Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 16, Number 5, 1 May 1999 — 'A bill for an act relating to the public land trust' [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

'A bill for an act relating to the public land trust'

ON APRIL 6, 1 testified before the House Committee on Finance against Senate Bill 1635, S.D. 1; H.D. 2. Among speakers also against the bill was a kupuna who said it was without "aloha," that it had no "love" for kanaka maoh nor for anyone else who hves in Hawai'i nei today. As amended by the House, OHA, at least for now, wih not have to match the state's inihal proposal of $750,000 from tnist funds in fiscal year of 1999-2000 and again in 2000-2001. The state's intentional withholding of the remainder of our

share of ceded lands ineome has caused me mueh eoneem. Based on the questions of some eommittee members, I ean only offer a tentative solution: If we are close on what you owe us, we wih accept what you think you owe us now, and then we ean possibly take another 30 days to agree or disagree on the halanee. But, please, do not offer us, as a līnal settlement, half of what is due to our people. Where is the halanee? Today I am more than ever opposed to SB 1635. The deletion of the appropriation section represents an attempt to make the bill more palatable when in fact it is worse than before. I read and re-read the bill to find out why my na'au was so 'ano. I opened the Hawai'i Revised Stamtes and there was the answer, right before my eyes, the work of another kanaka maoh, Alvin Shimm, a 1941 Kamehameha School for Boys classmate of the kupuna I spoke about.

This bill is dangerous for everybody in Hawai'i, but for kanaka maoli it is a wanton and intentional act of genocide. It is designed to strip our people of their birthright and entitlements, just as our 'āina and identity were stolen when we were subjected to martial law after Jan. 17, 1893.

SB 1635 is a whole bunch of words about how the state auditor wih provide administrative support for the committee of six, including two appointees ffom OHA who are in the minority before the first meeting even starts. The bih says the auditor wih coordinate the resolution of the issues and controversies surrounding the pubhc land trust currently subject to Sec. 5(f) of the Admissions Act. Who is saying there are "issues and controversies surrounding the pubhc land trust"? The only controversy today is the state's obhgation to pay its bih to the Hawaiians through OHA. The kaona ho'o'ino'ino is found in lines 2-5, page 2, whieh reads as follows: "The committee shall conduct pubhc hearings throughout the state to facihtate discussion and formulate recommendations on issues within the joint committee's PURVIEW." Through these words, the state has authorized the "blue-ribbon" committee of

four (the majority) of the six members, to create the solution to the "ceded land ineome debt" owing to the kanaka maoh by changing the law governing the operation of OHA. The word "purview" lets the committee of four or six raise any issue. Onee the issue of ceded land ineome is approved by a majority of four, the eommittee ean conduct pubhc hearings to change the constitutional ~ law governing OHA. The "kaona" has eome to the surface in spite of the verbiage - the "ku'ipalu" for Hawaiians who have not seen the true nature of SB 1635. Why would a legislative eommittee need to publish legal notices to prepare an inventory of our stolen or ceded lands? Why would a committee to find our stolen lands be made up of appointees of the chief justice, Senate president, House speaker and the governor? 'O wau iho nō, me ke aloha pau 'ole. ■

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