of the network's legislative eommittee is set for noon Feb. 1 at the NHLC. Beneficiaries and others willing to join this effort are urged to attend. "We're looking for people who will work, who will eome down to the hearings and support it," Muhlestein said. "If the people actually want land, they're going to have to work for it. Right now we're a very small group of people but with this Centennial that just happened, I think more people will get pumped up to get involved in the issues."