Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 4, 1 April 1996 — Hearings on sale of ceded lands this month [ARTICLE]

Hearings on sale of ceded lands this month

The ceded lands trust is made up of over 1.7 million acres of land spread across the state. Originally held by the Hawaiian Kingdom, it represents approximately 90 percent of land held by the state and generates around $75 million of proprietary ineome (ineome from fees, leases etc.) every year. OHA receives 20 percent - approximately $15 million a year - although OHA has ongoing disputes wiih the state about this entitlement. Since 1994, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and members of the Hawaiian community have been urging a moratorium on the sale of ceded lands until the state resolves claims by Hawaiians for the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. OHA's position is this: the state cannot sell, transfer or otherwise alienate ceded lands until Hawaiian land claims are resolved because the state received the lands as a trust and title is uncertain. Nor were the lands the property of the United States. The Hawaiian people - the beneficiaries of the land prior to the Overthrow - never agreed to the transfer of title and so must be consulted, and their claims resolved, before any shifts in the trust ean take plaee. The state has countered that it "has full power and authority to manage, to alienate, and to dispose of ceded lands," arguing that the Admission Act and the Hawai'i Constitution authorize the alienation and disposition of puhlie lands for "valid public purposes." OHA has responded that Congress has admitted that the lands were taken "without the consent of or compensation to the Hawaiian people" in the Apology Bill. OHA argues that, since the "original holder" of the lands has expressed its apology, the state should do the same. The State Attorney General, on behalf of the state, has denied the admission of the illegal overthrow and the facts set forth in the federal apology bill. As with many issues dealing with land in Hawai'i, what is at stake for Hawaiians is a culture and a way of life. Alienation of ceded lands erodes a trust to whieh Hawaiians have a elaim and could eventually cause irreparable harm to the land-based Hawaiian culture and nahon. At a April 2 hearing before Judge Daniel Heely OHA will be seeking to stop the sale or transfer of ceded lands. The hearing will be at State Court - 777 Punchbowl, Honolulu - at 9 a.m.