Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 4, 1 ʻApelila 2000 — Board reacts to Rice, legislation [ARTICLE]

Board reacts to Rice, legislation

By Paula Durbin AT ITS March 16 meeting, the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs voted 7-0 to present for public input two draft plans related to the United States Supreme Court's recent decision in Rice vs. Cayetano holding unconstitutional the requirement limiting participation in OHA elections to Native Hawaiians. Either plan could be incorporated into legislation developed as SB 2477. With the incorporation, this bill would provide for the transfer of OHA's assets to a private entity administered by trustees elected through a voting process limited to Hawaiians. Previously, at its meetings of Feb. 28 and March 2, the board had considered in executive session Governor Ben Cayetano's announced intention to replace them. On Feb. 28, the trustees voted to petition the Federal District Court to intervene as a party in the remedy phase of Rice. On March 2, the board unanimously voted to join the governor in asking the Hawai'i Supreme Court to clarify (1) whether, under Hawai'i's constitution, Rice creates vacancies on the OHA board, and (2) whether, under the Hawai'i Revised Stames,the governor has the authority to fill the posi-

- tions by appointment. The board took other action as ~follows: March 2 The board voted unanimously to rescind $90,000 lfom an initial $1 10,000 appropriation to hire 10 researchers and one professional writer. It unanimously approved an appropriation of $672,707 for outsourcing hardware, purchasing software, training and technical maintenanee from Commercial Data Systems/Oracle toward reengineering OHA's financial management. Finally, the board delegated to the Administrator authority to negotiate and execute inter-agency memoranda of agreement limited to the process and timing of OHA's participation in the public comment/consultative process. The board deferred to its March 6 meeting a consideration of OHA's legislative plan for 2000. March 6 The board voted to support the following bills under consideration in the Legislature: • SB 2477, originally proposing an amendment to the Hawai'i constitution to allow for recall of the trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, but susceptible to modification as a vehicle for legislative responses to Rice\ • HB 1947 limiting the pos-

session, purchase, sale or trade of shark fins; • HB 2802 authorizing speeial purpose revenue bonds for a multi-function facility for food processing; • SB 2483 authorizing the DLNR to execute mitigation plans for the landowner, permittee or developer, on request, for inadvertent discovery of burial sites; • HB 2917 requiring the use of Hawaiian names, terms and phrases in the Kalaeloa eommunity development district; • SB 3049 amending the law to make confidential DLNR records of the location and description of historic sites. The board voted to lend limited support to SB 599 establishing the public's right to access the state's recreational and eultural resources. The trustees voted to oppose the following: • SB 2684 amending Act 147 and appropriating funds for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs supplemental budget; • SB 2384 providing for fulltime trustees for the OfFice of Hawaiian Affairs, prohibiting them ffom engaging in outside employment and basing eompensation on recommendations of the salary commission; • SB 2478 requiring OHA trustees to be nominated in the primary election and elected in the general election;

• SB 2479 amending OHA candidate voting procedures by allowing qualified Hawaiian voters to vote for trustee representation by island; • HB 2571 clarifying leases issued for small boat harbors and other boating facility properties may include uses other than maritime-related activities, and allowing for limited eommercial vessel activities in Ala Wai and Ke'ehi boat harbors; • HB 2579 authorizing the Board of Land and Natural Resources to lease Ala Wai and Ke'ehi small boat harbors for redevelopment, management and operation by private firms, and providing for orderly transition from state to private management and operation with job security for state employees now assigned to these locations; • SB 2914 allowing for the deposit of moneys collected from lessees of public lands within industrial parks into the Special Land and Development Fund. and abolishing the Industrial Special Fund and transferring the fund balance and liabilities to the Special Land and Development Fund; • SB 2915 allowing for the deposit of moneys generated by the disposition of water rights by direct negotiation, in addition to public auction, and authorizing the board to extend month-to-month water permits for additional one-year periods;

• SB 2919 authorizing the one-time transfer of $500,000 ffom the Natural Area Reserve Fund to the General Fund for 2000-2001; • HB 2309 allowing the exchange of private and public lands in North Kona; • SB 3092 removing the revenues derived from harvesting native forest products ffom being deposited in the Forest Stewardship Fund. March 16 The board deferred the selection of its international money manager(s). The trustees voted 5-3 to use protocol funds to purchase a table for 10 at the Polynesian Voyaging Society's 25th anniversary celebration of the Hōkūle ' a April 1 8 . They approved an amended motion to appropriate $50,000 for research and litigation that would require the W.M. Keek Observatory on Mauna Kea to prepare a federal environmental impact statement. The trustees also approved an appropriation not to exceed $13,000 for Moana's Hula Hālau to travel to Tahiti on March 25. They deleted as moot an action item recommending as a board priority Census 2000 and Hawaiian participation and reaffirming the commitment to Directive 15 of the Offrce of Management and Budget. ■ See Board on 14

