Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 3, 1 March 2006 — Ceded lands revenue agreement receiving unanimous approvals [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Ceded lands revenue agreement receiving unanimous approvals

Haunani Apnlinna. MSW Chairpersūn TrustEE, At-large

Aloha nui kākou. The 23rd Legislature of Hawai'i is deliberating legislative measures introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Scott Saiki, chairperson of the Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, its vice-chairper-son, Mele Carroll, and member Rep. Ezra Kanoho, and in the Senate by Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, chairperson of the Hawaiian Affairs and Judiciary Committee, to increase revenues transferred to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Both subject committees have passed out these measures, whieh are on their way to the money committees, the Senate Ways and Means Committee and the House Finance Committee. While there have been misleading statements quoted by the media, the OHA Board of Trustees, on Feb. 2, 2006, with eight trustees in attendance, voted unanimously "to approve the negotiating team's recommendation to join the Governor in supporting legislation during the 2006 Legislative Session that: 1) Provides puhlie land trust revenue to OHA of $15.1 million annually payable quarterly, beginning with fiscal year 2005-2006, until further action is taken by the legislature; 2) Provides $17.5 million to pay OHA as receipts from the use of lands in the puhlie land trust that should have been transferred previously but were not transferred to OHA between July 1, 2001 through June 30, 2005; and 3) Further provides that nothing in the legislation shall resolve or settle OHA's claims to the ineome and proceeds of a pro rata portion of the puhlie land trust under Article XII, Section 6 of the State Constitution." You will note that in both measures, section five clarifies that this act is not a settlement. Section six notes, "the Act shall take affect upon its approval." Successful passage will increase OHA's annual receipts from the puhlie

land trust by 50 percent. These legislative measures are a result of meetings over a period of 12 months between OHA's negotiating team (Trustees Apoliona, Carpenter, Mossman and Stender) and the governor's negotiating team, led by Attorney General Mark J. Bennett. During this lengthy negotiation period, the OHA team reported and made recommendations to the OHA Board of Trustees. In 2005, there were 22 OHA board meetings. Twelve of them included deliberation by the OHA Board on the issue of puhlie land trust revenues and the OIIA v. State litigation. The decisions made by the OHA Board gave direction to the OHA negotiating team throughout the negotiation process. As of February 2006, the OHA board has met four times, and we have continued to deliberate these issues at all four meetings. As stated in OHA testimony before both House and Senate committees, these bills, "reflect only the first phase of work to be completed relating to the ceded land revenues. Both OHA and Governor Lingle anticipate further negotiations and the possibility of presenting a more comprehensive agreement to a future legislature for consideration." The state attorney general in his testimony notes, "it is still incumbent on the Legislature as noted in OHA I to make the 'policy decisions' that are primarily within the authority and expertise of the legislative branch, and to enact legislation that gives effect to the right of native Hawaiians to benefit from the ceded land trust on a long-term, self-executing basis." There were many beneficiaries who testified in support of passage of these bills in both House and Senate hearings. Members of both Senate and House Committees voted unanimously to move the respective measures forward. We appreciate the support of the governor, the Legislature and our beneficiaries to bring success to this first phase of our diligent work and we look forward to continuing the negotiations toward resolving disputed matters related to public land trust revenues. 16/48 ^

LEO 'ELELE • TRUSTEE MESSAGES