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Legislators
seek to define
Hawaiian status

A joint Senate panel tomorrow
will consider measures that address
the native peoples' issues

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

A joint state Senate panel will hear several measures on the political status of native Hawaiians tomorrow, about a month after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the state's racial restriction on voting for members of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs board.

All 25 members of the Senate are supporting a resolution that asks President Clinton and Congress to recognize an official political relationship between the federal government and the Hawaiian people, like the relationship with Native Americans and Alaska natives. The House has similar resolutions.

The senators also want the Clinton administration to support a Hawaiian affairs office within the U.S. Department of the Interior, a plan pushed by U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka as part of the ongoing reconciliation efforts.

The legislative action comes as the Senate Water, Land and Hawaiian Affairs Committee approved a resolution yesterday urging Gov. Ben Cayetano to appoint the current OHA trustees to the board if the Rice vs. Cayetano decision requires their removal.

Cayetano believes the Rice decision means the current OHA board was illegally elected and should be replaced to comply with the justices' ruling. OHA's position is that the ruling was narrow and did not address the issue.

Both the governor and OHA chairman Clayton Hee on March 2 stated they would ask the Hawaii Supreme Court for clarification on the case, but the motion has not yet been filed. State Deputy Attorney General Gerard Lau said yesterday the state still awaits a response from OHA to a draft of the motion it gave them two weeks ago.

Senate Hawaiian Affairs Chairwoman Colleen Hanabusa (D, Waianae) said the resolution asking Cayetano to appoint current trustees to the board was introduced soon after the Feb. 23 Rice decision. Even though the governor has agreed to seek clarification from the state high court, it is imperative that the Legislature let the governor know where it stands before adjourning May 2, she said.

"We're just looking at a very realistic time frame," she said yesterday. "And if we don't pass it out, we won't have anything to say (such as) 'the Senate feels this way,' " Hanabusa said.

The board seats held by OHA vice chairman Colette Machado and trustees Haunani Apoliona, Hannah Springer and Donald Cataluna are up for election this fall. It is unclear whether the remaining five seats also would expire this year or in 2002, when those four-year terms are up.

The full OHA board has not taken a position whether the governor should appoint them to their elected posts. But OHA trustee Rowena Akana and others opposed Senate Concurrent Resolution 93 -- also signed by all 25 senators -- because the U.S. Supreme Court opinion did not say vacancies exist on the board.

Akana testified that allowing gubernatorial appointments in lieu of an election erodes the democratic process of letting Hawaiians decide for themselves whom they want as their leaders. Instead, lawmakers should wait until the Hawaii Supreme Court clarifies the issue.

"Any action by the Legislature before a ruling is handed down by the high court would prove contradictory to this body's efforts to support self-determination for native Hawaiians," Akana said in written testimony.

Meanwhile, two draft bills that would allow OHA to create a private non-profit entity have not yet been scheduled for a legislative hearing.

Holo I Mua Hawaiian Roundtable The Star-Bulletin gathered 10 Hawaiian leaders for a timely dialogue about what's next for Hawaiians in the wake of Rice vs. Cayetano. Representing various views within the Hawaiian community, the participants were provocative and candid during a 90-minute discussion on March 13, 2000. To read a full transcript of the discussion, Click Here You can also hear the audio recording of the discussion as well as view a panoramic photo of the participants.