Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 15, Number 4, 1 April 1998 — Eyes on our lawmakers [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Eyes on our lawmakers

KE ALOHA nui...e nā 'ōiwi o Hawai'i, nā mamo o kēia 'āina makuahine. This is the 14th article in my series of 46. Census 2000 Update A recent Census 2000 update notes, "The House of Representatives has filed suit against the Commerce Department and the Census Bureau seeking to stop the Bureau from using sampling to count the population in the 2000 census. The lawsuit, filed on Feb. 20 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, also asks the court.to mle that the sampling methods the Bureau plans to use in 2000 are unconstitutional and unlawful under the Census Act. The complaint notes that the lawsuit was filed at the direction of Speaker Newt Gingrich. The Los Angeles-based law firm of Latham and Watkins is representing the House of Representatives. Members of the Congress who disagree with the lawsuit may try to intervene in the case on the side of the Census Bureau"

Key Dates at the Legislature March 10, filing deadline for budget bills. March 12, first crossover. March 20, last day to introduce substantive resolutions. April 9, filing deadline for second decking; last day to deck bills that were amended by the receiving (non-origi-nating) body. April 1 6, second crossover; last

day for third reading of bills amended by the receiving body; first crossover for concurrent resolutions; last day to pass resolutions to the nonoriginating body; last day to disagree with the other body's drafts of bills. Apiil 23, deadline for final form of constitutional amendments. Apiil 27, second crossover for concurrent resolutions; last day to pass concurrent resolutions amended by the receiving body. Apiil 30, last day to file non-fiscal bills to deck for final reading. May 1, last day to file fiscal bills to deck for final reading. May 5, the legislature adjoums.

A Measure In Focus SB 3034, SD1 Relating to the Hawai'i Maritime Authority would "establish a Hawai'i Maritime Authority as an independent public entity that sets statewide policy on all matters relating to Hawai'i's maritime lands and facilities." OHA opposed passage. The bill would create a mega-agency with broad powers over the sale, use

an(j diSp0sition of the submerged lands, the fast lands, the shorelines, the shore waters and the contiguous adjacent areas. Land speculators could dominate the goveming board and fast track questionable projects without citizen oversight. The bill glosses over the fact that many of the lands under the Authority are ceded lands, and for whieh the state owes a fiduciary duty to native Hawaiians. Creation of the Authority could obscure the state's responsibility and make it difficult to trace the funds owed to native Hawaiians through OHA as part of the

state's trust obligation. The measure is also silent on how traditional and customary rights of Hawaiians are to be accommodated. The Maritime Authority could override the DOT, DLNR, HCDA and Aloha Tower Development Corporation. OHA concluded its testimony saying, "This bill will foster community distrust, will increase conflicts between agencies, community interests and individuals, and will create more problems than it intends to solve. It is unjust for the legislature and the governor to eap ceded land revenues due to OHA beneficiaries for two years and eompel OHA to participate in joint committee discussions as required under Act 329; and at the same time, the govemor and the legislature appear to be actively pursuing legislative action to diminish trust lands and revenues by switching lands and creating special funds in the 1998 legislative session. The direction of this measure appears to continue the erosion of Hawaiian entitlements." The Senate Ways and Means Committee decided on March 6 to hold SB 3034, SD1. The House measure is being monitored. ■

Vice-chairperson ' s m e s s a g e

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