Entitlements

By: Trustee Rowena Akana
December 11, 1998

In his inaugural speech on December 7th, Governor Cayetano made a pledge to the Hawaiian community, “…And I pledge here and now that I will leave no stone unturned in settling the state’s differences with OHA over ceded lands. Before the end of my term we will reach a settlement which is fair and just to all, Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian.”

In the short time that I have been the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, I’ve made it clear that one of my priorities is to seek what is fair for our people. We’ve waited much too long for the State and Federal governments to lend credibility to their words. I am hopeful that the governor’s words are not empty words to be added to the pile of rhetoric dating back to the annexation in 1898, when 1.8 million acres of government and crown lands were taken. A Joint Resolution of Annexation provided that money from the ceded lands would be used solely for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands. Since that time we have waited for them to make these words credible. Hawaiians can no longer afford to wait for the governments to keep their words. It should be clear to everyone by now that unless we make things happen, waiting cannot be one of our options.

The Organic Act which established Hawaii as a U.S. Territory, also provided that ceded lands would be used for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands.

As we work toward achieving fairness from the State in negotiations on the Heely rulings, we must be equal partners in these negotiations.

Some suggest that compromise is the key. I whole-heartedly agree. OHA and its beneficiaries have compromised. That’s why we receive only 20 percent of proprietary revenues instead of 100 percent. That’s why the state forced Act 329 upon the Hawaiians. An Act which capped OHA’s revenue at $15 million for two years, while the state worked out its fiscal problems. The cap expires on June 30, 1999. The State is not any closer to any real negotiating numbers than they were two years ago. How serious do you suppose they are in negotiating a settlement with OHA? Some public comments made by the Governor are troubling. He said he was very comfortable with the $15 million cap. Also troubling is the fact that Calvin Say, (the new speaker of the house) had decided not to name a Hawaiian Affairs Committee because, he said it wasn’t important enough! The biggest issue facing the legislature is the ceded land claims! Calvin Say has put Hawaiian Affairs in the hands of the Judiciary Chair (Ed Case, Rep. Manoa). This is the committee that will hear Hawaiian bills and have the ability to change the laws of the land. They want to make sure that they create a bill that will statutorily stand up to muster. So in one fell swoop, they can destroy OHA and the 20% revenue share of cash entitlements. This maneuver is so blatant that the house leadership is confident that they can wipe us out.

I am happy to see that the Governor is publicly moving his position from not being able to afford what OHA is claiming to be its rightful share of revenues from ceded lands to a position of settling our differences.

In advocating for Hawaiian ceded lands and entitlements, OHA must put its best team together to represent us. People who are akamai and experienced. Recently, the Board of Trustees approved a team consisting of myself and Trustees Clayton Hee and Mililani Trask as primary team members.

We trustees must have you alongside us as we journey to our eventual and rightful end: Justice. From now on, it will take all Hawaiians to stave off the attack.

Hawaiians Can Make a Difference

By Trustee Rowena Akana
June 9, 1997

This summer, I’ll be getting together with representatives of various Native American tribes to see what we can learn from those who have found successful models of self-government and economic self-sufficiency. I’ll be sharing my observations with you, but this month I want to repeat how important your vote is. As I compare our situation with the Native American tribes’, the difference in our numbers occurs to me. Unlike Native Americans in any state, “Native” and part-Hawaiians eligible to vote are counted in the hundreds of thousands and we could have real clout at the polls.

You have seen me hint, not too subtly, in this paper and others, at replacing legislators who pretend to be our friends but are not really committed to our well-being. Although our next elections are 17 months away, it is not too early to be asking whether an incumbent deserves your vote. Potentially, we Hawaiians could form a bloc capable of striking terror into the hearts of two-faced politicians.

