Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 34, Number 4, 1 April 2017 — Why doesn't OHA receive Revenue from "Ceded Lands" that our Airports sit on? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Why doesn't OHA receive Revenue from "Ceded Lands" that our Airports sit on?

As you know, in Hawai'i, the term "ceded lands" refers to the approximately 1 .8 million acres of land that were the foimer Crown and Government lands of the Hawaiian monarchv. The

government of the Hawaiian Kingdom was overthi'own by anti-monai'chical residents of Hawai'i. This in tum led to the foimation of a Provisional Government and to the Republic of Hawai'i,

whieh is the govemment that achieved the so-called "annexation," whereby the former Crown and Government lands were given ("ceded") to the United States Federal government! In 1959, the Hawai'i Admission Act made Hawai'i a U.S. State and

transferred the title to most of the "ceded lands" from the U.S. federal government to the State of Hawai'i. This Admission Act required that the lands be held in "Trusf ' by the State of Hawai'i and that these lands and their proceeds be used for five (5) puhlie tmst pmposes: 1) Support of puhlie schools and other puhlie educational institutions; 2) Betteiment of the conditions of native Hawaiians; 3) Development of faim and home ownership on a widespread basis; 4) Puhlie improvements; and, 5) Provision of lands for puhlie use. During the 1978 Hawai'i State Constitutional Convention delegates felt that the second puhlie trust purpose had been largely ignored, and introduced amendments to the State Constitution that reaffiimed that the lands held in the puhlie trust were to benefit native Hawaiians and the general puhlie and then established the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) to hold the ineome and proceeds from these lands in tmst for Hawaiians. OHA would serve as a means whereby Native Hawaiians could make thek own decisions

toward the investment of ceded lands and collect revenues generated from those lands to fund programs for theii' people. So what happened to the revenue from lands that our aiiports sit on? After attendins a seminar where

Hawaiian Airlines CEO Mark Dunkerly was the keynote speaker, I leamed that the puhlie thinks OHA collects revenue from the airport "ceded" lands ! A'ole!

So the question is - What happened? This is what happened: "DOT-Airports: On October 27, 1997, President Bill Clinton signed H.R. 2169 known as the Fiscal Yeai' 1998 Transportation Appropriations bill, whieh contains the OHA forgiveness legis-

lation. Section 340(c) "Prohibition on Fuither Diversion" states that . . . "There Shall Be No Further Payment of Airport Revenues from claims related to ceded lands, whether characterized as operating expenses, rent, or othei-wise, and whether related to claims for periods of time prior to or after the date of enactment of this Act." Source - http://oaoa.hawaii.gov/ jud/20281.htm Based on this Federal legislation, the State of Hawai'i still has its existing trust obligations to Hawaiians for the use of "ceded" aiipoil trust lands, but it just may not use aiiport revenues to dii'ectly satisfy its obligations. This has been a long disputed issue between OHA and the State; at present, OHA does NOT receive any payments for revenues generated from the aiipoits.. So there, now you have the answer. . . On January 31, 2008, the Hawai'i Supreme Couit ruled that the State of Hawai'i must resolve the claims of Native Hawaiians before selling ceded lands. . .But this is left for another Ka Wai. Ola eolumn. A hui hou, Trustee Leina'ala ■

Leina'ala Ahu lsa, Ph.D. At-largE

Photo: TrusteeAhulsa