Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 12, Number 11, 1 November 1995 — Legislation to compensate DHHL for misuse of home lands [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Legislation to compensate DHHL for misuse of home lands

by Patrick Johnston In 1921, the United States government passed the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, setting aside approximately 200,000 acres to be used by native Hawaiians for homesteading. Ten years later it took back by executive

action — īn violation of its own law — about 1,400 acres of that land. Most of the land the government took back is located in Lualualei Valley on 0'ahu's Leeward coast and is being used as a

naval magazine and a radio transmitting facility. While the federal government had clearly bypassed its own legislation, it has since done little to right the wrong. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands pursued the matter after statehood and eventually was allowed to sue the federal government on the issue. However, by the time case reached the courts, the statute of limitations had run out and DHHL was told they had no standing. But legislation authored by Sen. Daniel Akaka might be able turn the tables for Hawaiians on the issue. The Hawaiian Home Lands Recovery Act - tagged on as an amendment to the Alaskan Native Bill H.R. 420 - aims to compensate DHHL for federal misuse of Hawaiian home lands. It has been passed by the House and Senate and now awaits the

president's signature. (Ed. note. The bill will likely have been signed by late October.) The bill would authorize an appraisal of the misappropriated home lands and determine how mueh ineome was lost during the period the land was under federal control. When the appraisal is completed, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands would have the right to acquire federal lands in Hawai'i equal in value to the lands taken by the federal government. DHHL could also be compensated in land for the value of ineome lost. "The federal government wrongfully took Lualualei and other land without compensation," Sen. Daniel Akaka said in a statement. "Through this legislation the beneficiaries of these lands will be justly compensated. The value of the land and lost ineome will exceed $75 million." The catch for DHHL is that the agency ean only acquire land that the federal government does not need. This rules out Lualualei, whieh the Navy still uses, and other important military sites. Akaka aide Esther Kiaaina says that it was neeessary to include this language to make the legislation palatable to Congress and allay military concerns that it would lose key locations to DHHL. "The bill establishes the authority" to begin negotiations Kiaaina says. adding that it is now up to DHHL to determine with the federal government what kind of land is available for use by DHHL. Officials at DHHL say they are now working to identify possible lands and that the success of the legislation will be

determined largely by what kind of land federal agencies are willing to give up. They say that a problem with the bill could be that a lot of federal lands in

Hawai'i, such as the national parks, are excluded in the bill. If there isn't enough land available, or if the value of the land returned is not equal to the value established in the appraisal, then alternatives -

such as rewriting the law or looking at other federal lands - would have to be considered.

Sen. ūaniel Akaka

Homestead land in Moloka'i: The federal government owes the trust millions. Photo by Patrick Johnston