Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 5, 1 May 1996 — Legislators revive governor's bill, target OHA trust [ARTICLE]

Legislators revive governor's bill, target OHA trust

by Patrick Johnston The House struck a blow at the heart of the Hawaiian trust last month when it passed a bill that, if passed by the full Legislature, would reduce OHA's share of ceded lands revenue by 80 percent. By gutting a Senate bill, House Finance Committee Chairman Calvin Say was able to revive language from legislation Govemor Cayetano had introduced earlier in the session. The committee then moved the new bill - S.B. 1698, HD 3 - to the House floor for a vote. The House then passed the legislation. As Ka Wai Ola went to press the legislation was awaiting a conference committee meeting.

Passage of the bill prompted two major protest rallies: an April 10 march by OHA and other Hawai'.m groups that finished at the Capitol; and a mueh larger gathering of Hawaiians and trust supporters at the Capitol Rotunda April 23. Senate Bill 1698, HD 3 While the govemor called the legislation a "clarification" of revenues owed to OHA what SB 1698 actually would have done was allow the state to use money that OHA presently receives as part of its budget balancing efforts. The govemor's bill would have done this in two ways: It would have had OHA eontribute to the cost of the improvements on ceded lands before the agency received the

20 percent share of revenues generated by those improvements; and it would have designated a number of operations on ceded lands — airports, harbors, housing projects and public hospitals — as sovereign functions of the state removing them from the list of proprietary operations that produce revenues OHA is entitled to. Some of the revenues targeted, such as those from airports and harbors, OHA is presently receiving. Other revenues - moneys from public hospitals for example - OHA believes it should get a portion of but presently does not. According to figures produced by the state Department of Budget and Finance, the bill would have lowered OHA revenues from approximately $15 million to less than $3 million annually, an 80

percent reduction. OHA response OHA's lobby team reacted swiftly to news that the legislation was active again. Trustees Frenchy DeSoto and Kīna'u Kamali'i both contributed testimony at the House Finance Committee hearing, as did Alan Murakami of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation. OHA Chairman Clayton Hee was also at the hearing and responded to questions from legislators. "Passage of this bill will virtually eliminate the revenue stream

OHA receives as a result of the state's entitlement to native Hawaiians," DeSoto said in testimony before the committee. She added, "I am amazed that this is happening. We eame to the Legislature in the opening days of this session not to ask for more money, but to offer a new approach and relationship between our office as repre-

sentatives of the Hawaiian people and the representatives of the State of Hawai'i In return, we have spent mueh of our time this session battling measures designed to reduce OHA's revenue stream." The bill that was eventually passed by the Finance Committee and later by the entire House did not include the section that would have had OHA pay for improvements on ceded lands. However, the section pertaining to revenues from airports and harbors - the most significant financially for OHA - was left intact. See rallies pages 10-13

"Passage of this bill will virtually eliminate the revenue stream OHA receives as a result of the state's entitlement to native Hawaiians," — Trustee Frenchy DeSoto