Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 2, 1 February 2015 — Another legislative session; more finesse needed by OHA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Another legislative session; more finesse needed by OHA

Aloha aku, aloha mai, OHA's Committee on Beneficiary Advocacy and Empowerment (BAE) engages all levels of government along with private and community organizations involved in Hawaiian issues to advocate for Hawaiians. In the 2015 state legislative session, the BAE committee must support the passage of legislation that beneflts Hawaiians, and clearly defeat

legislation whieh is not in the best interest of OHA and its beneflciaries. From July to September 2014, OHA eonducted outreach and solicited legislative ideas from OHA staff, key stakeholders, experts, community leaders and other community members. Through this process, prospective ideas were vetted and developed into the seven legislative proposals described here. Continuing as its ehainnan since 2010, 1'm happy to present here on behalf of the BAE Committee, the OHA-introduced measures seeking legislative adoption to achieve OHA's strategic results. 2015 OHA LEGISLATIVE PACKAGE (pending legislative numbers) OHA-1 OHA Appropriations Act of 2015 - FY 2015-16 / FY 2016-17 Since 1981, OHA continues to receive state general funds from the Legislature. This request seeks just under $7.5 million of general funding appropriations to OHA over the next two flscal years. Most of the general funds will go to social, legal, educational improvement, health improvement, housing improvement and ineome improvement services for beneflciaries. A lesser amount will go to personnel and operations costs as programmatic support to fulflll these listed services. OHA's match with trust funds, along with community partner funding, will provide a total of $20.5 million to assist Native Hawaiian communities through June 30, 2017. OHA-2 Hawaiian Language Immersion Program Assessments This bill requires the Department of Education to develop an independent language arts, math, and science assessment in the Hawaiian language for Hawaiian Language Immersion Program students in certain grades. OHA-3 Native Hawaiian Law Training Course

This measure requires the members of certain boards and commissions to attend a Native Hawaiian Law and puhlie trust training course paid for by OHA and developed by third-party legal experts. Feedback has been positive by participants since January 2013. OHA-4 Hawaiian Crops and Small-Scale Farms This bill amends the State Planning Act to add the growth and devel-

opment of small-scale farms and traditional Hawaiian farming methods and crops as new agricultural priorities of the State. It elevates the status of small-scale farmers, whieh Hawaiian farmers tend to be. OHA-5 Hawaiian Plants The Puhlie Procurement Code is amended to expressly mandate the inclusion of a gradually increasing percentage of Hawai'i-grown native and Polynesian-introduced plants in publicly funded landscaping projects. OHA-6 Data Collection of Pa'ahao Children This requires Department of Puhlie Safety intake centers to now collect or coordinate the collection of data on incarcerated parents and their respective minor ehikken. Such data will help develop services to curb social costs. OHA-7 Public Land Trust - Accurate Accounting Enacted in 2006, Act 178 requires that all annual revenues generated on puhlie land trust parcels be reported to OHA. This helps to ensure that both OHA and the state have a clearer understanding of what OHA's actual pro rata share of such revenues should be, as mandated by the Hawai'i State Constitution. Currently, an interim settlement of $15.1 million is annually paid to OHA in temporary satisfaction of its constitutional pro rata share, pending further discussion and negotiation. When OHA retained an outside accounting consultant to evaluate the accuracy and eompleteness of the reporting of puhlie land trust revenues under Act 178, discrepancies arose. This resolution urges the Governor to direct all state departments and agencies to provide accurate and complete reports in eomplianee with Act 178's reporting requirements. That is our report; always advocating for Hawaiians. ■

Jūhn Waihe'e IV Trustee, At-large