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Legislators
hear opinions
on OHA
Meetings on Oahu and Kauai
Sovereign nation urged
let the public have its say
in the wake of this week's
Supreme Court decision
Readers debate governor's OHA plan By Treena Shapiro
and Anthony Sommer
Star-BulletinState legislators went to the public today as they began tackling the question of the future status of Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees.
About 75 people attended a House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee hearing in the state Capitol auditorium.
Meanwhile, about 150 people -- predominantly native Hawaiians -- went to a meeting called on Kauai by the Senate Committee on Water, Land and Hawaiian Affairs.
Both hearings came in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision Wednesday that declared the Hawaiians-only election process for trustees unconstitutional. That prompted Gov. Ben Cayetano to declare he would replace the eight elected trustees on the nine-member board.
Jodi K. Nahinu, a native Hawaiian, told the House committee that appointing the trustees would take away power that should be in the hands of the Hawaiian people.
"The governor has stated that he is for the Hawaiian peoples, and yet he is quick to destroy and steal from us again," Nahinu said.
On Kauai, committee chairwoman Colleeen Hanabusa (D, Waianae) made it clear she thinks the selection of OHA trustees should be left to native Hawaiians, but she made it just as clear that she is not eager for the state to lose control of OHA's funds.
"We know many of you feel this is just another example of you being stabbed in the back," she told the audience at King Kaumualii Elementary School in Hanamaulu.
There appeared to be general agreement at her hearing that a new organization not tied to the state eventually should be created to manage funds from the ceded lands.
But what to do in the interim was much less clear.
Don Cataluna -- who recently was appointed as a trustee by Cayetano, and apparently the only one the governor believes can remain on the board -- said the other trustees should be allowed to fill out the remainder of their terms.
But James Torio, a member of the OHA salary commission, said the trustees should be disbanded, the money placed in the hands of a fiduciary and an appointed commission created until a permanent solution is found.
Both men said the Rice vs. Cayetano decision may be what was required to unify the many Hawaiian sovereignty groups.
The high court made a clear distinction between Hawaiians, who have no government of their own, and Indian tribes, who have what the court termed "quasi-sovereignty" with their own elected officials.
Cataluna said he has not spoken to the governor and he still considers Clayton Hee to be the legal chairman of the trustees. He said even though the Supreme Court said the method used to elect the trustees was unconstitutional, they are still lawfully in office because the election was legal at the time it was held.
Gerard Lau, the assistant attorney general who represented the state case, told the committee that the court did not rule that OHA itself is unconstitutional. He also said the state's constitutional requirement that OHA trustees be Hawaiian was not addressed in the decision.
But he said the attorney general's position is that the court ruling means that all of the trustees except Cataluna were not properly elected, and therefore eight vacancies exist that the governor has the power to fill.
There was some debate among the committee members whether the elected trustees are already out of office. Technically, the case was remanded to a lower court to issue orders implementing the decision.
Hee maintained at the hearing that he is still in office until the federal court in Hawaii carries out the Supreme Court's order.
Hanabusa agreed that may technically be true, but the Legislature is still faced with deciding how to handle an election of all nine trustees in November. She said there is not time to create a constitutional amendment for the election, which complicates the matter even more.
The House hearing at the Capitol was on proposed bills that would amend the state constitution to open OHA elections to all eligible Hawaii voters, or allow OHA trustees to be appointed by the governor.
Most of those at the hearing opposed the bills.
If the Legislature does not act, all references to race and ancestry in determining voter eligibility would be removed from state law.
"I don't think we're ready for amendments yet to the constitution," said former OHA chairwoman Rowena Akana, adding that she believes the Supreme Court's ruling offered no remedy and decisions should be made by the lower court.
If the Legislature insists on amending the constitution, it should delete language saying OHA is a state agency and instead insert language making the body a "quasi-sovereign entity," she said.
"That would resolve all the controversy," Akana said.
As for gubernatorial appointments, Akana said, "It goes to the heart of self-determination. How can we be a self-determining people if you're going to have the governor appoint. It's so ludicrous."
OHA Special
Rice vs. Cayetano arguments
Rice vs. Cayetano decision