In the past, I have personally endorsed or opposed certain candidates. In the future, I will be guided by, among other factors, the first vote on the original objectionable draft of House Bill 2207. As passed, this legislation represents a compromise between the Senate and OHA which buys us time but locks us into a $15 million annual payment when everyone knows we are owed twice that. This dubious deal is supposed to give us our badly needed inventory of ceded lands which the Governor is dead set against. He claims that an inventory will take too long and that our claims should be settled now. Why? Does he know more than he is saying?

Watch the Governor carefully between now and November 1998. Watch your senators too. Recently Senator Lehua Fernandes Sallings lost her co-chairmanship of the powerful Ways and Means Committee to Roz Baker, a team-player who pushed the so-called “insurance reform” that is so flawed. We need to track this kind of movement. As for our friends and enemies in the House of Representatives, a vote for HB 2207 was a vote against Hawaiians.

Once again, here are the legislators who don’t deserve our vote:

Democrats:

Abinsay, Felipe; Moanalua, Shafter, Kapalama, Kalihi Waena
Ahu Isa, Lei; Alewa, Kapalama, Liliha, Nuuanu, Puunui
Cachola, Romy; Kalihi Kai, Palama
Case, Ed; Manoa
Chang, Jerry; South Hilo
Garcia, Nestor; Waipahu, Crestview
Goodenow, Kenny; Waimanalo, Keolu, Lanikai, Kailua, Lanikai,EL
Herkes, Bob; Ka’u, Puna
Ito, Ken; Kaneohe
Hiraki, Kenneth; Kakaako, Downtown, Ala Moana
Jones, Merwyn; Makaha, Waianae
Kanoho, Ezra; Lihue, Kapaa
Kawakami, Bertha; Koloa, Waimea, Niihau
Marilyn Lee; Mililani, Waipio
Morihara, David; Paia, Makawao, Kunia, etc.
Menor, Ron; Wheeler AFB, Mililani
Nakasone, Bob; Kahului, Wailuku, Waikapu
Okamura, Tom; Red Hill, Halawa Heights, Pearlridge, Aiea
Oshiro, Marcus; Wahiawa, Whitmore Village
Oshiro, Paul; Ewa Beach, Waipahu
Say, Calvin; Palolo, St. Louis, Kaimuki
Souki, Joe; Waihee, Wailuku
Stegmaier, David; Hawaii Kai, Portlock, Kalama
Suzuki, Nathan; Aliamanu, Moanalua, Salt Lake
Takamine, Dwight; N. Hamakua, N. Hilo, N. Kohala
Tom, Terrance ; Kahaluu, Ahuimanu, Heeia, Kaneohe
White, Mike; Lahaina, Kaanapali, Molokai, Lanai
Yamane, Brian; Diamond Head, Kapahulu, Kaimuki, Waikiki
Yonamine, Nobu; Pacific Palisades, Momilani, Manana
Yoshinaga, Terry N.; McCully, Moiliili, Pawaa

Republican:

Marumoto, Barbara; Waialae, Kahala, Wilhelmina Rise

As for our friends in the House, I hope Hawaiians will join me in supporting these legislators who voted against HB 2207:

Democrats:

Dennis Arakaki; Kam Heights, Kalihi Valley
Eric Hamakawa; South Hilo, Puna
Mike Kahikina; Barbers Point, Nanakuli, Maili, Waianae
Hermina Morita; Haiku, Hana, Hanalei, Kapaa, etc.
Scott Saiki; McCully, Moiliili, Kaimuki, Kapahulu
Alex Santiago; Schofield, Kahuku, Mokuleia, etc.
Mark Takai; Waimalu, Waiau, Royal Summit, Newtown
Roy Takumi; Pearl City, Waipahu
David Tarnas; South Kohala, North Kona

Republicans:

