Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 3, 1 March 1993 — House Hawaiian Affairs Committee hears important bills [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

House Hawaiian Affairs Committee hears important bills

by Jeff Ciark During the House Hawaiian Affairs Committee's Feb. 8 hearing, the committee passed HB 2006, whieh authorizes the issuance of general obligation bonds for the payment to OHA of the $112 million promised by the state as a settlement for ceded lands past due trust revenue for 1980-1989. Trustee Abraham Aiona said OHA supported the bill. The Department of Budget and Finance and the Office of State Planning (OSP) also supported the bill. Norma Wong of OSP said it would allow the state to settle with OHA in "a more fiscally reasonable manner." The committee held HB 2072,

whieh would have reduced the amount of interest agreed to by the state on revenue past due OHA. OSP opposed the bi 11 ; Wong said any after-the-fact change in the interest rate would probably result in litigation by OHA. HB 2098, Relating to Hawaiian Sovereignty, was passed out of committee with two amendments. Aiona gave OHA's testimony in support of the bill, whieh would appropriate $250,000 to educate public school students and the general public on Hawaiian sovereignty. Mahealani Kamau'u, executive director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. and executive offtcer on the board of directors of the federally-funded sovereignty education project Hui

Na'auao. supported the bill. She said the Hui has a limited budget and more requests for workshops than it ean handle. She and other testifiers said the Hui would be the best agency to carry out the type of education specified in the bill, because it has already established a curriculum, trained instructors and held many workshops. The money would have to be appropriated to a state agency, but Rep. Dennis Arakaki, vice chair, said the committee report should include a recommendation that Hui Na'auao is the preferred contractor. OHA is a member of the Hui's consortium. The two amendments suggested by Rep. Tom Okamura, committee chair, were that the bill should appropriate the money to OHA

īnstead of the Offīce of State Planning, and that the dollar amount should be changed, for the time being, to $ 1 "because we don't know what the financial ramifications would be." Later in the hearing HB 2098 was again amended to incorporate the language of HB 1458 (whieh was held), providing funding for materials to educate the public on Hawaiian sovereignty.

More bills relating to OHA The Office of Hawaiian Affairs supported HB 1993, whieh would have affected the method of payment of public land trust revenue to OHA. Trustee A. Frenchy DeSoto said that when the funds aren't paid in a timely manner, OHA has trouble funding programs. The Department of Land and Natural Resources pays quarterly and the Department of Transportation pays yearly, she said, adding that for planning purposes OHA should also receive more information on incoming funds. The bill would have required the payments to be made monthly and interest to be charged when payments are not made in a timely manner. "What we're looking for is consistency. ... so we ean really plan," DeSoto said. A.C. Young of DLNR said the department already has an established accounting system, the money is paid regularly, and the bill would result in an overworked staff. Young said that DLNR should be able to charge a 10 percent management fee on

the money īt pays OHA. The bill was held in committee. HB 1990, whieh would allow the OHA trustee representing Moloka'i and Lāna'i to reside on either island (currently the trustee must live on Moloka'i) and the trustee representing Kaua'i and Ni'ihau to reside on either island (currently the trustee must live on Kaua'i), passed out of committee with DeSoto testifying for it on behalf of OHA.

Hawaiian Homes bills The committee deferred HB 1500, whieh would add new sections to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act. Introduced at the request of the Hawaiian Home Lands Action Network (HHLAN) and informally referred to as a "self-determina-continued page 4

"The Voyaging Oanoe: Space Ship of our Hawaiian Ancestors," a poster by Herb Kane created for the Hawaiian Cultural Arts Expo, is on display this month at Maui galleries (see ealendar page 19).