Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 12, Number 6, 1 June 1995 — Renewal of Hawaiian Unity [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Renewal of Hawaiian Unity

bv Howena Akana Trustee-at-Large

In spite of Govemor Cayetano's pledge to support the Hawaiian Home Lands settlement during his State-of-the-State address in January, the

Legislature did not seem to share his enthusiasm for passage of progressive legislation empowering the Hawaiian people. In fact, the prospects looked pretty dismal dur- 1 ing the beginning of this year's I Legislative session, particularly in I light of two measures that were I coming out of the House of Representatives. These two initiatives coming from the House included House B i 1 1 2071 and House Bill 1828. Credit for halting

these two initiatives should be shared and enjoyed by all Hawaiians, who set aside their differences and rallied together to protect Hawaiian entitlements. House Bill 2071 "Relating to Public Lands" was introduced by House Finance Chair Calvin Say and would have reduced ceded land entitlements due to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to whatever scraps (if any) were left over after the Office of Hawaiian Affairs contributed to 20 percent of all capital improvement projects (CIP) developed on ceded lands. This would have effectively wiped out all of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' roughly $18 million ceded land revenues. A similariy disastrous measure for Hawaiians was House Bill 1828, whieh would have raised the State's general excise tax by 1 percent for two years to generate the $600 million settlement. Adding to Hawai'i's already burdensome cost of living by raising the excise tax didn't sit well with small businessmen and everyday working people, to say nothing of Hawaiians, who would have been the recipient of puhlie outrage against the idea. By refusing to make the hard budget choices necessary to fund the settlement

out of general funds, the House tried to pass the buck back to the Hawaiian people and force them to take all of the political heat for the settlement. Fortunately, none of the two bills survived. H.B. 2071 was held in thc Senatc Hawaiian

Affairs Committee by the Chair of that committee, Senator James Aki. H.B. 1828 was redrafted on the Senate side in an eleventh hour eonference committee, allowing for full funding for the next fiscal biennium in the amount of $60 million. The climate in the Legislature changed markedly towards the end of the session because the Hawaiian people were able to set aside their differences and dif¥ering visions for the future to band together to fight

all of these attacks on Hawaiian funds. This renewal of Hawaiian unity may prove 1995 to be a watershed year for our people. We should all be proud of our ability to fmd eommon ground, support important legislative measures and work together for eommon goals. lt is my hope that this spirit of lōkahi may continue to guide us through the rest of this important year, and inform our participation in the sovereignty plebiscite to be held at the end of the year. I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate all of the Hawaiian who raised their voices this year at the Legislature, of whom we should be so proud. Next month, I will continue with part three of my ongoing attempt to keep you informed about what is going on with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' money managers. My next eolumn will focus on an item of eoneem shared by all nine money managers, the fact that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has no coherent plan about how it wants to expend its investment eamings. Without such a spending plan, the managers said at a recent Budget, Finance and Policy meeting, they eannol be sure as lo whether or not their investment strategy is appropriate or not.