Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mazie Hirono stepped into the city's mandatory leasehold-conversion fray, saying landholders like the Queen Liliuokalani Trust should be exempt from having to sell their land. Hirono urges
lease-to-fee exceptionBill 53 would severely affect landowners
like the Liliuokalani Trust, she saysBy Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.comThe City Council's Executive Matters Committee takes up Bill 53 tomorrow.
"The impact on Liliuokalani Trust is so severe and so dire that the City Council needs to figure out a way to either exempt or do some kind of a burden-shifting so that the Liliuokalani Trust must come forward to show that it is serving a public service in its program," Hirono said.
"Therefore, if the county then wants to proceed, it must show a compelling state interest to override the public purpose that is being served by the trust," she said.
Lt. Gov. Hirono also revealed yesterday how she would help native Hawaiians if elected.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle said she opposed Bill 53 at a forum last month on Hawaiian issues, said spokesman Lloyd Yonenaka.
The Queen Liliuokalani Trust owns four leasehold towers in Waikiki, and opponents of the bill say forcing it to sell the land under those towers, which generates about $15 million annually, or 15 percent of the trust's revenue, to leasehold unit owners will affect its ability to fund more than 300 social service programs, especially for native Hawaiian children.
However, proponents of the bill say, among other things, that the courts have ruled leasehold conversion is a proper use of the city's condemnation powers.
The bill seeks to clarify the existing lease-to-fee practice to allow 50 percent of owner-occupants to petition the Council for mandatory conversion. The Council wants the amendment because a recent Hawaii Supreme Court opinion had said the law sets the threshold at 50 percent of all units in a project, not just owner-occupants.
Meanwhile, Hirono's "action plan" for Hawaiians is similar to that of Lingle's, such as personally lobbying Congress and the Bush administration to support federal recognition for native Hawaiians.
One difference is that Hirono wants to return to the bargaining table with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to reach a ceded-lands revenue settlement.
State and OHA negotiators failed in 1999 to reach an agreement, which led the Hawaii Supreme Court in September 2001 to invalidate the law that sets up the formula requiring the state to pay 20 percent of the revenues from ceded lands it uses.
OHA Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona said yesterday that election-year changes in the state administration and at OHA could lead to a settlement.
In another area, Hirono supports legislation authorizing an independent counsel for the Hawaiian Homes Commission. She said it is important the department have independent counsel given the legal challenges brought against it and OHA.
