Legislative Updates Senate Bills 1085 and 1677

If you've been keeping up with us on Twitter, you may have seen that on Friday, the House Committees on Water, Land & Ocean Resources (WLO) and Judiciary (JUD) passed Senate Bill 1677. You can find the status of SB 1677 by going to tinyurl.com/SB1677stat or CLICKING HERE.

Three people spoke to the committee:

• UH West O‘ahu Chancellor Gene Awakuni,


• Attorney General Mark Bennet, and


• Derek Kauanoe of the Kupu‘āina Coalition

Chancellor Awakuni did not testify for or against SB 1677 but expressed concern that the current language of the bill was too broad and could affect the UH O‘ahu campus, which he says does not sit on ceded lands. He expressed a desire to see the language narrowed in such a way so as to not impact the West O‘ahu campus in a manner that was not intended.

AG Mark Bennett, testified in opposition of SB 1677. From what I can recall, he emphasized that in the history of the State of Hawai‘i, no governor has abused authority in a way that "ceded" lands have been sold in substantial portions. I also remember Mark Bennett describing support for the current method of selling "ceded" lands in the legislature. If I understand correctly, the current process requires a two-thirds opposition of the state legislature. SB 1677 would require a two-thirds majority vote for a sale of "ceded" lands. From what I remember, he also commented that as a practical matter, SB 1677 does not make sense.

Derek Kauanoe testified in support of SB 1677 but expressed concern that it did not adequately reflect the public policy of the Legislature as declared in Senate Concurrent Resolution 40 (SCR 40). You can check out SCR 40 at http://tinyurl.com/09SCR40stat. SCR 40 declared the public policy of the State of Hawai‘i is to honor the decision of the Hawai‘i Supreme Court. In addition, SCR 40 also provided that appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court "is detrimental to the interests of all of the people of Hawai‘i and to the ongoing reconciliation process between the State and the Native Hawaiian people." Kauanoe also urged the two committees to adopt key language in SB 1085. You can check out SB 1085 by going to tinyurl.com/09SB1085stat. Generally, Kauanoe asked that SB 1677 be revised to better reflect SB 1085.

The committees passed SB 1677 with amendments, however, we're still waiting to see what specific amendments are being added.

I noticed today, that some time in the late afternoon yesterday (3/13/09) that the House Committee on Hawaiian Affairs has scheduled a hearing for SB 1085 on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 9am in room 329. Mahalo goes out to Representative Mele Carroll for scheduling a hearing and giving more than 48 hours notice on this. This prompt scheduling provides people with a good amount of time to write testimony, for or against the bill, and the opportunity to meet the deadline as well.

In our opinion, SB 1085 is a better bill than SB 1677 for a few reasons:

• SB 1085, unlike SB 1677, is a re-affirmation of the Hawai‘i Supreme Court's "ceded" lands case opinion


• SB 1085, unlike SB 1677, also re-affirms the need for reconciliation with Native Hawaiians


• SB 1085, unlike SB 1677, places an actual moratorium (freeze) on the sale of ceded lands


• SB 1085, unlike SB 1677, provides a comprehensive process for the sale of ceded lands once the moratorium (freeze) is lifted.


• SB 1085, unlike SB 1677, is consistent with the Hawai‘i Legislature's expressed public policy found in Senate Concurrent Resolution 40.

We urge everyone to send e-mail testimonials to HAWtestimony@capitol.hawaii.gov in support of SB 1085. Over the next day or so, we will be putting together a more complete e-mail list in addition to a few templates for people to send through e-mail. Mahalo for your support and please don't forget to watch Kupu‘āina Live! on Monday at 5:30pm at our website stopsellingcededlands.com.