Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 18, Number 11, 1 November 2001 — OHA must progress [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA must progress

On Sept. 25, the Board voted to re-organize, electing Clayton Hee as the chair and myself as vice chair. Criticisms . of that decision include changing horses in the middle of the stream and disrupting the flow of things here at OHA. The opponents to the reorganization cite the many programs whieh have been successfully funded by OHA as the reason to keep leadership. It must be noted, however, that those programs were funded by the vote of the majority of' the full board and have been funded at OHA for at least five years or more. The reorganization occurred because OHA is in a crisis situation due to the Hawai'i Supreme Court decision to overturn Act 304. Act 304 helped to clarify the 20 percent of revenues trust entitlement due OHA from the use of ceded lands. With the clarifying sections struck down,- the court has no statutory

guidance regarding the calculation of trust payments and turns to the legislature with the need for new law. Essentially, the court has enppled the ineome stream of OHA and tossed the trust entitlement definition issues to the legislature. It is imperative that a strong leadership wil! work with the legislature on behalf of OHA to guide the board and our policies. As Trustee John Waihe'e IV stated, "there are great peacetime leaders and great wartime leaders." The former chairman may have some experience in administration, however, none in government, business and finances (political appointments to boards do not count). It must be remembered that the Hawai'i Supreme Court decision overturning Act 304 comes at a time when our State and Nation are in a crisis. After the World Trade Center attacks, OHA will be facing a legislature witb,considerably less funds thah previously, and we must try to extract some of those funds

for Uie constitutionally mandated purpose of aiding Hawaiians. OHA needs leadership who is not afraid to step up to the plate and battle for those funds. Clayton Hee and I are the most experienced trustees on the board with 1 1 years of historical knowledge. While it is niee to talk about how to plan to plan, there was nothing being done to protect OHA against external attacks and judicial decisions that impact our trust. There were no plans on the horizon by the former leadership to make any correctivē changes to protect against future assaults. OHA must now look to eeonomie development and other creative resources to eontinue to fund its current programs and to look at new programs relative to today's needs. The Rice decision invalidated the "Hawaiians only" voter base of OHA. Strikeone! The state court's ruling invalidates the basis for trust ineome. Strike two! The "third

strike and you're out" would be a damaging ruling in the anticipated challenge to the constitutionality of entitlements for Native Hawaiians. If Hawaiians are to avoid strike three, it is imperative that OHA move quickly and decisively on sovereignty at the national level. A federal office is needed as well as lobbying and educational efforts at both the federal and state levels. None of this has been aeeomplished, and the eloek is ticking. We must not be afraid to make decisions and face any criticism that may eome from those decisions if we believe they are the right decisions. These are pressing issues facing our Hawaiian beneficiaries, and decisions eannol linger or take forever — the moment to act is NOW! This is the reason for the reorganization and the selection of Clayton Hee as the chair. " 4r

Rowena Akana

V?ce Chair, Trustee, At-large