Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 12, Number 3, 1 Malaki 1995 — Hawaiian home lands beneficiaries file claims [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiian home lands beneficiaries file claims

by Jeff Clark In 1971 an employee of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) told Palmroy Bush over the phone that he couldn't apply for a homestead because he was single. The law doesn't stipulate marriage, but Bush didn't know that. Every homestead awardee he knew was married, so he didn't think to challenge the clerk. Bush, now 56 and a messenger for the state, went back to DHHL in 1993 and found out he had been steered wrong 20 years before. He applied and took a plaee on the waiting list, but felt eheated. "I might've been next in line" for a homestead lot, he realized. "Right now I'm up in the thousands." In order to help people like Bush, the Legislature established the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust Individual Claims Review Panel. The panel listens to people who believe they have suffered actual damages or losses at the hands of a DHHL employee between 1959 and 1988

(claimants may sue in court for alleged breaches occurring after 1988). Composed of Hawaiians appointed by former Gov. John Waihe'e, the panel reviews the claims, and when it finds a elaim to be valid, may eall on the state Legislature to do something about it. Turns out Bush isn't alone. Joseph Ching, 61, raised on

homestead land at Papakōlea, says he was refused an award because he owned property. Other would-be homesteaders were told they couldn't apply for a homestead because they

were elderly or they made too mueh money. Here are more examples: • "I tried to apply for a homestead but the DHHL clerk wouldn't let me because she said I didn't look Hawaiian." • "I applied with DHHL in 1962, but they have no record of my applieation." • "I applied with DHHL in 1978, but others who applied after me have already gotten homesteads." • "I feel DHHL forced me to exchange my homestead award for another lot that I really didn't want. I was afraid that if I said no, they would take away my homestead." In Bush's case, the nanel validated his elaim

after it found that in the early 1970s DHHL had an "oral policy" under whieh clerks told potential applicants they were ineligible if unmarried. His elaim and others the panel found to be valid are the subject of a bill being heard by the

Legislature this session. The bill asks the Legislature to affirm the panel's decision. If the bill passes, that means the state officially aeknowledges a wrong. In a few cases the panel recommended corrective aeīion along with its deci-

sion; īn most the panel is taking up damages and corrections separately and will make recommendations in new legislation next year. Bush would like to be moved up on the waiting list to where he would have been had

DHHL let him apply in 1971, and he wouldn't object to being reimbursed for the rent he paid all those years - a sum of about $35,500. "It would be great if they paid me for my back rent, because I could use it for the down payment" when it's time to finance a house on homestead land. "If they don't have anything at Waimānalo," said Bush, clearly intent on getting a lot, "I ' 11 take a plaee on the leeward side." Ben Henderson, DHHL executive assistant, said he could not comment on individual cases, but he did confirm that before 1972 the Hawaiian Home Lands Commission prioritized awards on a variety of criteria, including lottery, financial ability (including the prohibition

against owning property), need, family size, and blood quantum. The prohibition against owning property was removed in 1981, he added. Melody MacKenzie, the Hawaiian Claims Office's executive director, warns that the

deadline to lile a elaim is Aug. 31, and urges potential claimants to eontact her office. "We've received hundreds of claims, but we think there should be thousands more," MacKenzie said. The office has received 430

claims; the panel has so far investigated 115 and ruled on 25. (While claimants don't need to have an attorney, they ean hire one if they want. If they can't afford one, they ean use the panel's legal assistance program, through whieh many of the claimants are represented by Native Hawaiian Legal Corp.'s Melissa Seu.) Contact the office by calling 586-2826; the fax number is 586-2896; the toll-free number is 1-800-481-0800. Or write Hawaiian Claims Office, 828 Fort Street Mall, Suite 600, P.O. Box 541, Honolulu, HI 96809. Bush said, "People should file a elaim before the deadline, even if they think nothing will eome of it."

You ean file a elaim with the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust Individual Claims Review Panel for a variety of reasons, including if you feel you've been on the home lands waiting list for an unreasonably long time. The panel commissioned a study on whether DHHL could have developed more homesteads and put more Hawaiians on lots if it had better managed the resources of the trust. The panel is still reviewing the results of that study, whieh concluded that hundreds of additionai homesteads could have been developed. There is still time to make a elaim. Call 586-2826 (toll-free, 1-800-481-0800).

The deadline to file a elaim with the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust lndividual Claims Review Panel is Aug. 31. Call 5862826 for more information.

Palmroy Bush, who was told by a DHHL employee that he couldn't apply for a homestead because he was unmarried, is pushing a elaim against the state with the help of the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust lndividual Claims Review Panel. Phoio byJeffClark

Melody MacKenzie