Tuesday, February 24, 2009

400 postcards



Today, we mailed out over 400 postcards and expect these postcards to reach the capitol on Wednesday the day of the vigil.

Monday, February 23, 2009

State House of Representatives Adopts Resolution

We were somewhat surprised when we found out earlier today that the Hawaii State House of Representatives adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 40. This adoption can be interpreted as meaning the state legislature has taken a position on the ceded lands case.

Although this resolution is not binding, the Legislature

  1. urges the Governor "to withdraw the appeal to the United States Supreme Court of the Hawai'i State Supreme Court decision" of the ceded lands case, and

  2. "that the Legislature declares the public policy of the State of Hawai'i is to honor the decision of the Hawai'i Supreme Court.



In the resolution, the Legislature also expressed its belief that, pursuing the appeal "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."

Kupu‘āina Coalition organizers spent a lot of time in January researching and drafting the resolution. Again, although it is not binding, the Legislature has adopted a specific policy on how it views the Hawai'i Supreme Court's landmark January 31, 2008, decision.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Lawmakers to visit during vigil at capitol

There are a few specific lawmakers supporters should visit while at the capitol on Wednesday. These lawmakers are:

Friday, February 20, 2009

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.


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.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

How to Protect the Ceded Lands in Just 5 Minutes a Day!

Supporters can protect the "ceded" lands in just 5 minutes a day! Yes! You read that right! You can protect the "ceded" lands by spending just 5 minutes a day taking specific actions like:

  1. calling key lawmakers

  2. e-mailing key lawmakers

  3. writing a letter to the editor

  4. blogging

  5. telling family and friends what you're doing in just 5 minutes a day

  6. encouraging family and friends to support the efforts

Anyway, you can visit our site page on what you can do in just 5 minutes by going to http://tinyurl.com/Just5Minutes, but we'll paste the details below also. Unfortunately, you have to scroll down to see it though.

Just Five Minutes a day, goes a long way.
Our calendar makes fighting to PROTECT the ceded lands easy! Just click on the link for each day to find out what to do and how to do it!








































Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed


Thu

Fri


Sat
Feb. 15



Feb. 16



Feb. 17
Call Rep. Calvin Say


Feb. 18
E-mail Rep. Calvin Say


Feb. 19
Call Senator Brian Taniguchi


Feb. 20
E-mail Sen. Brian Taniguchi


Feb. 21
Write a Letter to the Editor


Feb. 22
Tell Family & friends what you have done.


Feb. 23
Call Rep. Ken Ito


Feb. 24
E-mail Rep. Ken Ito


Feb. 25
Call Rep. Sharon Har


Feb. 26
E-mail Rep. Sharon Har


Feb. 27
Tell Family & Friends they can help too!


Feb. 28
Stay Updated. Visit Site.


Mar. 1
Tell family & friends what you have done.


Mar. 2
Call Rep. Jon Karamatsu


Mar. 3
E-mail Rep. Jon Karamatsu


Mar. 4
Call Rep. Calvin Say again.


Mar. 5
E-mail Rep. Calvin Say again


Mar. 6
Stay Updated. Visit Site


Mar. 7
Write a Letter to the Editor


Mar. 8
Tell family & friends what you have done.


Mar. 9
Call Rep. Marcus Oshiro


Mar. 10
E-mail Rep. Marcus Oshiro


Mar. 11
Call Rep. Ken Ito Again


Mar. 12
E-mail Rep. Ken Ito Again


Mar. 13
Write about ceded lands on a blog


Mar. 14



Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Stickers are in! Senate Bill 1085 has been decked

Aloha mai kakahiaka kakou,

The stickers are in and people have already begun to e-mail us their orders. (See http://tinyurl.com/stick-um. Senate Bill 1085 has been decked. Click here for details.

In other news, Senator Hee made arrangements yesterday to have two proposed resolutions heard in his Senate Committee. Senate Resolution 25 and Senate Concurrent Resolution 40.

