Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 6, 1 June 2016 — Native Hawaiians see progress in 2016 legislative session [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Native Hawaiians see progress in 2016 legislative session

By Jonathan Ching The Hawai'i State Legislature took a significant step toward ensuring that Native Hawaiians receive a fair share of puhlie land trust revenues by passing a measure introduced this year by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA). House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 188, a measure in OHA's 2016 legislative package, now urges the Governor to convene a "Puhlie Land Trust Rev-

enues Negotiating Committee," to discuss the state's constitutional obligations relating to OHA's annual pro rata share of the puhlie land trust. Comprised of the Governor, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, and the Chairperson of the OHA Board of Trustees, the committee would report its findings and recommendations back to the legislature on an annual basis, with a hnal report and any legislative proposals due by the 2018 legislative session. HCR188 addresses an issue left open 10 years ago, when OHA's annual share of puhlie land trust revenues was temporarily set at

$15.1 million, "until further action is taken by the legislature." Information from the state's own reports has since suggested that this amount fails to reflect the 20 percent of puhlie land trust proceeds to whieh OHA is constitutionally and statutorily entitled. Diligent efforts by OHA helped ensure the successful passage of this long-awaited next step in addressing Native Hawaiians' puhlie land trust claims. In addition to advocating for OHA package measures such as HCR 188, OHA's puhlie policy team reviews, analyzes, and makes position recommendations on the thousands of measures that are introduced in the Legislature eaeh year. Hundreds of pieces of testimony are drafted and submitted by puhlie policy staff, who often also work alongside community advocates, organizations, and individuals to protect and advance the interests of Native Hawaiians. Some of the most notable bills in this year's session included: House Bill 1635 anel House Bill 2173 > OHA Position: 0PP0SE > Status: Died without a hearing Known as the "leasehold conversion bills,"

these measures would have forced landowners - including the state and counties, as well as private entities - to sell currently-leased lands to their tenants. Such forced sales would privatize and thereby diminish the ceded lands corpus, to whieh Native Hawaiians have never relinquished their claims; in addition, forced sales would also significantly impact the ali'i trusts, such as Kamehameha Schools, Queen Emma Land Company, and the Queen Lili'uokalani Trust, whieh rely on lease revenues to serve their Native Hawaiian beneficiaries. After significant puhlie outcry, both measures died without a hearing. House Bill 2407 anel House Bill 2408 > OHA Position: 0PP0SE > Status: Died after crossover These bills would have given the Department of Transportation (DOT) unilateral authority to negotiate and issue long-termleases and month-to-month revocable permits for some of the state's most lucrative lands, without any opportunity forpublic review or comment. Currently, DOT must obtain the prior approval of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) to issue leases and permits for

puhlie lands under its control; the state's Sunshine Law ensures that BLNR approval decisions are publicly noticed, and open to puhlie comment. By removing the BLNR approval requirement, these bills would allow DOT leases and permits - many of whieh involve ceded and puhlie land trust lands

- to be issued without any pubiic transparency or input. Both bills died after failing to receive a eommittee hearing in the Senate. House Bill 2046 > OHA Position: 0PP0SE > Status: Died in Committee This measure would have transferred title to all state lands leased to the U.S. Army to the state Department of Defense (DOD). Such lands are currentlv held bv the BLNR, and

include Pōhakuloa Training Area on Hawai'i Island, Kawailoa and Kahuku training areas on the north shore of O'ahu, and Mākua Military Reservation on the Wai'ānae coast of O'ahu. A transfer of title would give the DOD, whieh has relatively little to no land management expertise or capacity, sole control over immense areas of public lands, as well as the natural and cultural resources they contain. Unilateral DOD control may also lead to the indefinite commitment of these lands for military training purposes, regardless of other more beneficial or appropriate uses, and without public transparency

mechanisms to ensure adequate compensation and mitigation for military use. This measure died after being deferred by the House Water & Land Committee. Governor's Message 854 > OHA Position: SUPP0RT > Status: Confirmed Unanimously by the Senate Governor's Message 854 confirmed Neil Hannahs' appointment to the state Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM), as the commissioner required to have substantial experience or expertise in traditional Hawaiian water resource management and traditional Hawaiian riparian usage. OHA strongly supported Mr. Hannahs' appointment, given his decades of experience in land and water management at Kamehameha Schools, and his lifelong efforts to integrate cultural practices and considerations in our islands' property management paradigm. With his confirmation, Mr. Hannahs' term on CWRM will begin on July 1, 2016. Governor's Messages 625, 778, SEE LEGISLATIVE ON PAGE 7

GOVERNANGE To restore pono and ea, Native Hawaiians will achieve self-gover-nanee, after whieh the assets of OHAwillhe transferred to the new governing entity.

LEGISLATIVE SESSIDN

www.oha.org/kwo | kwo@OHA.org NATIVE HAWAIIAN » NEWS | FEATURES | EVENTS

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lnternational Fellows from the Nahonal Defense University visited the state Capitol during the 201 6 Legislative session to learn more about Hawaiian culture and sovereignty. - Photo: Courtesy Hawai'i State Senate

LEGISLATIVE Continued from page 6 838, 841, 866, 878, 883, anel 884 > OHA Position: SUPP0RT > Status: Confirmed Unanimously by the Senate (all) OHA also successfully advocated for the appointment or re-appoint-ment of eight members to various island burial councils, whieh determine the appropriate treatment for iwi kūpuna identified prior to the start of development projects. These members include: Charles Mitchell to the O'ahu Island Burial Council; Evalina Watanabe, Kaheleonalani Dukelow, and Solomon Church to the Maui and Lāna'i Island Burial Council; Frances Cobb-Adams to the Moloka'i Island Burial Couneil; and Richard Nesmith, Theodore

Blake, and Sandra Quinsaat to the Kaua'i and Ni'ihau Island Burial Council. With their confirmation, these individuals will allow our island burial councils to eonhnue their important work in ensuring the appropriate consideration and treatment of our ancestors' burials. House Bill 2501 > OHA Position: 0PP0SE > Status: Awaiting Governor's signature One of the most controversial and highly opposed measures of this session was nevertheless passed by the Legislature, notwithstanding active and ongoing opposition by a large number of Native Hawaiian, environmental, and other community groups, as well as OHA itself. This bill was largely seen as a reaction to a court order invalidating the "holdover" of revocable permits issued to

Alexander & Baldwin over a decade ago, to allow the company to eontinue diverting East Maui watershed streams while an environmental assessment was completed on its long-term lease application for those same streams. After 13 years of a continuous "holdover" status, with no environmental assessment started, mueh less completed, a court decision finally appeared to set into motion what East Maui kalo farmers, practitioners, and environmentalists have been seeking for decades: the return of water to their streams. In its hnal form, this measure would allow for the continued dewatering of East Maui's streams by Alexander & Baldwin, notwithstanding the recent court order. With the bill now on his desk, Governor Ige has until July 12 to sign it into law, allow it to pass into law without his signature, orkill it with a veto. ■