State, OHA
ease up on
revenues dispute

Both sides want to settle
it themselves and not go
before the high court

By Mike Yuen
Star-Bulletin

The battle lines have softened.

Gov. Ben Cayetano and trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs want their dispute over how much the state owes OHA for use of ceded lands -- one estimate puts it at more than $1 billon -- settled among themselves and not by the state Supreme Court.

James Duffy Jr., an attorney for OHA, said a stay was to be filed today with the high court, which heard oral arguments on the issue three months ago.

The state and OHA, the semiautonomous governing body for native Hawaiians, are seeking a delay in court action until Dec. 1, and may even seek additional extensions, Duffy said.

In 1996, then-state Circuit Judge Daniel Heely issued a ruling that declared that the state should pay OHA more of the revenues it derived from its use of 1.8 million acres of land once controlled by the Hawaiian monarchy.

Cayetano said then that Heely's ruling would put the state, which was cutting back on welfare to make ends meet, in even worst financial straits.

A year ago, OHA officials, such as A. Frenchy DeSoto, who's now OHA's chairwoman, said Heely's ruling reflected the legitimacy of native Hawaiian claims.

But today Cayetano and DeSoto were stressing cooperation and their effort to reach a resolution by direct negotiations.

Asked if the state's financial problems would be a factor in how OHA's claims are resolved, Cayetano would only say that an agreement had to be fair to both native Hawaiian and all the residents of Hawaii. "That's the guiding factor for any resolution," he said.

Cayetano said "it is up in the air" if the settlement will be cash, a land swap or a combination of both.

Legislators such as House Finance Chairman Calvin Say (D, Palolo) and House Hawaiian Affairs Chairman Ed Case (D, Manoa) have warned that any settlement seen as unfairly favorable to native Hawaiians could polarize the state. Months before today's announcement, they stressed that any settlement had to be fair for everyone.

DeSoto said about a month ago she called Cayetano, and it was during that telephone conversation that they agreed to try to settle OHA's claims among themselves.

"This has been dragging out too long," she said.

In 1996, Heely ruled that the state owed OHA 20 percent of all revenue from the Waikiki Duty Free Store, the state Hilo Hospital, the Hawaii Housing Authority and the state Housing Finance and Development Corp., which are all on ceded lands.

January 97
OHA Ceded Lands Ruling