Sam Aiona; Makiki, Tantalus, Manoa
Galen Fox; Waikiki, Ala Wai
Chris Halford; Makena, Kula, Kihei etc.
Quentin Kawananakoa; Nuuanu, Punchbowl, Pauoa, etc.
Bob McDermott; Aliamanu, Hickam, Foster Village, Aiea, Halawa Valley
Colleen Meyer ; Laie, Waikane, Waihole, etc.
Mark Moses; Kunia, Makakilo, Ewa, Waipahu, Kapolei
David Pendleton; Kailua, Kaneohe, Enchanted Lake, Maunawili, Pohakapu
Cynthia Theilen; Kailua, Kaneohe Bay Drive
Gene Ward; Hahaione, Kuiouou, Niu, Aina Haina, etc.
Paul Whalen; South Kona, North Kona

Hawaiians’ Court Victories Could be Short-Lived

By: Trustee Rowena Akana
March 14, 1997

Source: Star Bulletin Viewpoint

Bills before Legislature attempt to reverse gains by Hawaiians

Two recent rulings, one from the Hawaii Supreme Court and the other from a Circuit Court, almost convinced Hawaiians that justice is alive and well in our islands.

I am referring to Public Access Shore Hawaii v. County of Hawaii Planning Commission, or the PASH decision, in which Judge Robert Klein held that our “legitimate traditional and customary practices must be protected,” and to OHA v. State of Hawaii in which Judge Dan Heely defined an augmented basis for OHA’s ceded lands revenues. And I say almost convinced us because of two bills recently referred out of committee this legislative session.

The provisions of Senate Bill 8, which would have gutted PASH, are, for this session, history thanks to a massive show of force by the very people the bill’s authors are claiming to benefit. The companion bill in the House had already died in its sleep, Rep. Ed Case, chairman of the Hawaiian Affairs Committee, having decided the better part of valor would be to defer it indefinitely. Then Case, a descendant of missionaries, determined to live up to the injustices perpetrated by his ancestors, got down to the serious business of voiding the Circuit Court decision in OHA v. State of Hawaii, House Bill 2207.

This monstrous piece of legislation, which revokes language in the Constitution, the Admissions Act, and Act 304, begins with a discussion of how wrongheaded Judge Heely was in misreading the Legislature’s intent when he ruled in OHA’s favor. Unlike the bill that would have nullified PASH, this one got no public hearing at all.

Like PASH, however, it is couched in terms of doing a big favor for everyone, especially OHA.

“It is in the public interest,” the measure reads (not to menton Case’s interest given the clientele his law firm represents), “that existing ambiguities be clarified, judicial misinterpretations of legislative intent be corrected, immediate threats to the state’s overall financial condition be mitigated, the ability of the state to carry out its sovereign functions be preserved, and a mechanism for the resolution of all outstanding issues between the state and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs outside of the litigation process and which involves representatives of both be provided.”

Case would pull all that off through a ceded lands inventory compiled in the state’s favor by the Department of Land and Natural Resources, a basis that excludes many lucrative sources of income, fixed income to OHA far below the currently mandated 20 percent of ceded land revenues, among other mechanisms designed ultimately to reduce Hawaiian entitlements.

Case seriously needs a lesson in contemporary U.S history. As a feature of statehood, the lands currently referred to as ceded were conveyed back to the state by the federal government in trust for the Hawaiian people. For some 20 years, the state barely acknowledged its fiduciary duty to us. This pattern of dereliction continued even when the state Constitution was redrafted and state statutes were enacted to provide for partial compliance with this duty.

I emphasize the word partial because the current system provides for the Hawaiian people to receive only a 20 percent share of one type of revenue these lands yields. OHA had to take the state to court to obtain a modicum of compliance with a duty ignored since 1959. Now it not only balks at obeying a subsequent court order, but wants to overturn it after the fact — not through any process of appeals but by providing that House Bill 2207 be applied to the judge’s decision retroactively.

The law does not look favorably on retroactivity and Case, in spite of his concern that future meetings between the state and OHA take place somewhere other than in court, fully expects OHA to challenge this bill. The bill’s unbelievably amateurish Section 10 seems to presume we will be successful in our attack since it starts off with the clause, “Even if the retroactive effect is held invalid…” The bill then goes on to provide that its statement of the intent of Act 304 is correct no matter what.

