Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 5, 1 May 1992 — Governor names review panel [ARTICLE]

Governor names review panel

A chairman and four panel members have been named to the new Hawaiian Homes Claims Commission review panel by Gov. John Waihee. The nominations will now go to the Hawai'i senate for confirmation. The panel will review claims by individuals against the state of Hawai'i for breach of the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust.

The review panel was created under Act 323 by the 1991 Hawai'i legislature as part of the Governor's Action Plan to resolve long-standing problems with the DHHL trust and the ceded lands trust. Four panel members were chosen for the appointment by Waihee from a list of nominees submitted by Native Hawaiian organizations. The chair had to be either a former judge or a licensed attorney. Peter Liholiho Trask, a Honolulu attorney, was appointed chair of the review panel. The panel members are: Alexander A. S. Akuna, Maui Poliee Department, Marie A.

McDonald, Big Island farmer and retired teacher, Warren C.R. Perry, Kaua'i attorney, and Msgr. Charles A Kekumano of O'ahu. Panel members will serve until December 1995. Under terms of the act, panelists must be residents of the state and no more than two members may be from the same island.

The review panel will receive and then review the merits of claims by individuals against the state. For the first year the panel will hear claims. The panel will then go to the legislature, during the 1993-94 session, with advisory opinions on claims settlements. Final decisions for resolutions of the individual claims will be by action of the legislature. After the legislature acts, the panel will be responsible for disbursement of any compensation awarded to claimants by the lawmakers. Anyone who turns down the legislature's ruling on a elaim will still have the option of pursuing the matter through the courts.