Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 3, 1 Malaki 1999 — OHA's legislative package: Update [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA's legislative package: Update

B / Paula Durbin [ARLY IN the 1 999 session, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs submitted 18 bills to the House of Representatives and 1 8 identical "eompanion bills" to the Senate for consideration. Many have not been heard and at press time, only six of the 1 8 "sets" could be considered still alive. Some of these might not survive, however, because of referrals to multiple commit-

tees. "If a committee decides not to hear a bill, it dies for this session," said Jalna Keala, OHA's Government Affairs Officer. Committees in both the House and Senate have heard HB 704 and SB 456 providing tuition waivers for 500 additional Native Hawaiian students in the University of Hawai'i system. In its first redraft of OHA's bill the Senate credited the value of the waivers against ceded lands revenues. Consequently, OHA's Governmental

Affairs and Sovereignty Committee voted March 3 to recommend the board oppose the Senate draft, whieh the Senate's Committee on Water, Land Use

and Hawaiian Affairs and its Committee on Education had referred to the Ways and Means Committee". The unlikelihood WAM would even consider the tuition waivers prompted a protest by UH students who succeeded in getting enough signatures from committee members to require a hearing on the bill. The protesters also wanted the origi-

nal wording restored. "We want complete tuition waivers for everyone and that the university absorb the cost," said Professor Haunani Trask who, with Mamo Kim, a graduate student in political science, pointed out that the university currently waives tuition for 800 foreign students. Meanwhile, the UH Board of Regents has scheduled its own hearings on all eampuses March 10-15. (See the box on page 1 3 for the schedule.) "It is very important that the Hawaiian community

tufD out in force for these hearings, not only students but everyone, especially '5j5to," urged Regent Wayne Panoke. Other OHA bills have emerged from the House with significant changes. As originally submitted, HB 694, HB 695 and HB 710 required, respectively, that an at-large member of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, a non-county member

of the Land Use Commission and a member of the Commission on Water Resource Management be a representative from OHA. These three draft bills have been amended to make the OHA representative non-voting. However, SB 701, requiring a representative from OHA sit on the Tourism Authority was approved by the Senate's Eeonomie Development Committee as drafted and passed to the Ways and Means Committee. A lso amended, HB

A697, whieh would have made the OHA chair a signatory to all leases of govern-ment-owned fishponds, now would pass title to the fishponds to OHA, a scenario fraught with legal problems requiring clarification. The bill is considered dead in the House for this year. However, the Senate's eompanion bill has passed to the House as originally drafted. The House Water and

Land Use Committee amended HB 699 by reducing the appropriation for infrastructure improvements for Maunalaha

lessees from $2 million to one dollar. The bill is not expected to be considered by the second committee scheduled to hear it. Similarly, HB 709, requiring proper labeling of aquatic food, was also amended, but is not expected to receive a hearing this session. At the beginning of the legislative sesSee OHA ATTHE LEGISLATURE on page 14

FRONTPAGENEWS

PHOĪO : PAULAOURBIN Students from ,the University of Hawai'i, joined at the capitol by Sudden Rush, Punana Leo and others,_ convinced the Ways and Means Committee to hear a bill providing.|or more tuition waivers for Native Hawaiians at UH.

OHA ATTHE LEGISLATURE

continued from page 1 sion, OHA submitted four bills providing for the trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affatrs to eome within the retirement system applicable to other state empioyees Shortly thereafter. Governor Cayetano aiso submitted his own bills to the House and Senate. Bills introduced in 1999 could reappear ior consideration next year. The substance ot some bills requiring appropriations could be funded from sources such as the Governor's appro pnahon or the Department of Education. without further reference to the legisiature for ans additional approval. ■ At press time, Ka Wai Ola was awaiting a decision by the Wavs and Means Committee on the billfor more tuition waiversfor UH Hawaiian students