OHA explores ways The Office of Hawaiian Affairs plans to use $800,000 from approved grants stuck in legal limbo to help pay for a proposed $2.85 million emergency temporary jobs programs to help workers laid off as of Sept. 11.
to pay for proposed
stopgap jobs program
Questions remain over the focus
and funding of a plan to help
200 people for 6 monthsBy Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.comIt is among a few new details revealed as the plan cautiously works it way to the full board for discussion following approval last week by OHA's budget committee.
With nearly 17,000 people filing for unemployment since last month's terrorists attacks, OHA's emergency recovery employment program can help 150-200 people for six months, said Budget Chairman Charles Ota.
"The workers' compensation will not last forever," Ota said. "So this program will fit in and ease a lot of apprehension."
As proposed, any Hawaii resident laid off since Sept. 11 would be eligible for the $12-per-hour jobs if they have experience working in the Hawaiian community. The state Department of Labor & Industrial Relations would oversee the jobs program, which would last no more than six months.
A key hurdle is where trustees will find the estimated $2.85 million in OHA's 2002 operating budget. OHA Chief Financial Officer Joan Bolte told the committee yesterday some of the money is available by taking $800,000 in grants that cannot be given out because of a recent attorney general's opinion questioning whether OHA has the legal authority under state law to issue grants.
OHA Chairman Clayton Hee, who introduced the plan two weeks ago, said he believes the money is available in the current budget. Still, some of those in Hee's five-member majority say they will not approve the plan unless there are changes.
Trustee Linda Dela Cruz said she is not satisfied with the approach and wants OHA to first help native Hawaiians and Hawaiians unemployed before proposing to help the broader community.
"We have to help ourselves before we can help anybody else," she said.
Vice Chairwoman Rowena Akana added she would like to see the plan make a significant impact, and suggested the private sector benefit from the manpower these jobs offer, not just the nonprofit groups that help native Hawaiians.
Also, three of the four trustees in the board minority -- Haunani Apoliona, Colette Machado and Oz Stender -- sent memos to Ota saying the plan continues to lack detail, questioning whether it would help Hawaiians at all.
Machado said she is worried the board will reallocate funds from existing OHA programs to pay for the proposal -- losses that directly hurt Hawaiians.
"This proposal will open the floodgates to more non-Hawaiian and state demands for Hawaiian trust funds," Machado wrote. "Do we really want to set a precedent that would cause our people's assets for our new sovereign entity to diminish?"
Meanwhile, Hee invited all trustees to show up at the board table and take part in the discussion on how to make this plan work.
"I think the idea is a good one, it's just a matter of having them shape it," Hee said.
Office of Hawaiian Affairs
