Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 3, 1 March 1999 — Page 19 Advertisements Column 1 [ADVERTISEMENT]

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Do the Facts Matter?

In recent weeks published editorials have tried to rewrite history, as well as cloud eommon understanding of the law, by presenting half-truths about the Public Land Trust. A little homework and attention to history go a long way toward dispelling the umyths " and inaecuracies put forth by these authors. ( Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Jan. 9, 1999; Midweek]an. 27, 1999)

Myth #1: The ceded lnnds in the Puhlie Lnnd Trust were never "'stolen' from or token without <ompensation to the Howoiion people." FACT #1: U.S. Public Law 103-150, signed by the President of the United States and ratified by both houses of Congress, states: "the Republic of Hawai'i also ceded 1,800,000 acres of crown, government and public lands of the Kingdom of Hawai'i without consent of or compensation to the Native Hawaiian people of Hawai'i or their sovereign government."

been delinquent in paying even this small : amount. : Myth f3: By demanding whal is owed : them by law, Hawaiians are depriving : <hildren of other ra<es from a quality : edu<ation. | FACT #3: : Hawaiians, just like everyone else in the state, • have a stake in ensuring an excellent public : school system. Disproportionately so, many • Hawaiian families ean not afford to send their children to private schools, and must depend upon the public system. By law, the state — as trustee — is required to use funds from the trust for public schools. OHA, and the Hawaiians it represents, do not have a say in how the estimated $270,000,000 collected and kept by the state annually is spent. However, as trust beneficiaries, Hawaiians are demanding the proper administration and accounting of trust revenue for the benefit of all.

Myth #2: "The net ineome and more from the <eded lands [in the Puhlie Land Trust] is all going to OHA." FACT #2: The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has never claimed trust revenue is only for Hawaiians. In fact, it has repeatedly pointed out that all residents of Hawai'i are beneficianes of the trust. Under Act 304, there are two types of revenue ,generated by the trust. The state keeps all — 100 percent — of the larger portion. The law then mandates one-fifth (or 20 percent) of the remaining share be paid to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs on behalf of the Hawaiian people. Therefore, by law, Hawaiians are entitled to less than one-tenth of the trust's total revenue. Yet, state courts ruled the state has

Hawaiians are not profiting from the Public Land Trust at the expense of the rest of the state. Hawaiians are not asking for any spe<ial or preferential treatment. Rather# they are asking for the state to follow federal — as well as its own — laws and honor the Publi< Land Trust for the benefit of every resident of Hawai'i.

A message from rhe Of¥ice of Hawaiian Affairs Working for a better Hawai'i. www.OHA.org