Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 4, 1 April 2016 — Judge upholds ruling in Nelson case [ARTICLE]

Judge upholds ruling in Nelson case

Contributed by the Native hlawaiian Legal Corporation Here 's an update 011 the Hawaiian Homes funding case entitled "Nelson v. Hawaiian Homes Commission, et al." (Nehon v. HHC). First Circuit Court Judge Jeannette Castagnetti heard arguments related to the State's motion to reconsider her earlier ruling for over an hour on Friday, February 26 and issued a detailed ruling on Monday, February 29. Despite pleas from the attorney general's office and the legislature that she do so, Judge Castagnetti refused to back down from that ruling whieh found that the State violated its own constitution by failing to provide sufficient funds to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. Judge Castagnetti emphatically declared, "The evidence at trial amply demonstrated that the amount DHHL requires for its administrative and operating budget for this fiscal year is more than 28 million, specifically $28,478,966.00, and that the amount

appropriated by the Legislature, $9,632,000.00 was not sufficient." She explained, "The Hawai'i Constitution mandates or requires the State, the Legislature, to act to make sufficient sums available to DHHL for its administrative and operating budget by appropriating same in the manner provided by law. There's no discretion, DHHL's administrative and operating budget must be funded." After admonishing the State for the "longstanding" failure to fund DHHL, Judge Castagnetti changed three sentences in her forty page decision. Those changes amounted to wordsmithing that confirmed her continued respect for the legislature as a co-equal branch of government yet maintained her original position. So, while she modified her order to avoid directly stepping on legislative toes, she nonetheless continued to explain in very clear and concise terms what the legislature would have to do to comply with the State Constitution. The legislature has not yet signaled whether it would be complying with the judge's order. ■