These proposed resolutions accomplish two goals:

  1. urges Governor Lingle to withdraw the "ceded" lands case now pending at the U.S. Supreme Court, and

  2. declares "the public policy of the State of Hawai'i is to honor the decision of the Hawai'i State Supreme Court."


These resolutions have been moved out of committee and will proceed to the Senate floor.

Although the resolutions are not binding, these resolutions will be expressions of our legislature that re-affirm the State Supreme Court's January 31, 2008, landmark decision.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

SB 1085 Testimony 1

Name: (enter name here)
Committee: Senate Committee on Judiciary and Government Affairs
Date/Time of hearing: March 5, 2009 at 9:45am
Re: Senate Bill 1085 - COMMENTARY IN STRONG SUPPORT

Dear Chairman Taniguchi,

I submit testimony in strong support of Senate Bill 1085. SB 1085 provides a re-affirmation of the Hawaii Supreme Court’s landmark, January 31, 2008, decision in the case commonly known as Office of Hawaiian Affairs v. HCDCH.

Last month our state Senate passed two resolutions:

  • Senate Resolution 25,

  • Senate Concurrent Resolution 40.

These resolutions provide that the “Legislature declares the public policy of the State of Hawaii is to honor the decision of the Hawaii Supreme Court.” Senate Concurrent Resolution 40 was also adopted by the state House of Representatives. In other words, our legislature has decided to support our state judicial branch on this issue.

SB 1085 is legislation that fits within the public policy of the State of Hawaii through our legislature. Our legislature passed the resolution, now it is time to support the appropriate bill.

Sincerely,

[your name here]

I urge you to support and pass SB 1085.

SB 1085 Testimony 2

March 4, 2009
Chairman Brian Taniguchi
Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations
Thur. Mar. 4, 2009
Conf. Room 211, 9:45 am

Chair Taniguchi, Vice Chair Takamine, and Members, Robert Bunda, Mike Gabbard, Clarence Nishihara, and Sam Slom, of the Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations,

My name is [YOUR NAME HERE]. I am a resident of Hawaii and am deeply concerned about the future of the “ceded” lands. The actions of the Governor in appealing this case to the U.S. Supreme Court do not represent my views on this issue. For this reason I am submitting testimony in STRONG SUPPORT of SB 1085.

As the body of officials elected to represent the people of Hawaii, I ask that you please represent our voice and pass this bill out of your committee, unamended. The passage of this bill reasserts the power of the legislature to address, not only the issue of proposed sales of “ceded” lands, but it also reasserts the policy of the State, which has been to commit to reconciliation and self-determination for Native Hawaiian people.

I am deeply troubled by Linda Lingle’s attempt to take this issue beyond our shores and allow nine judges, that have no vested interest in or connection to Hawaii, to dictate the future of our lands and local issues. Her actions threaten the sovereign power of our State government. For that reason, I urge you to exercise your authority as State officials and as the legislative branch of government to harness control over these issues.

I also would like to remind you that Native Hawaiians have a special relationship to the land that differs from the American or Western relationship. This relationship is beyond any description through words. It is a relationship that connects them to their past, present, and their future. The state has long recognized that this relationship exists, and it is important to the future of all of Hawaii’s people that this relationship continue to be recognized. It is in large part because of the mana (spirit/power) and traditions of Hawaii’s first people that we have such a unique and beautiful society here.

Once the land is sold it will never be returned. Please carefully consider our future when reviewing this bill. I ask that you please pass this bill out of your committee. Mahalo for your time.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Stop Selling Ceded Lands stickers!



Today, in the mail, we got our StopSellingCededLands.com sticker (above). These stickers will be a great way to get the message out and around town. We know that there are a lot of people who want to protect the ceded lands and this is just one great way to show it. The stickers are 3 inches high and 10 inches long. When we get our full order of stickers in, we'll be sure to let you know. If you know right now that you're interested in buying one, feel free to send us an e-mail now at kupuaina@gmail.com and we'll put you on our list. Putting yourself on our list in no way obligates you to actually buy one, but it will help us out in calculating our inventory and in determining whether or not we need to order additional stickers. We will provide information on prices and distribution in a later posting and e-mail. So, if you're not yet on our e-mail list, please feel free to join it below.

