Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 20, Number 05, 1 May 2003 — Takamine unfair [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]
Takamine unfair
Ka I fo Kaiāuiu
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Nearly 200 Hawaiians pleaded, in oral and written testimony late into the evening on Apiil 2 on behalf of legislation whieh originally sought no more than clarification of OHA's funding formula. The testifiers, including many elders and youth, were justifiably upset when an unexpected amendment proposed to reduce OHA's revenues to a fraction by basing it on raw, unimproved land. Over and over again, Hawaiians asked Pinanee Committee members to support the original bill. House Pinanee Chair Dwight Takamine killed it instead. Senate Bill 1151 had survived two Senate and two House committee hearings, no easy feat, and this decision was made over the objections of many Finance Committee members. The Democratic House leadership's unfairness to Hawaiians continues. Mahealani Kamau'u Pu'unui