Two House committees unanimously approved a bill Feb. 3 that would resolve the state's obligation to pay OHA $200 million in past-due ceded lands revenues, starting in 2015. Pictured, from left, are Water, Land and Ocean Resources Chairman Ken Ito, and Hawaiian Affairs Chairwoman Mele Carroll and Vice Chairwoman Maile Shimabukuro. - Photo: Francine Murray

OHA bill to resolve past-due
claims advances

Payments would start in 2015

By Liza Simon / Ka Wai Ola Loa

The state would pay its $200 million debt to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for ceded land revenues unpaid from 1978 to 2010, under a bill unanimously approved by two House committees Feb. 3.

"This bill acknowledges that the State of Hawai'i is in dire financial circumstances so it permits a delay in payment until 2015," OHA Trustee Walter Heen told members of the Hawaiian Affairs Committee and the Water, Land and Ocean Resources Committee. Heen said that the proposed arrangement does not impose any additional fiscal burden on the state, since minimum $30 million payments to OHA would begin in the same year that the state ends its annual payments of an equal amount to the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

House Bill 2672 calls for the state to meet its obligation for unpaid ceded land revenues from 1978 to 2010 by making annual payments to OHA of at least $30 million beginning July 1, 2015, until the debt is paid. The measure would also require the state to pay interest to OHA beginning July 1, 2010.

The measure follows two years of trying to reach a legislative resolution on outstanding ceded lands revenues owed to OHA.

OHA Trustee Heen said HB 2672 removes from previous bills any proposal to transfer selected lands to OHA, because such efforts "met with resistance" from groups, including some in the Native Hawaiian community. "So, instead, the OHA Board of Trustees has asked the Legislature to retire the debt and pay the $200 million owed to OHA." Heen added that the Legislature has supported this amount, which he said was also agreed upon in 2008 negotiations between the state administration and OHA.

The new measure outlines the history of disputed ceded lands revenue payments. It cites a Hawai'i Supreme Court ruling that says the state Legislature has the authority and the responsibility to enact a policy resolving disputes relating to the state's portion of income owed to OHA for proceeds from ceded lands. Under state law, the state must dedicate 20 percent of ceded land trust revenues to OHA for the betterment of Native Hawaiians.

In urging lawmakers to support HB 2672, written testimony by OHA said the issue is "complex, but when 30 years of struggle to address this issue are examined, one key truth remains: it is ultimately the Legislature's task to resolve the issue."

HB 2672 now heads to the Judiciary Committee.