Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 11, 1 November 2005 — OHA sued over blood quantum Suit alleges agency is illegally spending trust funds on Hawaiians with less than 50 percent quantum [ARTICLE]

OHA sued over blood quantum Suit alleges agency is illegally spending trust funds on Hawaiians with less than 50 percent quantum

By Sterling Kini Wnng Publicatiūns Editor In October, five Native Hawaiians, including a former OHA trustee, filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that OHA is illegally spending its trust fund monies on all Hawaiians, not just those with 50 percent Hawaiian blood or more. The lawsuit against the OHA trustees states that native Hawaiians with at least a 50 percent blood quantum are named as beneficiaries of the ceded lands trust in the Hawai'i Admission Act, and that OHA has wrongly used money it received from that trust on all Hawaiians, regardless of blood quantum. The Admission Act lists five purposes of the ceded lands trust, one of whieh is to work for the

betterment of native Hawaiians as defined by the federal Hawaiian Homes Coimnission Act of 1920. The 1920 act benefits only native Hawaiians with at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood. The plaintiffs elaim that OHA's spending policy violates the Hawaiian Homes Act, the Admission Act and the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, and they request restoration of all the allegedly misspent funds to the trust. In addition to fonner trustee Samuel Kealoha Jr., the plaintiffs in the suit include Virgil Day, Mel Ho 'omanawanui, Josiah Ho'ohuli and Patrick Kahawaiola'a. The lawsuit specifically singles out two programs whieh benefit all Hawaiians and whieh receive money from OHA: the Native

Hawaiian Legal Corporation and Nā Pua No'eau Education Program. The lawsuit also challenges OHA's expenditure of trust money on supporting the Akaka Bill, whieh lays out the process for the federal recognition of Native Hawaiians. The plaintiffs elaim that the bill, without a blood quantum requirement, would "erode the rights and privileges of the beneficiaries" of the ceded lands trust. Furthermore, the plaintiffs elaim that OHA should not be "unreasonably" accumulating trust funds by investing them, because investment does not better the conditions of the 50 percent native Hawaiians. OHA Administrator Clyde Nāmu'o said that the agency's

board attorney, former state Supreme Court Justice Robert Klein, is in the process of analyzing the lawsuit and will make a recommendation of legal strategies to the trustees at their Nov. 3 board meeting. Nāmu'o said that the agency will reserve connnent on the lawsuit until then. Blood quantum has long been a divisive issue within the Hawaiian community. While OHA does

receive the bulk of its funds from ceded lands revenue, the agency is mandated to benefit all Hawaiians. In 1988 and 1990, OHA tried to gauge its beneficiaries' views on the issue by putting two separate referenda before Hawaiian voters. More than 80 percent of those who voted said they supported a single definition of Native Hawaiian - one that includes all Hawaiians, regardless of blood quantum. S

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