Legislative Updates regarding ceded lands.

The Associated Press, via Maui News has an article that shows the riff between Democrats in the State House of Representatives and the relevance of that riff to the ceded lands issue.

Early into the article, House Speaker Calvin Say is identified as the reason why House bills designed to protect the ceded lands did not move forward. The article states, "Reps. Scott Saiki, Mele Carroll and Faye Hanohano, all Democrats, said it appears that House Speaker Calvin Say does not want the bills to progress . . . ." But the article does not end there. It further suggests that there is some sort of political "ping-pong" action going on. The AP article suggests that one politician points to another politician, who then either points back to the first politician or to a third politician. In the end, the ping-ponging however goes on between House committee chairs generally and the Speaker of the House, Calvin Say. Here's what the article also says,

"Saiki said the chairman of House Water, Land and Ocean Resources Committee (pictured left, Rep. Ken Ito), where the three bills are waiting after winning approval from Carroll's panel last week, has indicated that there will be no hearing on the measures any time soon."

The article also reports that, "A call for comment from Say was referred to House Majority Leader Blake Oshiro, who said that because the bills were referred to four committees, there is no way to complete the legislative process in time for the Supreme Court's oral arguments Feb. 25."

But the article also reports that perhaps it's the House Speaker, Calvin Say who decides which bills get heard. "Carroll said she asked Ito when his panel would hear the measures, and Ito replied that he'd have to check with Say." In one of our own meetings with Calvin Say, he told us that it was up to the individual committees as to which bills get heard in committee. If Representative Say is under the impression that Rep. Ken Ito is deciding which bills are being heard in Ito's committee, and Ito is under the impression that Say is going to tell him which bills to hear in Ito's committee, then it seems like someone doesn't know what the other is doing. Hopefully, this type of process is not indicative of how our state House of Representatives works.

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Bills and Resolutions.

The Senate Bill (SB 1677) introduced by Senate President Colleen Hanabusa was passed out of the Senate today. SB 1677 however, is not a moratorium bill. Senate Bill 1085 is a moratorium bill, even after its amendments. Senate Bill 1085, started off as a full-moratorium bill that re-affirmed the Hawaii Supreme Court's landmark ruling last year. The amended version has a limited 5 year moratorium and then after the expiration of 5 years, a two-thirds vote is necessary. Both the Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin report today on the Senate's passage of SB 1677.

From here SB 1677 will now go to the House of Representatives. We presume that it will start off in the House Hawaiian Affairs Committee, then be also be referred to the same committees that the other moratorium bills were referred to. BUT, we hope that we're wrong.

What has not been reported in the two Honolulu dailies is that, the Senate today passed two resolutions. Senate Resolution 25 and Senate Concurrent Resolution 40.

These two resolutions urge the Governor to withdraw and establish that the senate (or Legislature for SCR 40) policy is to support the Hawaii Supreme Court's decision from January 31, 2008.
Not surprisingly, the two lawmakers who voted against the resolutions were Senators Fred Hemmings and Sam Slom.

Resolutions are not binding, but they do express the policy of the legislative body. it could be used to demonstrate to the U.S. Supreme Court that the government of the State of Hawai'i is actively dealing with the claims of Native Hawaiians.

House Bill 1667 and Senate Bill 1085 pass out of committees today.

At 9am this morning, the House Committee on Hawaiian Affairs had a hearing on a number of bills including House Bill 1667 and heard testimony. The first person to give Testimony was the Attorney General Mark Bennett. In the photo to the left you can see Committee Chair Representative Mele Carroll, to her left is Committee Vice-Chair Representative Maile Shimabukuro, and to the left of Maile is Representative Gene Ward. Attorney General Mark Bennett was the first to give testimony. Shortly after him, University of Hawai'i law professor Jon Van Dyke (and OHA attorney) provided oral testimony as well while countering comments made by Mark Bennett. The committee brought the two opposing attorneys back together with Clyde Namu'o (OHA Administrator) for some questions. If you watch the brief 3 minute video below, you'll hear Representative Gene Ward describe the debate between these two as a Lincoln Douglas debate.

At any rate, House Bill 1667 passed the Hawaiian Affairs Committee unanimously without any changes to the language of the bill.

A good number of people submitted testimony for House Bill 1667. You can read the testimony by clicking here. If you click here, you can see the "late" testimony.

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WATER, LAND, AGRICULTURE AND HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Today at 2:45, Senator Clayton Hee called the hearing of the Water, Land, Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs Committee to order. To the right is a photo with Committee Chair Senator Clayton Hee and Vice-Chair Senator Jill Tokuda. The hearing included a discussion on Senate Bill 1085 that provides a moratorium on the sale of ceded lands.
The Attorney General Mark Bennett provided testimony again first. Attorney Sherry Broder, the "lead" attorney for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs also gave testimony. Republican Senator Fred Hemmings asked some very "interesting" questions of both Sherry Broder and former Department of Hawaiian Home Lands Chairman Kali Watson. Despite Senator Hemmings questions, the committee passed Senate Bill 1085. Unlike its House Bill counter-part however, SB 1085 was passed with amendments.