Enter your email address below to subscribe to our Google groups e-mail list.

We will email you updates and let you know how you can help.


Email:



UPDATE on Stickers 2/17/09
Stickers cost $4 each. Cost includes postage/shipping. If you're ordering more than one sticker to be mailed to a single address the cost decreases.
1 sticker - $ 4
2 stickers - $ 7
3 stickers - $10
4 stickers - $13
5 stickers - $16

Federalist Society Debate on "Ceded"Lands

Aloha mai kākou,

Today, the law school had a packed room for a debate between Ilya Shapiro and Prof. Carl Christensen. Ilya Shapiro appears to be in town because he is touring California and Hawaii giving presentations. Anyway, the law school classroom was crowded with law school students, faculty, and a good number of visitors not affiliated with the law school in anyway. For example Aunty Leona Kalima was present. For those of you who don't know, Aunty Leona Kalima was a plaintiff in a lawsuit that sought to protect land claims for Native Hawaiians. Click here to read a Star-Bulletin article on the suit when the Hawaii Supreme Court found in favor of Native Hawaiian claimants. Video is available below.

Also in attendance were people who oppose Native Hawaiian programs, claims, and rights such as:

  1. Bill Burgess

  2. David Rosen

  3. Grassroot Institute



A few hours after speaking with some law students, it seems as though the consensus is that Prof. Carl Christensen won the debate. Others have commented that Ilya Shapiro appeared condescending and as a result, it was difficult to want to agree with him. You'll notice in the video above that there are times when Ilya looks up into the air while he's talking and some seem to have interpreted this behavior as though Shapiro thought this was a topic not worth real discussion. Shapiro may have lost some credibility with the audience when he was talking about Hawaiian history and the Hawaiian Kingdom, but couldn't remember the name of Hawai'i's last Queen. Some members of the audience afterwards thought that someone who professes to be familiar with these local issues should at least be familiar with the history that give rise to these issues.

Ilya expressed the idea that to be Native Hawaiian, one must be 50% or more Native Hawaiian by blood or have a Hawaiian last name. A number of audience members had very little, if any at all, appreciation for this definition of Native Hawaiian. What may have been puzzling to many in attendance is that, a person, who does not appear to have ever lived in Hawaii and who does not currently live in Hawaii somehow feels he is in a position to define what a Native Hawaiian is or is not.

Professor Carl Christensen, immediately upon arriving at the lectern, clarified that the issues raised by Ilya have no place in this debate specifically because those 14th amendment issues have not been raised by the Lingle Administration nor the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. As such, the U.S. Supreme Court is not being asked whether or not programs benefitting Native Hawaiians discriminate on the basis of race. The only question that the Lingle Administration has asked the United States Supreme Court is basically, did the 1993 Apology Resolution, passed by the 103rd Congress, prevent the State of Hawai’i from selling ceded lands?” Somehow, Ilya seems to think it was appropriate to raise issues in this debate that the Supreme Court has not been asked by any of the disputing parties (Lingle Administration or OHA).

Unfortunately, we had some issues with one of our video cameras. You may have been able to tell from our video-stream that the camera on the left, at times, had better (louder) audio, but sometimes had some “weird” imagery like: shaking camera, cartoon-type curtains, words like “STAMINA” across the middle of the screen. We were not sure exactly what was happening with that video camera. We later realized that it was on “DEMO” mode. As we review the video now, we remember that there were times when the left video camera kept turning off unexpectedly. When we were recording-livestreaming and we noticed that the left-side video camera unexpectedly turned off, we immediately had to transfer to the right side video camera and unfortunately, there were times when Ilya’s comments were inadvertently interrupted. You can tell all the time on the video, but when this happened in real time, the screen went black. This pre-recording that you’re watching now however, doesn’t show that, instead it just skips to the next footage, and gives the appearance of blending one camera to another. Around 39:55 minutes or so, I realize now, (hours after the live-stream) that audio may not be heard. If there is a way to fix this, we will work towards doing that. Interestingly enough, we didn’t get any complaints via e-mail about internet viewers not being able to hear the audio.

