Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 2, 1 February 2014 — OHA highlights its legislative priorities [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA highlights its legislative priorities

By Sterling Wong The majority of the bills in OHA's 2014 Legislative Package would improve the state's management of Hawai'i's precious land and cultural resources. OHA's 2014 Legislative Package includes a measure to close a loophole in the state's process to sell puhlie lands, legislation to add a Native Hawaiian cultural expert to the Board of Land and Natural Resources and a bill that limits the types of development projects that ean begin prior to the eomplehon of archaeologieal surveying. In addition, three legislative proposals OHA pushed for last session are carrying over to this session, two of whieh are in conference committee, meaning they have just a few hurdles to cross before they ean be sent to the governor for signature (see HB 224 and SB 406 helow). Below are highlights of our 2014 Legislative Package. To learn more about how to support OHA's 2014 Legislative Package, visit www.oha. org/legislature. OHA-2 (Carry 0ver: House Bill 224/Senate Bill 410) Hawaiian Language Assessments: The Hawaiian language and education communities have raised strong concerns about the negative impact that the current Hawaiian translation of the Hawai'i State Assessment test has on Hawaiian language immersion students and programs. Reported problems from the translated

Hawai'i State Assessment include cultural and translation biases, translation inaccuracies and terminology inconsistencies, whieh have resulted in highly inaccurate assessments of Hawaiian language immersion schools and students. To address these concerns, this bill requires the state Department of Education to develop independent reading, math and science assessments in the Hawaiian language for Hawaiian language immersion students in grades three through six. Bill Status: HB 224 House Draft 3 Senate Draft 2 is in conference committee; SB 410 was not heard. OHA-6 (Carry Over: HB 220/SB 406) Native Hawaiian Law Training Course: State boards and commissions regularly make decisions involving puhlie trust resources, and have a duty to protect and enforce Native Hawaiian legal rights. However, while board and commission members are often selected for their depth of expertise in a range of specialized areas, they may not necessarily have specific knowledge of their additional duties relating to Native Hawaiian rights and the puhlie trust. By requiring certain board and commission members to attend an OHAIsponsored training course on these topics, this bill provides these individuals with some of the tools they need to fulfill their legal responsibilities.

Bill Status: HB 220 HD 2 passed Second Reading, must be heard by the House Committee on Finance; SB 406 SD 2 HD 1 was deferred in eonference committee. At this time, OHA is not planning on pursuing these bills as we are currently working with the state administration to conduct this hnaneial review. OHA-11 (Carry Over: HB 216/SB 402) Act 178 Financial Review: Enacted in 2006, Act 178 requires state agencies to report all annual revenues generated on puhlie land trust lands to OHA to ensure that OHA receives its prorata share of such revenues as mandated by the Hawai'i State Constitution. However, accounting practices have continued to raise questions as to whether agencies are fulfilling the requirements and the intent of Act 178. This bill accordingly authorizes OHA to conduct and hnanee a hnaneial review of state agencies' eomplianee with the requirements of Act 178. Bill Status: HB 216 HD 1 passed Second Reading, deferred by the House Committee on Oeean, Marine Resources and Hawaiian Affairs; SB 402 SD 1 passed Second Reading, must be heard by the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. At this time, OHA is not planning on pursuing these bills as we are currently working with the state administration to conduct this hnaneial review. OHA-12 (HB 1616, SB 2103) Native Hawaiian Ileallh Disparities: Data shows that Native Hawaiians, other Paeihe islanders and Filipinos continue to have disparate heahh outcomes compared to the rest of the state population. This bill updates our State Planning Act to ensure that the heahh planning of the state will focus on creating policies, interventions, programs and funding targeted at eliminating heahh disparities by addressing the social determinants of heahh such as housing, education, social services, leisure, individual rights, culture and puhlie safety. If enacted, this bill will codify the state's commitment to improving the heahh of the state's most vulnerable communities, whieh in turn improves the heahh and well-being of the overall population. OHA-13 (HB 1618, SB 2105) Remnant Clarification: Enacted in 2009, Act 176 prohibits the sale of puhlie lands, including ceded lands, without (1) prior notice to OHA and (2) the approval of two-thirds of the Hawai'i SEE 0HA BILLS "II PAGE 12

LEGISLATURE

GOVERNANCE To restore pono and ea, Native Hawaiians will achieve self-gover-nanee, after whieh the assets of OHA will be transferred to the new governing entity.

OHA BILLS

Continued from page 5 State Legislature. However, neither of these requirements applies if the land to be sold is a "remnant," whieh is currently defined as "a parcel of land economically or physically unsuitable or undesirable for development." Given that mueh of the lands held by the state may be considered "unsuitable or undesirable for development," the current remnant definition ean be broadly interpreted to allow the sale of numerous puhlie lands, including ceded lands, outside of the Act 176 legislative approval process. To address this eoneem, this bill amends the remnant definition to clarify that, in addition to being unsuitable or undesirable for development, a remnant shall also be: (1) Land acquired by condemnation whieh is in excess of the needs for whieh condemned; or (2) Vacated, closed, abandoned, or discontinued road, street or alley or walk, rail-

road, ditch, or other right-of-way. OHA-14 (HB 1617, SB 2104) Native Hawaiian Cultural Expert on the Board of Land and Natural Resources: As the state agency mandated to manage the state's natural and cultural resources, the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) regularly makes critical decisions that impact Native Hawaiians and their cultural practices. Despite this critieal decision-making authority, there is no requirement that any member of the BLNR possess expertise on Native Hawaiian rights or cultural practices. This bill requires that at least one of the BLNR members shall have substantial experience or expertise in traditional Hawaiian land usage and knowledge of cultural land practices. OHA-15 (HB 1619, SB 2106) Phased Archaeological Review: Last year, Act 85 was enacted to authorize the Department of Land and Natural Resources' State His-

Sterīing Wong is the Puhli.e Poli.cy Manager at OHA.

toric Preservation Division to approve development projects based on phased archaeological reviews. OHA opposed this legislation because it would allow construction to start before an archaeological survey is completed, whieh would threaten iwi kūpuna and cultural sites. Moreover, OHA believes that the phased archaeological review allowed under Act 85 is far broader than what is allowed under Act 85's federal counterpart. Therefore, this bill seeks to only allow phased archaeological reviews for projects subject to the federal National Historic Preservation Act to ensure that phased review in Hawai'i is conducted in eomplianee with federal law. For more information or to share your mana'o on our 2014 Legislative Package, please email publicpolicy@oha.org or eall (808) 594-1756.

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