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March 23 Meeting in Waimea, the board approved separation of $14,277,039 from OHA's estimated short-term investment fund (STIF) and transferal to a money market account; retention and transfer of $6,000,000 for future appropriations through June 3; investment of remaining balance in the STIF account; and closure of the STIF account with Smith, Barney, ine. The trustees also voted to replace NWQ's top-down 90+ portfolio with NWQ's bot-tom-up large value product. They appropriated $2000 for the State eouneil of Hawaiian Homestead Associations and Hui Kāko'o 'Aina Ho'opulapula for administrative and program expenses. As part of OHA's legislative package the trustees further voted to support the following:* • House Concurrent Resolution 41 and House Resolution 46 both favoring federal recognition for a Hawaiian nation; • SB 2181 SD1 appropriating funds for OHA's pro rata portion of the public land trust to be credited to the amount the state owes OHA; • HB 2895 amending the relevant section of the Hawai'i Revised Statutes with a definition of "environmental impact statement" that includes effects on cultural practices and a definition of "significant effects" to include adverse effects on eultural practices; • HB 2762, the eompanion to SB 3049, above, approved March 6; • HB 2782, the eompanion to SB 2483, above, approved March 6; • SB 2056 and HB 1908 establishing an Individual Development Account tax credit equal to 50 percent of the eontribution and preventing fiduciary organizations from taking both a charitable contributions and the tax credit; • HB 750 establishing an offieial color and flower or lei material for eaeh island; • SB 2657 SD2, HD1 mandating coverage under most health insurance policies and contracts for diabetes outpatient self-man-agement training, education, equipment and supplies found to be medically necessary and prescribed by an authorized health care professional. • HB 2285 HD1 appropriating funds for Hawaiian studies program for one resource teacher for eaeh public school district and a DOE supervisor for the resource teacher; • SB 2584 SD1 transferring the development responsibilities of the Barbers Point Naval Air Station Redevelopment to the HCDA and designating the area

as an enterprise zone; • SB 3129 HD1 extending the sunset date to July 1, 2002 for allowing traditional Hawaiian healing practices and extending the submission date of the final report to 20 days before the new sunset date; • SB 3182 SD1 creating King Kalākaua Day; The board voted to oppose the following:* • HB 2568 HD1 establishing the State Parks Special Fund, transferring the unexpended balanee of 'Aina Ho'omalu Special Fund to the state's credit and appropriating funds from the State Parks Special Fund to be expended by the DLNR. • HB 2573 HD1, SD1, eompanion to SB 2914, above, opposed March 6. • HB 2574 HD1, SD1 allowing for the deposit of funds generated by the disposition of mineral and water rights into the Special Land and Development Fund; • HB 2578 HD1, eompanion to SB 2915, above, opposed March 6. • SB 2279 establishing a state policy on the placement of ufility lines according to the aesthetie benefit of the natural landscape in residential and conservation zoned areas, and requiring the Public Utilities Commission to consider the proximity of above-ground systems exceedingl38 kilovolts, to eulturally significant sites; • SB 2433 SD2 authorizing the director of public safety to enter into contracts with private entities to manage correctional facilities; • SB 2005 authorizing DLNR to issue new leases to current Banyan Drive lessees; • SB 2572 authorizing real property revenues to the University of Hawai'i to be deposited into a university revolving loan fund; • SB 2301, SD2 establishing a definition for maritime lands; • HB 2245 partially exempting the Hawai'i Tourism Authority from the environmental impact law; • HB 755 SD1, HD1 changing homestead lease amounts to $1 amd eliminating cash freehold agreements; • SB 2910 SD1, HD1 converting the Commercial Fisheries Special Fund from temporary to permanent; • RC 13 authorizing the lease of submerged lands at Duke Kahanamoku Beach for pier purposes. • Because ofspace limitations, Ka Wai Ola has not indicated the position taken March 23 on bills that had died by press time. ■

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