Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 24, Number 1, 1 January 2007 — OHA's 2007 legislative package [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA's 2007 legislative package

Aloha kākou! While 2006 didn't mark a legislative windfall for us in the U.S. Congress, OHA did manage considerable gains in the Hawai'i state Legislature. Last year's 23rd legislative session yielded a number of successful measures that will aide OHA in fulfilling a mission of advocacy for Native Hawaiians. Act 178 provided an interim solution to the question of the amount of funds that constitutes OHA's pro-rata portion of the puhlie land trust revenues under Article XII, Section 6, of the Hawai'i Constitution. The hill also requires that the state provide an annual accounting of its puhlie land trust revenues. Act 107 authorizes the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to make all necessary and appropriate disbursements of its moneys by issuing checks in its own name and by any other means. Essentially the hill frees OHA from many of the fiscal functions and procedures of the state's Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS). This year, OHA's 2007 Legislative Package will seek approval of OHA's Biennium Budget, whieh is no longer allowed special provisos that support Hawaiian programs like Alu Like Ine., the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation and Nā Pua No'eau. The Legislature mandated that financial support of these programs shall be completed through a competitive bidding process in accordance with HRS Chapters 103D and 103F. Essentially, OHA ean no longer have these services automatically placed into its annual budget request to the Legislature. Our Legislative Package will also revive bills from 2006 that were held, including several measures that ask for OHA representation on various state boards, conunissions and advisory boards. This hill calls for the governor to appoint one member of the state Board of Land

and Natural Resources, Water Resource Commission, Land Use Commission and the puhlie advisory body for coastal zone management from lists of nominees submitted by OHA. Again OHA submits measures that aim to prevent alienation, sale and exchange of land that are or may be part of the state's ceded lands trust. In the last several years, OHA has actively opposed these types of land transactions and hopes to gain legislative confirmation to this effect. Kuleana land bills are also a eonunon legislative issue for OHA. This year, we hope to pass a hill that would require eaeh county to adopt an ordinance that exempts kuleana land from real property taxes if occupied by lineal descendants of the original titleholder. Similar to last year's version, the measure makes OHA a party to all actions to quiet title to kuleana land in whieh escheat is an issue, regardless of when the escheat is alleged to have control. In the education arena, OHA hopes to gain favor on a measure that would require a percentage of all puhlie elementary, intermediate and high schools to offer Hawaiian language courses. Also being revived is a hill that will allow OHA to develop housing projects exempt from all statutes, ordinances, charter provisions and rules of any governmental agency relating to planning, districting, zoning, constructive standards for subdivisions development and improvement of land and the construction of units. This effort is geared toward finding a solution to Hawai'i's affordable housing crisis. While we anticipate positive changes in Congress, we look forward to a productive session here at home in our state Legislature. OHA will remind legislators, loeal and national, of their duty to put in high priority and ultimately resolve Native Hawaiian issues. The Beneficiary Advocacy and Empowerment Committee will start a weekly meeting schedule to review legislative measures that impact the Native Hawaiian conununity. Meetings are open to the puhlie and generally held every Wednesday at 10 a.m. For more infonnation, please eall 594-1888.

LEO 'ELELE ■ TRUSTEE MESSAGES

Cūlette Y. Machadū TrustEE, Mūlūka'i and Lāna'i