Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 2, 1 February 2006 — OHA's 2006 legislative oullook [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA's 2006 legislative oullook

Cūlette Y. Machadū TrustEE, Mūlūka'i and Lāna'i

Last year, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs celebrated its 25th anniversary - a quarter of a century since its debut in November 1980. Amid a sea of political and legal challenges, OHA's journey has evolved to include the foundations for a Hawaiian nation. While the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act lingers in Washington, D.C., OHA moves forward with the introduction of our 2006 Legislative Package to the state Legislature. OHA's 2006 Legislative Package will revive bills from 2005 that were held, including a bill that would help clarify the revenues derived from the lands comprising the public land trust. On Sept. 12, 2001, the Hawai'i Supreme Court invalidated Act 304, the law that had previously determined OHA's share of ceded lands revenue. Other bills related to ceded lands aim to prevent the alienation, sale and exchange of lands that are or may be part of the state's ceded lands trust. In the last several years, OHA has actively opposed these types of land transactions and hopes to gain legislative support of this stance. Another revived measure asks for the representation of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs on the state Board of Land and Natural Resources, the state Land Use Commission and the public advisory body for coastal zone management. The bill requests that the governor appoint one member to eaeh of these bodies from separate lists of nominees submitted by OHA. Part of OHA's Biennium Budget approved in the last session involved a major change in the way OHA supports Hawaiian programs like Alu Like ine., the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation and Nā Pua No'eau. The Legislature mandated that financial support of these programs shall be completed through a competitive bidding process in accordance with

Hawai'i Revised Statutes chapters 103D and 103F. Essentially, OHA ean no longer have these services automatically placed into its annual budget request to the Legislature. Spurred by recent Internet auction postings of Hawaiian artifacts, one of fifteen new bills in OHA's 2006 Legislative Package aims to prohibit the sale and purchase of such culturally sensitive items online. It also establishes the category of crime and penalties for selling or purchasing an antiquity in violation of the law. Another new measure would require a percentage of all public elementary, intermediate and high schools to offer Hawaiian language courses. The measure also offers a Hawaiian language teacher loan fund be established to aid teachers who make the commitment to teach Hawaiian in public schools. Also part of the package is a bill that will allow OHA to develop housing projects exempt from all statutes, ordinances, charter provisions and rules of any governmental agency relating to planning, districting, zoning, constructive standards for subdivisions development and improvement of land, and the construction of units. This effort is geared towards finding a solution to Hawai'i's affordable housing crisis. Two kuleana land bills were submitted this session in addition to the one that was revived from last session, whieh seeks tax exemptions for qualified landowners. The first measure terminates the requirement that the Department of Land and Natural Resources has to approve an OHA plan for the use and management of kuleana lands before such lands ean escheat to OHA; and makes OHA a party to all actions to quiet title to kuleana land in whieh escheat is an issue, regardless of when the escheat is alleged to have control. The second bill will bar claims to kuleana lands based on adverse possession. As in the years previous, OHA will continue to remind lawmakers, both locally and nationally, of their duty to put in high priority and ultimately resolve Native Hawaiian issues. S