Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 6, 1 June 1990 — OHA Board Business [ARTICLE]

OHA Board Business

By Ed Miehelman Puhlie Information Officer

The following is a report of the board of trusteēs of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs monthly business meeting of April 27 at OHA's Honolulu office. All nine trustees were present. Administrator's Report Administrator Richard K. Paglinawan presented a summary of the status of legislation introduced by, or of special interest to, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Among the bills passed and awaiting the governor's signature were: 1. OHA's supplemental budget; 2. the agreement on past and future state ceded land entitlements for native Hawaiians; 3. establishing state policies relating to prehistoric and historic burial sites; 4. provisions relating to OHA's biennial budget; 5. authorizing the OHA administrator to employ and retain staff without requiring special approval of the board of trustees. 6. an appropriation for the salaries of OHA staff and employees who are excluded from collective bargaining; 7. establishing a committee to determine the best means of financing higher education for Hawaiian students; 8. proposed constitutional amendments to change the definition of the public trust and add a definition of Native Hawaiian was held in committee at OHA's request and is expected to be reintroduced at the next legislative session. NHRLF Status Report Eeonomie Development Officer Linda Colburn reported that as of March 31 the NHRLF had received over 2,000 loan inquiries plus 13 preapplication questionnaires for February, bringing the total active applications to 397. New loan requests for March totalled $881,000. To date, 35 loans totaling $1,344,000 have beenapproved. Still pending are 201 loan requests for a total of $10,596,795. Committee Reports Committee on Operations and Development 1. The board approved recommendation to appropriate $43,130 of special funds to further the work necessary for federal reparations legislation. Trustee Keale voted "no." Unanimous approval was given to a recommendation to ratify formal intervention by OHA before the Land Use Commission regarding a land designation change requested by Sokan for the Waihe'e Golf Course development on Maui. The appropriation of up to $3,000 in legal costs for this purpose from the Native Hawaiian Rights Fund was authorized. The board unanimously approved the payment of $20,150.51 from operation funds to pay for legal services provided by three contractors to OHA in eonneehon with federal entitlements.

The trustees agreed to appropriate not more than $4,000 from the Native Hawaiian Rights Fund for a contract with Alan C. Ziegler, Ph.D., for a research project on Lisianski lsland of the Hawaiian archipelago. The purpose is to establish whether ancient Hawaiians inhabited and/or used the Northwest Hawaiian Islands as fishing areas. T rustees Hao and Kahaiali'i voted "no." A resolution of support for S.B. 3236, SD1, HD1 was adopted unanimously. The bill clarifies the purposes of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act and reaffirms the fiduciary responsibility of the federal government to native Hawaiians. Committee on External Affairs Three resolutions dealing with Pacific Oeean resources and approved by the External Affairs Committee were unanimously adopted by the board. The first proclaims that Kalama (Johnston) Island and its surrounding waters are part of the ceded land trust held for the benefit of native Hawaiians. A second resolution protests plans to transship, store and incinerate West German ehemieal weaponS on Kalama Island. A separate resolution deplores and opposes the stockpiling or dumping of lethal chemicals or other toxic wastes in the Pacific environment and calls for an environmentally safe and elean Pacific Oeean. On another subject, the board ap'proved a statement challenging the right of the U.S. Navy to use the island of Kaho'olawe as a bombing and shelling target. The statement also warns foreign nations that title to Kaho'olawe rightfully belongs to the Hawaiian people and urges those nations not to participate in the bombing. It also questions the conditions and terms under whieh foreign powers are granted permission to train on parcels of ceded land other than Kaho'olawe, including Bellows Field and Mana, Kaua'i. The Board accepted without objection the recommendation to accept certain conditions regarding the proposed Sokan development of Waihe'e Golf Course as adequately responding to OHA concerns raised during intervention before the Land Use Commission. A resolution honoring Robert Miehael Lokomaika'iokalani Snakenberg for "his generous and outstanding contributions to furthering the Hawaiian language and culture" was adopted unanimously. The board agreed to allocate the sum of $3,200 to the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation for intervention in proceedings of the Land Use Commission on behalf of Miloli'i fisherpeople in order to protect their fishing rights. Trustee Keale voted "no." Executive Session The board ratified actions taken in executive

session including acceptance of a report from the Ad Hoe Committee on evaluation of the administrator. Calendar The May meeting was scheduled for May 12 on Lana'i. For June, the board of trustees scheduled community meetings on Friday, June 29 at 7 p.m. in four locations: Keaukaha, Miloli'i, Waimea and Kona. There will be a board of trustees business meeting Saturday June 30 at 10 a.m. in Hilo. Loeal OHA offices and media will announee places. The Hilo OHA office phone is 961-7349. The Kona office phone is 329-7368.

He kai kapu ia na ke konohiki. (A forbidden beach reserved for the konohiki.) A maiden who is spoken for. From " ' Olelo No'eau" (Hawaiian Prouerbs and Poetical Sayings) by Mary Kawena Pukui, 1983 Publication 71, Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. Hawai'i.