Watch the Vote

There were some younger generation folks out there today who also gave oral testimony to the committee.
- Brandee Aukai (and her two keiki),
- Kelly Anne Beppu, and
- Kanoe D. Enos.

Brandee, Kelly Anne, and Kanoe are graduate students at the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work. All three social work students also submitted written testimony. Click here to read written testimony. To read the "late" testimony, click here.

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We need everyone to both call and e-mail this guy!


This is Senator Brian Taniguchi. Senator Taniguchi is the Chairperson for the Judiciary and Government Operations Committee.

We need Senator Taniguchi to have a committee hearing on Senate Bill 1085, which is a moratorium bill on ceded lands. We need a committee hearing on Senate Bill 1085 by February 20, 2009 but no later than February 27.

You can call Senator Taniguchi at 586-6460. E-mail can be sent to sentaniguchi@capitol.hawaii.gov

Phone calls and e-mails should be in a civil and polite tone. The first sentence in an e-mail should read, "Please have a hearing on Senate Bill 1085 by February 20, 2009" or "I request a hearing on Senate Bill 1085 before the end of the month.")

If you do not know what to say in a phone call, click here to get a sample phone script.

Legislative Hawaiian Caucus, postcards

Today was an awesome day and very inspiring. Prior to the 10am press conference for the Legislative Hawaiian Caucus, there was a meeting with different leaders from various Hawaiian organizations. I donʻt doubt that there will be future meetings.

LEGISLATIVE HAWAIIAN CAUCUS
Anyway, the Legislative Hawaiian Caucus Press Conference today was great! Surprisingly, it was about an hour, or slightly longer and the media stayed for most of it. Included at the bottom of this e-mail will our statement to the press. Representative Mele Carroll, leader of the caucus discussed the 10 bills that caucus members are supporting. Rep. Carroll briefly described each individual bill. The tenth and last bill she discussed was the "ceded" lands moratorium bill. There was a good number of people in attendance. There were not enough chairs for audience members and people crowded near the door standing to hear the statements during the press conference.

Anyway, check out the video below to listen to some of the statements from the Legislative Hawaiian Caucus.


POSTCARDS
Mahalo to Uncle Walter and Aunty Audrey Kawaa for their contribution to our efforts. The Kawaaʻs donated 100 postcard stamps that will support our Makawalu Initiative. The Makawalu initiative is our attempt to give our supporters a voice to their elected legislators through the use of postcards. To date, we have mailed out nearly 600 postcards, signed by Hawaii residents and citizens, to their elected officials. Today we mailed out 74 postcards.

If you know 20 people (family, friends, neighbors and/or co-workers) who want to put their names on postcards to tell their elected officials to protect the ceded lands by passing moratorium laws, let us know by e-mailing us at kupuaina@gmail.com and weʻll make arrangements to get those postcards to you.


KUPUʻAINA PRESS STATEMENT
The Kupuʻaina Coalition, an organization led by current University of Hawaii law students and recent law school graduates, is supportive of the proposed full moratorium on the sale of ceded lands. The Coalition believes that, given the state’s history of public policy towards both the public land trust and its relationship with Native Hawaiians in addition to our State Supreme Court’s January 31, 2008 ruling, the moratorium is appropriate and consistent with Hawaiʻi state law.

A moratorium on the sale of ceded lands is a re-affirmation of the Hawaii Supreme Court’s landmark decision in the Office of Hawaiian Affairs v. Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii. The introduction of a moratorium bill, on the sale of ceded lands, is also consistent with statements made by the Attorney General Mark Bennett, in addition to statements made in the State Supreme Court’s ruling.

- Honolulu Advertiser (11/23/08) the Lingle Administration believed, and continues to believe, that the claims that Native Hawaiians have should be addressed through the legislative process — through the Legislature and the Congress . . . but not in the courts. - Mark Bennett

- January 31, 2008 [T]he OHA plaintiffs admit that the ultimate resolution of the [N]ative Hawaiian claims must be through the political processes, and it is actively engaged in these processes. But this struggle for justice will be futile if the assets in dispute [i.e., the ceded lands] no longer exist when a solution is found. [T]he plaintiffs are not seeking a judicial resolution of the underlying claim for a return of lands, but [are] rather asking the judiciary to protect the trust assets while the dispute is being resolved by the political branches. - The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court

The Kupuʻaina Coalition organizers are also aware that a good number of Hawaiʻi residents have begun to inform their elected legislators (both Senators and Representatives) by mailing in postcards expressing their desire to have the “ceded” lands protected through moratorium laws. It is our hope that our elected legislators will take heed of their constituents' voices and act accordingly.

Additional information regarding the ceded lands case and the effort to protect the ceded lands can be found at www.stopsellingcededlands.com E-mail can be sent to kupuaina@gmail.com.

Webcast 3 2009-01-05

You can watch our third webcast below by clicking on the arrow on the video feed.
Unfortunately, it looks like the recordings of our live-stream webcast do not have the text overlays on the video, so you can't see the text on the video screen while we're talking, like we intended.