Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 6, 1 June 1993 — The Legislature's impact on Hawaiians [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Legislature's impact on Hawaiians

by Abraham Aiona Trustee, Maui As a member of OHA's legislative lobbying team, I eame away quite satisfied with legislation that passed. It will profoundly impact Hawaiians now and in the immediate future. OHA'a team, led by Trustee A. Frenchy DeSoto, and including Kīna'u Boyd Kamali'i, was able to effectively work with the legislators, their staff, and others directly involved in the hearings and meetings, even with those who were not in sup-

port of our introduced bills. As one of the House staffers remarked to me after the last Senate-House conference hearing, "You folks showed a lot of patience and class." I thought it was a noteworthy compliment to us and

our organization. It was a tough task and took a lot of time, effort, and scheduling during the time constraints that are always present during the session. Fortunately we were able to eontinue our regular business and board meetings. Of the 4,086 bills introduced, OHA sponsored 12 senate and 1 1 house bills. We offered testimony 140 times on 74 different bills, all affecting or impacting Hawaiians in one way or anoth-

er. OHA supported 62 bills with 13 passing. Certain bills were held over and may reappear in the next years legislative session. A brief synopsis of significant legislation includes: 1. HB 2006, now Act 35, whieh authorizes the issuance of General Obligation Bonds for payment of $136 million to pay revenues owed by the state to OHA plus 10% interest for the period of June 16, 1980, to June 30, 1991. Outstanding issues will be resolved

in the next phase of negotiations. A memorandum of agreement between OHA and the state was unanimously approved by the Board of Trustees at its meeting on April 28.

2. HB. 2015, HD 2, SD2, CD1, relates to the island of Kaho'olawe and establishes a Kaho'olawe island reserve. Among other statutory provisions it provides criteria for eventual transfer of Kaho'olawe from the state to a future Hawaiian nation. 3. SB 1027, SD 2, HD 2, establishing a seven-member salary commission appointed by the governor and recommendation

for the salary of the members of OHA's Board of Trustees and provides salary ranges. Salaries will be commensurate with mem-

bers of the s t a t e Legislature and their allowances as authorized by law.

4. SB 1028, SD2, HD2, CD1, relates to Hawaiian sovereignty and was one of our high-priority initiatives. This compromise bill will facilitate efforts by native Hawaiians to be "governed by an indigenous nation of their own choosing." This was an important pieee of legislation for all Hawaiians and will "ensure an open and democratic process." Although it differs from our initial proposal, it is a tremendous step forward in the creation of our sovereign nation. There were times during the last week of the session, especially during the conference committee meetings, when all other Hawaiian groups with their own agenda lobbied to "defer" this all-important bill. However, the leadership of the conference committee under Tom Okamura and Senator Anthony Chang provided the necessary impetus and language. We thank them and their conference colleagues for working towards this aeeomplishment. We also thank the leaders of both houses, Speaker

of the House Joseph Souki, Senate president James Aki, and the legislators for their passage of this bill and others of equal

importance during the recently completed session. We were especially proud to serve our people during this ses-

sion and deliver as mueh as we could. To our staff who worked so diligently with us, even working

on weekends and late into the night, we say, "Mahalo nui loa kākou." And to C h a i r m a n Clayton Hee, we say, "Ma-

halo for your leadership and mana'o during this very important legislative session." Me ke aloha pumehana.

Of the 4, 086 bills introduced, OHA sponsored 12 senate anel 11 house bills. We offered testimony140 times on 74 different bills, all affecting or impacting Hawaiians in one way or another.