Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 2, 1 February 2022 — Masthead [TITLE_SECTION+ILLUSTRATION]

During the current legislative session, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) is submitting a bill to fulfill the State's obligation to convey OHA's pro rata (proportionate) share of "Public Land Trust" (PLT) revenues. The controversy surrounding the PLT begins with the illegal overthrow in 1893. At the time, Hawai'i's monarchy retained approximately one million acres of "Crown Lands" and an estimated 800,000 acres of "Government Lands." In 1898, Hawai'i was annexed to the United States without agreement by, or compensation to, Native Hawaiians, and the former Crown and Government Lands of Hawai'i were then "ceded" to the United States. These so-called "ceded lands" were considered a "trust" for Hawai'i's people. During the first half of the 20th century, 200,000 acres were set aside for the Hawaiian Home Lands program, and another 350,000 acres were appropriated by the U.S. for military use and national parks. By 1959, about 1.4 million acres

remained. Through the Admission Act, these lands were transferred to the new State of Hawai'i as a "Public Land Trust" with the directive that revenue from the land was to be used for five public purposes, one of whieh is "the betterment ofthe conditions of Native Hawaiians." OHA was established at the 1978 Constitutional Convention, and in 1980 the Legislature established OHA's share of PLT revenues as 20%. In 2006, OHA agreed to an annual payment of $15.1 million as a "temporary" allocation until PLT revenues were properly accounted for, at whieh time the allocation would be revisited. In 2012, the issue of 32 years of underpaid PLT revenues was partially resolved when 30-acres of land at Kaka'ako Makai valued at $200 million was transferred from the state to OHA. Today, annual PLT revenues are about $394.3 million, whieh means OHA's share should be $78.9 million peryear. However, the state still allocates just $15.1 million peryearto OHA - an extreme underpayment of what is owed to Hawai'i's lndigenous people. Moreover, the state has accrued an additional obligation of $638 million to OHAfor anotherdecade of underpaid PLT revenues (2012-2022).

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"Our duty as trustees under the Hawai'i State Constitution is to "hetter the conditions of Native Hawaiiam." The Office of Hawaiian Affiairs is united, has reorganized and streamlined its operations so that more funds will flow to our Native Hawaiian community, and we are ready to receive the long overdue trustfunds due Native Hawaiians from the ceded lands the State of Hawai'i manages as a trustee." - CARMEN "HULU" LINDSEY, OHA BOARD CHAIR