Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 20, Number 05, 1 May 2003 — State auditor report says ceded lands inventory needed, overdue [ARTICLE]

State auditor report says ceded lands inventory needed, overdue

Ongoing disputes fueled by laek of will, poor aceounting In times past, kia'i or konohiki knew exactly where aU 1.000 ahupua'a were, says Center for Hawaiian Studies Director Lilikalā Kame'eleihiwa, principal investigator of the Kia'i 'Āina ceded lands inventory project. Mele recorded their unique characteristics: rainfall and water flow, what crops grew well from mountain to sea, whieh fish ran in coastal waters, and how the winds blew. In 1848. the Māhele changed the ancient eommunal land system to a private ownership system. Kamehameha III divided 4.1 million acres of land throughout the islands amongst hiraself and about 250 chiefs. claimmg one million acres for himself (known as crown lands). 1.6 million acres for the konohiki and chiefs, and about 1.5 million acres of government lands "set apart fotever to the Ghiefs and people." The Buke Māhele defined parcels by i an i districts (moku). ahupua'a or 'ili, not by Western survey meth<xls measuring metes and bounds. Following the overthrow of the monarchv in 1893, 1.8 million acres ol crown and government lands were ceded to the United State upon annexation and back to Hawai'i at statehood. ineome from this "pubhc land trust" was to be distributed among five purposes, including to benefit Native Hawaiians But today. "for eaeh [student] who goes down to research eeded lands, there are at least a thousand questions raised, Kame'eleihiwa says. "We found out there is anotfier list the state has prepared. more recent, that include different Department of Land and Natural Resources lands. Then we found out what the state did was take Iands controlled by DLNR and give some to the Board of Water Supply and Department of Transportation and other state agencies. "City and counties also have their lists, and they're all ceded lands, but they*re not on the list that they gave to OHA that we're going to negotiate over. How interesting," Kame'eleihiwa observed. State Auditor Marion Higa had cited the same confusion in a 2001 report to former Gov. Ben Cayetano and the State Legislature. The determination of revenues to be paid to the Hawaiian people through OHA has been an ongoing problem because the scope and exact identification of all lands in the public land trust have never been clearly defined. In 2000, a state law (Act 125) called for the establishment of a eomprehensive information system to inventory and maintain information about public land trust lands. The auditor's report cited that a comprehensive inventory would take $19 million and four years to complete. While legislators leaned on OHA to pay at least half, many Hawaiians think the state as trustee for See lNVENTORY on page 18

INVENTORY from poge 7 the ceded lands is responsible for ensuring a full accurate accounting as part of its fiduciary duty. The state's project has been shelved. Kame'eleihiwa points out that a full inventory would not just help Hawaiians but also benefit the general puhlie, in determining what their 80 percent share should be. For decades, OHA has challenged the state's practice of selling ceded lands and leasing them at undermarket value, and has struggled, in court and legislature, to eompel the state to pay a 20 percent pro rata share of ineome derived from these lands to benefit Hawaiians as one of five beneficiaries named in the puhlie land trust. Kame'eleihiwa says if the state can't properly manage trust lands and won't even provide to Hawaiians their 20 percent pro rata share of revenues, "give them back to us and we'll do the job." The state has treated trust lands like a "slush fund," she says. "'Oh, we ean do anything we want, let's put beach parks on it, polo fields, lease it to golf courses, hotels, schools, airports, harbors, military for low or no rent.' And what do Hawaiians get out of it? 'WeU it doesn't really matter, they're dying, they'U be gone one day.' "WeU, there's 400,000 of us now; we're back," Kame'eleihiwa smiles. "We are the landlords eome to collect the rent." Hawaiians are perfectly eapahle of judiciously controlling and caring for their lands, Kame'eleihiwa asserts. "Given the state's kāpulu (sloppy) mismanagement up to now, we certainly couldn't do worse." ■