Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 12, 1 Kekemapa 2000 — Office of Hawaiian Affairs' future challenges [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Office of Hawaiian Affairs' future challenges

T IS with a grateful heart that I say "mahalo piha" to the people of Hawai'i for their vote of confidence in me. I am greatly humbled by this honor to serve our Hawaiian people for the next two years. I promise to eontinue the hard work that

I have started on behalf of the beneliciaries of this Hawaiian trust and will strive to implement mueh needed changes at the Office of Hawaiian Afifairs. As you are aware, Hawaiians are still reeling from the fallout of the Rice vs. Cayetano decision. This notorious case has caused a lot of challenges for OHA, among whieh is the apportionment. Currently, all voters cast ballots for all trustees on all islands, regardless of

where they reside. This means that all candidates running in the Office of Hawaiian Affairs election essentially are vying for a race that is equal in stature to the gubernatorial eleehon. No other eandidates have to run a statewide campaign.

Why the Hawaiians? It makes more 'eommon sense to have the residents of the islands elect their respective representative. OHA has tried many times in the past to urge the Legislature to reapportion the neighbor islands and

O'ahu so that their representatives would be elected from their respective island. To date, OHA's efforts have not been successful. I propose that in the upcoming legislative session OHA onee again ask that OHA elections be realigned to tmly represent the voices of the voters who cast their ballots. As we have seen with the most recent election, it is important for us to have equal status as does the members of the state

House of Representatives and the state Senate. Their races are decided by district. It makes good sense to have the same methodology followed in the Office of Hawaiian Affairs elections. I also plan to eonūnue the fight to

implement a kupuna health initiative. When I was the ehainnan of the board, I established a task force that sought to look into various ways to implement this very sorely needed program for our elderly Hawaiian people. What this very important program

sought to do was to supplement our kūpuna's Medicare Part B. During neighbor island board meetings last year, many kupuna stepped forward to describe how hard it was for them to get by in terms of much-needed medication. Several kupuna described in detail how they had to split their medication between two people so that their medication prescription could last longer. Last year, at the board level, this important proeram was voted down

three separate times by several trustees. Thus, sadly, it could not be implemented at OHA. Nevertheless, these facts have not steered me off course. I will eonūnue to fight for implementation of this impor-

tant program, hopefully with the help of the newly elected members of the Board of Trustees. Finally, as of press time, we are still waiting with bated breath the outcome of the Akaka Bill in the United States Senate. Hawai'i's Sena-

tor, Daniel Akaka, is diligently working to assure successful passage in the Senate. As many of you are already aware, the bill passed the House on Sept. 22. On the Senate side, the bill has been placed on the Senate legislative calendar (#893). It may pass as a stand-alone bill, or attached to an omnibus appropriations bill. I remain hopeful of its passage, another step in a long ioumev

toward federal recognition and self-deter-minahon for Hawaiians and for our fumre generations. Mahalo nui for your support and I wish you all a very happy and safe holiday season. ■

When I was the chairman of the board, I estabIished a task force that sought to look into various ways to implement this very sorely needed program for our elderly Hawaiian people.

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TRUSTEE MESSAGES

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