We’ll be sure to work on these “bugs” for next time. For the most part, we'll let you develop your own opinion and hope you find the video useful. Thank you for visiting.

"Ceded" Lands Case Debate at Law School hosted by Federalist Society

We couldn't resist letting you know about an event that is happening today. An organization (often recognized as a conservative organization) at the law school known as the Federalist Society is hosting a debate on the "ceded" lands case at 12:45pm. The Federalist Society, despite being a law student organization, is not affiliated with the Kupu‘āina Coalition or ‘Ahahui o Hawai‘i (the Hawaiian law student organization). Attached is the flyer distributed by the Federalist Society. Participating in the debate is Ilya Shapiro and Honolulu attorney and law professor Carl Christensen.

The Kupu‘āina Coalition supports the Hawai'i Supreme Court's landmark January 31, 2008 ruling that placed a moratorium on the sale of ceded lands until the unrelinquished claims of Native Hawaiians are resolved. Our organization has also been active in the effort to have a moratorium passed by the Hawai'i legislature that would protect Hawaiian claims. We believe it is important for the Hawaiian community, and the general Hawaii community to witness for themselves what institutions exist that fiercely oppose Native Hawaiian programs and seek the demise of those programs and Native Hawaiian rights and claims.

We are up against more than just the "Grassroot Institute of Hawaii" or the "Pacific Legal Foundation." In our effort to show our supporters who some of the people and institutions are that seek to actively work against us, we will be live-streaming today's event from our website, www.stopsellingcededlands.com. However, we want you to know, that we are in complete disagreement with Ilya Shapiro and we want everyone to know that despite the fact that a law student (or two) have organized tomorrow's event, their views on the issue neither reflects the views of Kupu‘āina nor do their views (if any) discourage Kupu‘āina from proceeding with our efforts to protect the ceded lands. It may also be important for people to know that Kupu‘āina and Ahahui o Hawai'i were not consulted in anyway before this event was scheduled. We had no input for the decision making or determining who would be speaking/debating today.

While our views are in disagreement with Illya Shapiro, we are confident that this debate will show our community and our supporters what we are up against. We are streaming this event not because we agree with it, (we DO NOT AGREE with the anti-Hawaiian views that will be expressed in it) but we consider it useful just for the simple purpose of knowing our opponents. The event is scheduled to start at 12:45 pm today.

Monday, February 9, 2009

2009-02-09 Kupu'aina Webcast

You can watch this evenings webcast below.

In the webcast above, I send mahalo to people whose names I wrote on a piece of paper. I forgot to write the following two names:

    Valentino Ching, and
    Paul Gabriel


Mahalo to everyone for their support and encouragement.

Bond Ratings Have Not Been Affected By Ceded Lands Case

Attorney General Mark has said that the Hawai'i Supreme Court's landmark January 31, 2008, ruling, that the State of Hawai'i could not selling ceded lands until the unrelinquished claims of Native Hawaiians are resolved have affected the state's financial situation. He has specifically suggested that the state's bond ratings have been negatively affected. Below is a table of the State's bond ratings from three bond rating firms. The table covers the years between 2003 and 2008.








YEAR S & P Moody'sFitch
2008 AA Aa2 AA
2007 AA Aa2 AA
2006 AA- Aa2 AA
2005 AA- Aa2 AA-
2004 AA- Aa3 AA-
2003 AA- Aa3 AA-

By clicking on each individual year, you will be taken to an individual News Release from the Governor's Office acknowledging the bond ratings.



In other news, we're now listed at http://hawaii.alltop.com. I met Guy Kawasaki last year when he spoke to law students, MBA students, and engineering students last year who were enrolled in the law school's High Growth Entrepreneurship class. Guy's book, The Art of the Start is nothing short of awesome, and I highly recommend it to all who are considering their own start-up, working for or with a start-up or just interested in start-ups.

