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| A U.S. Supreme Court case on the state's right to sell the lands before claims are settled was forefront on the minds of Native Hawaiians. Lawmakers addressed the issue by passing a bill that would require two-thirds approval by the House and Senate before the sale of most state land. - Photo: Blaine Fergerstrom |
ceded lands bill
Failed bills will have to
be addressed in 2010
By Mele Carroll
It has been an honor and privilege serving this legislative session as the Chairwoman of both the House Hawaiian Affairs Committee and the Legislative Hawaiian Caucus. I have advocated for transparency, public notification and an open process through which my office has welcomed many suggestions, comments and recommendations from the general public on the many issues related to Native Hawaiians.
The top priority and most significant issue that we faced this session related to Native Hawaiians was the sale and transfer of state public lands or ceded lands. I continue to support a full moratorium of public state land sales and transfers and believe that we need to protect the corpus or trust until Native Hawaiians relinquish their claims and reconcile. Senate bill 1677 passed and went to the governor for her consideration. This legislation calls for a two-thirds majority vote approval process of both houses by a concurrent resolution.
SB 1677 also requires that a copy of the concurrent resolution requesting a sale, transfer or exchange of land be submitted to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which will be responsible for notifying their beneficiaries of the requested transaction.
In summary, other bills that the House Hawaiian Affairs Committee passed included: HB 899, which clarifies and strengthens the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' bond authority; HB 1612 and SB 1268 permits the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to receive and subsequently assign, transfer or exchange county affordable housing credits; HB 1015 enables DHHL to begin construction on affordable housing projects without having the full and final amount of the capital costs on hand at the beginning of the project; HB 1666 requires that all letterheads, documents, symbols and emblems of the state and other political subdivisions include both state languages, Hawaiian and English; HB 1665 prohibits the sale of public lands on which government-owned Hawaiian fishponds are located; and HB 901 and SB 995 allow the state to make progress toward meeting part of its constitutional obligation to Native Hawaiians by addressing the additional amount of income and proceeds that OHA is to receive from the public trust pursuant to article XII, sections 4 and 6, of the Hawai'i Constitution, for the period Nov. 7, 1978, to July 1, 2008. Later amended in conference committee, SB 995 included language for a global settlement, which raised concerns from many Native Hawaiians. I believe that this new language added to SB 995 is what killed the bill this session.
In February, the House Hawaiian Affairs Committee held informational briefings and hearings receiving public testimony on HB 901 throughout the islands of Moloka'i, Hawai'i Island, Maui, O'ahu and Kaua'i.
A hot topic, the purpose of HB 1663 is to further protect the cultural integrity of kalo as part of the heritage of the Hawaiian people and the state; the genetic biodiversity and integrity of Hawaiian taro varieties in the state as part of the sacred trust between the state and the indigenous peoples of Hawai'i; and by establishing a ban on developing, testing, propagating, releasing, importing, planting and growing genetically modified Hawaiian taro in Hawai'i. It is unfortunate that HB 1663 didn't make it out of conference committee this session, therefore we will have to address this issue again in 2010 session.
I want to thank everyone who submitted letters of support and made telephone calls voicing support for the HB 900 House draft amendment that appropriated $2.4 million for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' operating budget, which follows the 20 percent cuts faced by other state agencies.
After careful consideration and debate during conference committee meetings on HB 900, an agreement was reached and we passed an OHA budget bill that provides OHA with critical resources to continue their work in making lives better for Hawaiians, and in doing so, better for all citizens of our great state.
Of the bills described above, HB 899, SB 1268, SB 1677 and HB 900 were passed and sent to the governor; like the taro bill, the rest will be addressed next session.
Again, I am honored to serve all of the people of Hawai'i. I will continue to work diligently to address these issues that impact us all. Mahalo to everyone that participated in our legislative process and shared their mana'o.
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