Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 2, 1 February 2009 — 2009: Legislative will to dose the 30-year chapter? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

2009: Legislative will to dose the 30-year chapter?

Aloha nui e nā 'ōiwi 'ōlino mai Hawai'i a Ni'ihau a puni ke ao mālamalama. Hau'oli makahiki hou kākou. Beginning lan. 21, 2009, opening day, the state Legislature takes center stage on South Beretania Street. Legislation to resolve back payments of Puhlie Land Trust "revenue" due OHA since 1978 has been submitted. The Hawai'i State Supreme Court holds that the Legislature has the constitutional obligation to fairly set amount of past due "disputed" revenues. In 1993, the Waihe'e administration and OHA completed a three-year negotiation regarding ineome and proceeds to be paid OHA from the Puhlie Land Trust to fulfill obligations under the Constitution of the State of Hawai'i. The "undisputed" sum due OHA was calculated from 1978, the year OHA was established; the state Legislature enacted law to provide for that payment. Lfnfortunately, during those negotiations between OHA and the Waihe'e administration a handful of issues related to the ineome and proceeds remained "disputed"; consequently, the parties agreed to eall them unresolved issues that would be left for resolution at later time. Thus, the partial settlement payment on the agreed "undisputed" revenue was paid to OHA in 1993. Trustees established the OHA investment portfolio. And the "disputed" revenue issues were left unresolved for a future time. A decade-and-a-half later these "disputed" revenues have not been paid and remain unresolved and the State of Hawai'i (Legislature) remains neglectful of its constitutional obligation. It is these "disputed" issues on revenues that OHA Trustees are working to resolve. A resolution of "disputed" revenue claims from the Puhlie Land Trust between OHA and the Lingle administration was achieved in 2007 after nearly four years of negotiation. The proposal was submitted to the 2008

Legislature for legislative action. In the end, the hill failed in the state Senate. Before sine die 2008, the Legislature enacted language urging that in the intervening months work eonhnue to resolve the "dispute concerning the amount and proceeds from the pro rata share portion of the puhlie trust that the office should have received from November 7, 1978 to lune 30, 2008, pursuant to Article XII, sections 4 and 6, of the state constitution." And that, implementing legislation for the 2009 Legislature be submitted to the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives before their hill introduction deadline. The 2009 hill has been submitted to the Senate President and the House Speaker. The 2009 hill is based on negotiations combined with extensive beneficiary and legislative feedback from 2008. OHA held more than 45 statewide conununity meetings and spent the last seven months addressing eomments received from the meetings. This 2009 hill will resolve past due "disputed" revenue claims between Nov. 7, 1978, and Iuly 1, 2008, for the value of $200 million, whieh OHA will acquire in two phases. Cognizant of the strapped conditions of the present economy, OHA will accept payment in the fonn of land. Enactment by the 2009 Legislature will provide that OHA receive property valued at nearly $127.2 million in 2009, and in 2010 OHA receive yet-to-be detennined land valued at $72.8 million to complete the halanee of the $200 million. OHA's annual payment of $15.1 million from the ineome and proceeds of the Puhlie Land Trust (Act 178 of 2006) continues without restraint. 2009 parcels to be conveyed include: Kaka'ako Makai parcels, Honolulu, along with the Country Club Condo, Reed's Bay Resort, Lfncle Billy's Hilo Bay, and Hilo Hawaiian hotels and the Naniloa Hotel and Golf Course in Hilo. These are parcels previously identified for 2008. "Disputed" past due revenue payment is the target of this 2009 hill. It's time to enact this overdue legislation. It merits the eommunity's vigorous support. 2/48 ^

LEO 'ELELE ■ TRUSTEE MESSAGES

Haunani Apuliuna. MSW Chairpersūn, TrustEE, At-large