Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 24, Number 3, 1 March 2007 — Several OHA bills alive [ARTICLE]

Several OHA bills alive

As key mid-session legislative deadlines approach, a number of OHA's bills eonhnue to progress through the state Legislature. This session marks the first time lawmakers have heard testimony on and advanced OHA's request for $28 million in state funding to help build the agency's planned headquarters and Hawaiian culture center. OHA has been working on the project for several years and continues to negotiate a development agreement with the state's Hawai'i Community Development Authority to construct the facility on 5.2 acres of state waterfront land next to Kaka'ako Park. Securing partial state funding for the building was one the OHA's top priorities for this session. As KWO went to print, OHA's budget bill, whieh includes the development appropriation request, was set to face its first major hurdle when it is heard in the Senate and House finance committees. The deadline for those committees to hear that bill is March 12. Stanton Enomoto, who is coordinating the agency's efforts to develop the building, said that while he is optimistic about the bill, he realizes that it's early in the legislative process and "lots ean still happen." How OHA's other bills have fared: Advisory boards - Two OHA bills that seek to plaee people sensitive to Hawaiian issues on the state Board of Land and Natural Resources and the public advisory board for Coastal Zone Management crossed over from the Senate to the House. However, lawmakers removed the provisions in eaeh bill requiring that at least one member of the boards be picked from lists of nominees selected by OHA. Instead, the language now specifies that one member must have "substantial experience or expertise" in certain Hawaiian practices pertinent to the scope of their respective boards. Ceded lands - This session, lawmakers have shown some interest in placing limits on the state's ability to alienate ceded lands. While OHA requested that the BLNR be prohibited from selling or exchanging ceded lands without the consent of OHA's board, a Senate draft of OHA's bill permits the alienahon of ceded lands as long as eaeh house of the state Legislature approves of the deal by a two-thirds margin. Education - None of OHA's four education bills seem poised to move this legislative session. OHA hoped that legislators would address funding issues facing charter and Hawaiian immersion schools, approve tuition waivers for Native Hawaiian students in the University of Hawai'i system and improve the state Department of Education's Hawaiian language program. As KWO went to print, however, lawmakers had yet to hold any hearings on these bills. Kuleana lands - OHA's efforts to exempt kuleana landowners from paying taxes on their properties hit a major obstacle in February, when the Senate Committee on Water, Land Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs deferred the agency's bill after constitutional concerns were raised.