Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 5, 1 May 1996 — Bill would eliminaie OHA revenues [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Bill would eliminaie OHA revenues

by A. Frenchy Desoto Trustee-at-Large I am very disappointed with the state House's attempt to keep alive the administration's effort to rewrite act 304-90, the legislation that determines what ceded lands revenue OHA receives. They are doing this by inserting the language the administration proposed for the

fleshed out version of HB 3542 into SB 1698, HD 2. Proposed Draft 3. The ehainnan of the House committee on H a w a i i a n a f f a i r s , Representative D e n n i s

Arakaki, expressed displeasure to the attorney general regarding the introduction of HB 3542. He chastised the administration for introducing a deviously devastating measure like this as a short-form bill, and asked why a measure of this magnitude was not introduced in its full form and why this legislation was being pursued with no discussion with the Hawaiian community or with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the agency whieh represents thal community. As such, Arakaki refused to accept the fleshed out language and HB 3542 was held in its short-form by the committee on Hawaiian affairs. The Senate version of HB 3542, SB 2867, fared no better. It also was introduced as a short-form bill. The measure was fleshed out during a joint hearing of the Senate committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Ways and Means, passed sec-

ond reading and was recommitted to the same joint committees for further consideration. The fleshed out version of SB 2867, however, was not heard and it failed to make first crossover. But here we are, later in the same session, at a House Finance committee hearing held for one measure: the Administration's effort to deprive the Hawaiian community of its justified entitlement from the ceded lands in the public land trust. Let's get to the bottom line. Passage of this bill will virtually eliminate the revenue stream OHA receives as a result of the state's entitlement to native Hawaiians. An entitlement whieh is recognized in: JOINT RESOLUTION OF ANNEXATION, 1898; ORGANIC ACT OF 1900;

ADMISSION ACT, 1959; THE CONSTITUTION OFTHE STATE OF HAWAl'I PREAMBLE ARTICLE XII HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS; HAWAII REVISED STATUTES CHAPTER 10 OFFICE OF HAWAlIAN AFFAIRS SB1698 HD 3 proposes a complete rewrite of the agreements that eame out of more than

two years of negotiations whieh lead to the passage of Act 304 in 1990. This proposal wUl: 1 . Eliminate development costs and annual debt service from the computation formula; 2. Designate 5 additional revenue sources as "sovereign functions and powers" of the State; 3. Expose OHA to Iiability for state projects over whieh OHA has absolutely no control; and, 4. Potentially force OHA to cover a portion of the initial development costs, or annual debt service costs, attributable to the improvement of lands comprising the public land trust from whieh revenue is derived and paid. If the proposal passes, then there will be

little left on whieh to compute the extent of the state's trust obligation to native Hawaiians. I am amazed that this is happenin». We eame to the Legislature in the opening days of this session "not to ask for more money, but to offer a new approach and relationship between our office as representatives of the Hawaiian people and the representatives of the State of Hawai'i" In return, we have spent mueh of our time this session battling nine measures designed to reduce OHA's revenue stream, seven of them House bills, five of whieh were introduced by the finance committee and House Speaker Souki. In addition, we have been besieged with legislation whieh identifies OHA as a cash eow for the state. Any program or service that even hints of Hawaiians is being Iooked at as something that ean be funded by OHA.