Anyway, check out alltop.com

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Meetings with Representatives Calvin Say, Sylvia Luke, Jon Riki Karamatsu, Pono Chong and Ken Ito

On Friday, Kupu‘āina organizers met with the following state lawmakers:

We had a meeting scheduled with Representative Corinne Ching's office, but for some reason, when we went to the office, we were not on the schedule. We will probably make arrangements to re-schedule that.

The effort to get a moratorium bill passed this session, to protect the "ceded" lands, requires more support from the community.

House Bill 1667 was passed out of the first committee. It now goes, "jointly, to the Water, Land, and Ocean Resources ("WLO") and Judiciary Committees, with WLO being the "lead" committee. What this means, is, the WLO committee has to choose to hear HB 1667 and that it's not up to the Judiciary Committee to hear it.

Upon discussing with the different law makers the need to hear House Bill 1667 in committee, we learned that:

  • WLO only meets on Mondays and Fridays, (and it looks like their last meeting is 2/13)
  • Committees must give a 48 hour notice for a bill to be heard,
  • Bills that have a triple referral, such as HB 1667, need to leave the second committee by February 19, 2009 or the bill will die in committee


Because we don't have much time to act, this is very important information to know for several reasons:

  • The next practical hearing for HB 1667 with the WLO is the week of February 15-21.

    • BUT, February 16, a Monday on which WLO meets is a holiday, so WLO will not hear the bill on that day.

  • The only possible day that week is Friday, February 13, 2009.
  • For there to be a hearing on HB 1667 with WLO on February 13, HB 1667 has to be scheduled for the hearing no later than Wednesday, February 11, 2009.



When we spoke with Calvin Say he informed us that it was up to the committee chairs to decide whether or not they're going to hear specific bills in their hearings. When we spoke with Representatives Ken Ito and Sharon Har, (who, respectively are chair and vice-chair of WLO)they said it was up to House Leadership to determine which bills get heard. Representative Calvin Say is the House Leader.

So, at this point, what needs to happen is that we need supporters to call the following and urge them to support having HB 1667 heard in the WLO/JUDIARY committees.
We need people to call the following:

Calling 2-3 (or more) of these lawmakers and saying the following will be helpful:
"Representative __________________, because you're a part of House Leadership, I urge you to advocate to the rest of the House leadership and to the chairs and vice chairs of the Water, Land & Ocean Resources and the Judiciary Committees to schedule House Bill 1667 for a committee hearing on Friday, February 13, 2009."

Despite the confusion conveyed to us as to how things happen, we're confident in our understanding as to how things actually work. Calling these guys, listed above, will help us cover our bases. We need you to keep track of who you called, when you called them, and to confirm that you urged them to have House Bill 1667 scheduled for a hearing.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

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.


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.



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.

Phone Script For Calling Senator Taniguchi.

Call Senator Taniguchi at 586-6460.


Hello, my name is ____________________. I'm calling Senator Brian Taniguchi because I want to urge him to hold a hearing for Senate Bill 1085. My family and I would like to see Senate Bill 1085 passed out of the Judiciary and Government Operations Committee. Please give Senator Taniguchi this message for me. If he has any questions, he can contact me at _________________.

Contact your legislators

We need you to call and e-mail your lawmakers.

To find out who your District Representative and Senator is, type the name of your street in the field below and click on submit. Be sure to choose the county you live in.

Find Legislators:








e-mail template for Rep. Blake Oshiro

send e-mail to repboshiro@capitol.hawaii.gov and BOshiro@ahfi.com


Dear Rep. Oshiro,

Hello, my name is (insert your name). I'm writing to you because when House leadership meets on Mondays, I want you to urge the rest of House leadership to make sure Senate Bill 1085 gets a scheduled hearing from all committees that SB 1085 is referred to. My family and I would like to see Senate Bill 1085 passed out of the committees. If you have any questions, feel free to reply to this e-mail.

