OHA officials anxious
about grant authority

The agency's awards could be illegal
since they were not put out for competitive bid

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By Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.com

Office of Hawaiian Affairs officials are anxious about whether Gov. Ben Cayetano will sign a bill allowing OHA to legally award grants.

The agency cannot award grants from the land trust fund until the law takes effect, a situation it has been in since last fall. Already, administration officials have raised concerns about the measure, said OHA Administrator Clyde Namuo, who lobbied hard this session for the measure's passage. Cayetano has just eight working days remaining to veto bills approved this past legislative session.

"We have been told to hold and wait, and so I'm waiting and holding -- but not real patiently here," Namuo said yesterday.

A state Attorney General's Office opinion last Sept. 25 told OHA it should not release any further grants because those expenditures did not go through the state procurement code's competitive-bid process and therefore could be illegal. The new law would exempt the agency from that process.

The opinion blocked about $800,000 in OHA grants approved last year.

A Cayetano spokeswoman said yesterday no action has been taken on the measure while the governor is out of town. He returns June 21.

OHA is also waiting for the governor to sign another bill, which would give trustees the same retirement benefits as other elected officials.

Namuo said that bill has a flaw because it referenced a law that will lapse in 2003. Administration officials have asked OHA to approve a resolution saying it will seek a housekeeping amendment to correct the problem next session.

Trustees are expected to take it up at a meeting next week, said Haunani Apoliona, OHA chairwoman.

"They want it to move out of his office, so they're asking us for clarification to help them to make sure that we're clear and they're clear," Apoliona said.

The retirement measure would allow current and future trustees to qualify for the state Employees' Retirement System, with credit given for trustee service as early as July 1, 1993.

But the proposed law denies trustees who retired during that period from qualifying for the ERS. It also requires OHA to reimburse the state for contributions to the retirement system on the behalf of trustees.

That's not fair, said trustee Rowena Akana, who believes retirement benefits should be the same for state legislators and OHA trustees.

"Our bill was exactly what they got, and they amended it so that we're different," Akana said. "You know, I mean, it's really chicken."