Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 4, 1 April 1993 — Kahoʻolawe reserve bills remain alive [ARTICLE]

Kahoʻolawe reserve bills remain alive

by Jeff Clark Both the House and Senate versions of a bill establishing conditions for future use of the island of Kaho'olawe have been passed out of their respective houses and crossed over to the other side of the state Legislature. HB 2015 and SB 1744, titled "A Bill for an Act Relating to the Island of Kaho'olawe" and submitted by Gov. Waihe'e, would designate Kaho'olawe an island reserve and establish a commission to oversee policy and management of the island pending

establishment of a native Hawaiian sovereign entity. Commercial use of the island would be prohibited; use would be restricted to cultural, spiritual, subsistence, preservation and educational activities. The House Hawaiian Affairs Committee amended the bill by • adding language requiring the state to fully address the issue of federal liability for the eleanup and rehabilitation of the island prior to the conveyance of Kaho'olawe. The bill states that "federal resources ... are needed

to effectively meet the unique challenges of restoring, preserving and determining the appropriate use of Kaho'olawe" and that an agreement relating to "the issue of liability must be secured prior to the conveyance of Kaho'olawe to the state." In other words, the state will not accept the island until a liability agreement has been reached with the federal government. • adding two more Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana (PKO)-nom-inated members to the commission for a total of three PKO representatives.

• adding the term "native Hawaiian" to define the types of cultural, spiritual and subsistence uses permitted on the island. The House Committee on Finance passed the bi 1 1 after amending it to delete the appropriations clause. Funding will be included in the executive budget bill. OHA administrator Richard Paglinawan, PKO member Dr. Davianna McGregor and Office of State Planning deputy Norma Wong supported the bill during the Finance Committee's Feb. 26

hearing. In the Senate, the Govemment Operations, Environmental Protection and Hawaiian Programs Committee missed its deadline and waived jurisdiction on SB 1744. The Senate Ways and Means Committee heard the bill on March 3 and passed it out of committee with amendments. The appropriation amount was changed to an unspecified amount and other technical, nonsubstantive changes were also made. OHA trustee A. Frenchy DeSoto supported the Senate bill.

Crossover, when buls ongmating in one house of the Legislature are transferred to the other, was March 1 1 . Meanwhile, members of the Kaho'olawe Island Conveyance Commission (KICC) on Feb. 17 gave tentative approval to the KICC draft final report to Congress. The voluminous information gathered for studies of the island's ecology, archeological sites and other topics will not be included in the report, but will be referred to and available separately. DeSoto, who is an KICC eom-

missioner as well as an OHA trustee, said the report has gone through many changes since it was presented to the public in hearings last fall, but that they were primarily "housekeeping" changes. "The overall focus remains the same," she said. The KICC report recommends that Kaho'olawe be returned to the state without conditions, but commissioners have said that rec-

ommendation hinges on the passage of HB 2105 and SB 1744. If the bills fail to pass, then the KICC would revise its report to include conditions, according to DeSoto. But so far, "We have _ every indication that the bill will pass," she added. Commissioners scheduled a March 15 workshop about Kaho'olawe for legislators.