Sincerely,

(insert your name)

Phone Script for Calling Representative Blake Oshiro

Call Rep. Blake Oshiro at 586-6340

Hello, my name is ____________________. I'm calling Representative Blake Oshiro because when House leadership meets on Mondays, I want him to urge the rest of House leadership to make sure Senate Bill 1085 gets a scheduled hearing from all committees that SB 1085 is referred to. My family and I would like to see Senate Bill 1085 passed out of the committees. Please give Representative Blake Oshiro this message for me. If he has any questions, he can contact me at _________________.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Hearings, updates,

LESS THAN 24 HOURS ARE LEFT.


There is less than 24 hours left for us to submit testimony to the State House Committee on Hawaiian Affairs. As we mentioned in our blog, the State House Committee on Hawaiian Affairs and the Senate Committee on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs, will be holding hearings on "ceded" lands moratorium bills THIS WEDNESDAY.
House Committee hearing is at 9 am in conference room 329; House Bills 1667 and 1805.
Senate Committee hearing is at 2:45 pm Conference Room 229; Senate Bill 1085.
It is important that our elected legislators hear from you in written form. Testimony can be submitted online by going to http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/emailtestimony/ or clicking here.
- Written testimony for House Bills 1667 and 1805 must be submitted by 9 am TUESDAY, February 3, 2009.
- Written testimony for Senate Bill 1085 must be submitted by 2:45 pm TUESDAY, February 3, 2009.
Testimony should be written in a civil tone and with a respectful manner.

PRESENCE AT THE HEARINGS IS IMPORTANT!


We need your presence at the hearings. If you're unable to submit testimony by the deadline(s), your presence at the hearings are still important. Your Support is greatly appreciated and will be felt by the generations yet to come.

KUPU‘ĀINA COALITION IN ACTION


Coalition organizers presented information and statements to members of the Legislative Hawaiian Caucus regarding the "ceded" lands issue and the moratorium laws being introduced this session. Representative Mele Carroll's office also sent out a News Release.

This past Saturday, Coalition organizers went to Windward Mall in Kane‘ohe to help concerned residents express to their elected legislators their wish to have their own lawmakers support a moratorium on the sale of "ceded" lands until the unrelinquished claims of Native Hawaiians are resolved. We're continuing to get more postcards signed.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP PROTECT CEDED LANDS

Submit testimony online on regarding House Bills 1667 and 1805 in addition to Senate Bill 1085.
Identify 10-15 family members, friends, neighbors and/or co-workers who support protecting the ceded lands and let us know by e-mail (kupuaina@gmail.com). We will happily send you postcards to have them fill out.
Stay updated by following or subscribing to our blog and visiting our website stopsellingcededlands.com often
Spread the word by forwarding our e-mails to family, friends, neighbors, etc., so that they can learn more too.

IMPORTANT UPDATES TO OUR WEBSITE


We have updated the "background page" of our website. You can now read what legal arguments of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the individual plaintiffs are. In addition, you can read the several "friend-of-the-court" briefs (amicus briefs) that have been submitted in support of protecting the "ceded" lands.

Don't forget to watch our live-streaming webcast today at 5:30 pm on our website, www.stopsellingcededlands.com. If you have a question you would like to have answered, send your question to kupuaina@gmail.com.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

e-mailing Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu

Send e-mail to repkaramatsu@capitol.hawaii.gov

Feel free to use the below text as a template for your e-mail.

Dear Representative Jon Karamatsu,

My name is _______________. I called you previously about the ceded lands issue and wanted to follow up with an e-mail.

As the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, I want you to arrange for moratorium bills in your committee to be heard. Although it may be too late for bills that were first introduced in the House, there are Senate Bills that will soon cross over to the House. I am concerned that if these bills receive triple referrals, these bills won't get passed. Moratorium bills are important pieces of legislation and they should be heard immediately. These bills should be heard, discussed and voted on in committee.

Please feel free to e-mail me if you have questions.

Thank you,
__________________