Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 6, 1 June 2006 — LegisLative upDate [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

LegisLative upDate

Legislature OKs ceded lands deal Waimea purchase, Mauna 'Ala funding and 'opihi ban are among other successful measures

By Derek Ferrar Public lnfurmatiun Specialist Shortly before the closing of its session on May 4, the Hawai'i state Legislature passed a measure approving the puhlie land trust revenue agreement reached between OHA and Gov. Linda Lingle earlier this year. Lfnder the terms of the agreement, OHA will receive $15.1 million annually, in addition to a one-time payment of $17.5 million for certain undisputed past-due amounts. "I am very pleased with this agreement, whieh will assure additional funding for OHA and its Hawaiian beneficiaries going into the future," OHA Chairperson Haunani Apoliona said when the deal was first announced. "This is a collective example of being 'onipa'a, or steadfast in what is right." The hill passed by the Legislature gives lawmakers the power to change the payment amount in the future in case circumstances change - such as if revenues from the lands rise. In addition, the hill also requires the state to provide an annual accounting of its puhlie land trust revenues and appropriates $250,000 to pay for the accounting. If that amount should prove insufficient, the hill requires OHA to provide supplemental funding up to an additional $250,000. Lingle called the agreement "the right and fair thing to do," and praised the efforts of the negotiating teams on both sides. "This has been a difficult undertaking, and there is still more we ean accomplish," she said.

Lfnder Hawai'i's state constitution, OHA is supposed to receive a portion of the state's ineome from the puhlie land trust, made up of Hawaiian Kingdom lands that were "ceded" to the U.S . at annexation and later passed to the state government, but the exact amount due to OHA has long been a matter of dispute. While the deal approved by the Legislature covers revenues that the governor believes are "fair and appropriate" to pay OHA, agreement has yet to be reached on revenues that the state disputes - such as ineome from Honolulu International Airport, the Lfniversity of Hawai'i and Hilo Hospital, all of whieh sit at least partially on ceded land. Both OHA and the governor anticipate further negotiations over such issues in the future. Other measures relating to OHA and Hawaiian issues that passed the Legislature include: • OHA strategic plan: On April 3, Gov. Lingle signed into law a measure revising a 25-year-old state law that had required OHA to prepare a master plan for the entire Hawaiian community. Instead, the revision will allow the agency's current strategic plan to fulfill the master plan requirement. OHA officials proposed the hill because they said it was unreasonable to expect OHA to coordinate master planning for other agencies. The laek of the previously required master plan had been a regular target of criticism in the State Auditor's periodic reports on OHA.

• Land Use Commission: After several years of efforts by OHA and the Hawaiian eonununity, lawmakers passed a measure requiring that at least one member of the state's Land Use Conunission possess "substantial experience or expertise in traditional Hawaiian land usage and knowledge of cultural land practices." However, bills that would have helped ensure a similar requirement for several other land and resource boards fell short of passage. • Mauna 'Ala upkeep: Also passed was a measure that will create a dedicated source of maintenance funding for Mauna 'Ala, the resting plaee of Hawaiian royalty. Proponents of the hill said such an ongoing funding source is needed to deal with mounting upkeep problems at the site. • Waimea Valley purchase: Legislators authorized the state's $1.6 million share of the $14million conservation purchase of Waimea Valley in partnership with the City and County of Honolulu, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the U.S. Army and the Nahonal Audubon Society. Onee the sale is complete, OHA will assume title to the property. • 'Iolani Palaee funding: Lawmakers allocated a one-time appropriation of $600,000 in operating funds and $900,000 in construction funds for the upkeep and operation of 'Iolani Palaee. Friends of 'Iolani Palaee, the nonprofit group whieh manages the historic site, has recently reported operating at significant loss, largely due to increased electric bills. Some legislators said they will advocate providing a dedicated annual revenue source for the group, whieh had not received any operational funds from the Legislature since 1998. • 'Iewe (placenta) possession: The Legislature forwarded to the governor a measure dubbed the "'lewe Bill," whieh would require hospitals to release the placenta to families after a birth, as long as the mother tests negative for diseases such as HIV and hepati-

tis. After the state recently began classifying placenta as infectious waste, several hospitals had been preventing families from taking home the 'iewe, whieh according to customary Hawaiian practice is usually buried. • 'Opihi ban: One successful measure will ban the conunercial sale of 'opihi, with exception of Ni'ihau residents. Proponents of the measure said it is urgently needed to prevent the rapid disappearance of the Hawaiian delicacy. • Ahu o Laka: Legislators designated the area known as the "Kāne'ohe sandbar" as a state historic monument and charged the Department of Land and Natural Resources with establishing and enforcing appropriate rules for the area. The sandbar, whieh figures in varied Hawaiian historical accounts, has long been a popular spot with boaters. However, complaints were raised lately over drinking at the site and fights that broke out during several large concerts there. • Bioprospecting: Lawmakers approved a resolution requesting the governor to set up a commission to study issues surrounding "bioprospecting," whieh involves deriving scientific or other profits from the use of Hawai'i's unique plants, sea life and other "biologieal assets." Recognizing that such resources are "culturally, spiritually, medicinally, and otherwise significant to Native Hawaiians," the resolution suggests that the commission be administered by OHA. • Native Hawaiian architecture: Also approved was a measure requiring the counties to adopt ordinances allowing Native Hawaiian architectural techniques and materials to be used under eaeh county's building code. Practitioners of traditional Hawaiian building techniques had long been frustrated by county codes that prohibited buildings constructed with thatched roofs and other traditional materials. m

KAU KĀNĀWAI • LEG I S LAT I ū N

What didn't pass Measures proposed by OHA that failed to pass the session included: • Dedieated land and resource board seats: As it is had in the past several sessions, OHA had sought to reserve one seat eaeh onthe various land and resource boards for an appointee to be chosen by the governor from a list of nominees submitted by OHA. • OHA off!ce and Hawaiian cultural center: After floating a proposal last year to build an OHA office and Hawaiian cultural center on 5.2 acres of state land on the waterfront between Kaka'ako Park and Honolulu Harbor, this year OHA had sought a state bond issue of $1.35 million to help pay for planning and design of the site. • Education: OHA's legislative package had included a number of bills aimed at improving Native Hawaiian students' opportunities for success in the puhlie school system. One proposal would have required the Department of Education to offer Hawaiian language courses in public schools, and provide financial assistance to university students who commit to teaching such classes. Other proposals included: -A study into the effectiveness of the Department of Education's Hawaiian education program. -Establishing alternative licensing requirements for teachers in certain Hawaiian education programs. -Providing funding for a special school district made up of Hawaiianfocused charter schools. -Increasing the number of charter schools. -Providing tuition subsidies for Hawaiian preschoolers and establishing "play-and-learn" programs on Hawaiian homesteads. • Housing: One OHA bill would have given the agency the authority to develop housing projects that would be exempt from zoning and other state and county regulations - mueh as the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is now able to do. OHA Administrator Clyde Nāmu'o said the purpose of the measure was to establish OHA as an attractive partner for housing development, and to help deal with the affordable housing crisis, especially for Native Hawaiians. • Kuleana lands: Several measures would have helped protect kuleana lands (hereditary lands awarded to Hawaiian tenant-farmers at the time of the Māhele) by exempting them from property taxes, giving OHA a greater role in kuleana title cases and prohibiting claims to kuleana lands based on adverse possession. • Hawaiian antiquities: Another OHA bill would have made it a crime to sell Native Hawaiian antiquities to anyone except qualified museums and repositories, with specific penalties for trafficking in such cultural objects.