In other words, it remains retroactive even if a court says it’s not. While I happen to agree with Case that OHA will prevail in any challenge (including to Section 10), I believe that its most vulnerable feature is not its retroactivity but its fundamental injustice.

But don’t expect House Bill 2207 to die quietly. House Speaker Joe Souki is behind it and so is Calvin Say, Chairman of the House Finance Committee, whose committee members, for the most part, couldn’t be bothered with the hearing on this bill. This is a bill that saw the light of day for one reason: The state cannot pay OHA because it has been squandering the money meant for the Hawaiian people.

If ours were a private trust, instead of a public one, such irresponsibility would not be tolerated. Imagine a well intentioned uncle setting up a trust for his nieces and nephews with their stepfather authorized to administer it. Not a court in the country would allow the stepfather to reduce payments to his beneficiaries while he used their trust income to pay his own expenses as well as the debts he ran up living beyond his means.

Our stepfather/state is just as outrageous, if not worse “I can’t pay you,” the state is trying to tell us, “because I spent all my money and yours, too.” House Bill 2207 must be killed.

Rowena Akana is an at-large trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The opinions in View Point columns are the authors’ and are not necessarily shared by the Star Bulletin.

Akana Targets “Anti-Hawaiian” Democrats

By Mike Yuen
May 16, 1991

Source Star Bulletin

A trustee of the semiautonomous Office of Hawaiian Affairs has made overtures to Republican legislators for help in finding candidates to seriously challenge Democratic lawmakers seen as “anti-Hawaiian.”

OHA at-large trustee Rowena Akana, a Democrat, cited House Speaker Joe Souki (D, Wailuku), House Majority Leader Tom Okamura (D, Aiea), House Finance Chairman Calvin Say (D, Palolo), House Hawaiian Affairs Chairman Ed Case (D, Manoa) and freshman Rep. Kenney Goodenow (D, Waimanalo), whose district has a high percentage of native Hawaiians.

“What we saw during the legislative session this year can only be described as one of the worst assaults on Hawaiian entitlements in OHA’s 17 years,” said Akana, an organizer of the Hawaiian silent prayer vigil at the state Capitol during the past session.

She directed much of her criticism at a House-approved bill crafted by Case that would have nullified a Circuit Court ruling that expanded the definition of what was covered by the 20 percent the state owes OHA for use of ceded lands.

That provision, based on the House’s conclusion that the ruling judge misinterpreted legislative intent, was eliminated during conference negotiations at the insistence of Senate conferees. The bill approved by both chambers temporarily sets the state’s ceded-land payments at $15.1 million annually while special commission tries to resolve the dispute between the state and OHA.

Republican state Reps. Quentin Kawananakoa (Nuuanu) and Sam Aiona (Makiki), both of Hawaiian ancestry, acknowledged that Akana has had “informal discussions” with GOP lawmakers. But, they maintained, the talks have yet to reach the point of targeting any Democratic lawmaker.

The House’s 12 Republicans have closely aligned themselves with native Hawaiian concerns. Kawananakoa and Aiona said that was done because it was the right thing to do – not for strategic reasons.

Akana said she is turning to the GOP and to independents because she has yet to see Democrats back a Democratic challenger over a Democratic incumbent.

Akana stressed that while other OHA trustees are unhappy with how the Democratic-controlled Legislature acted on Hawaiian issues, her contacts with the GOP don’t reflect an official board position.

But, she added, “As a trustee, my first priority is to protect our trust. I’m not here as a Republican or a Democrat. I’m here as a nonpartisan person. When people become the enemies of this trust, whether they are Democrat or Republican, they become my enemy too.”

Akana declined to identify pro-Hawaiian candidates because there are no firm commitments.