STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3048

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.C.R. No. 93
                                        




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Water, Land, and Hawaiian Affairs, to
which was referred S.C.R. No. 93 entitled:

     "SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING THE GOVERNOR TO APPOINT
     THE TRUSTEES TO THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS TO SERVE OUT
     THEIR TERMS OF OFFICE IF THE RICE V. CAYETANO DECISION
     REQUIRES THEIR REMOVAL AS ELECTED OFFICIALS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to urge the Governor to
appoint the current Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) trustees to
fill the remainder of the term until a public election can be
held in November, 2000.

     Testimony in opposition to the measure was received from a
trustee of OHA and the Hawaiian Political Action Council of
Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that in 1978, the Constitutional
Convention of the State of Hawaii recommended, and in 1980, the
electorate ratified, a constitutional amendment that established
OHA.  OHA was created to be the State agency responsible for the
performance, development, and coordination of programs and
activities relating to the betterment of conditions of two
subclasses of Hawaiian citizenry, native Hawaiians and Hawaiians.
As the administrative apparatus under which OHA would be
governed, the Legislature created an elected Board of Trustees
for OHA.  One of the qualifications for being a trustee for OHA

 
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was that the trustee be Hawaiian and that in order to vote in the
election for trustees, a person must be at least part Hawaiian.

     Your Committee also finds that Harold "Freddy" Rice, a
citizen without the requisite ancestry to be a Hawaiian under
State law, applied to vote in OHA trustee elections.  When his
application was denied, Mr. Rice sued the State, claiming that
the voting exclusion was invalid under the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Amendments.  Upon appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, on
February 23, 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Rice v.
Cayetano that OHA's voting scheme was a violation of the
Fifteenth Amendment because OHA is a state agency.  In response
to this decision, the Attorney General has advised Governor
Cayetano that he may be obligated to remove eight of the nine
trustees because they were voted into office in an illegal
election.  Although the Governor believes he has the authority to
fill the positions vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling
through the appointment process, the Governor has delayed his
decision on the matter until he receives more information on the
U.S. Supreme Court decision.

     Your Committee, responding to the enormous outpouring of
dissatisfaction voiced by the Hawaiian people over the U.S.
Supreme Court decision, conducted a five island, eight hearing
fact-finding trip to hear the concerns of Hawaiians across the
State.  The almost unanimous opinion of Hawaiians statewide was
that if the Governor is required to remove the existing OHA
trustees, then the Governor, as an act of good faith and respect
to the Hawaiian people, should appoint the elected OHA trustees
to serve out the remainder of their terms.

     In light of the testimonies received statewide by your
Committee, your Committee believes that for the continuity,
stability, and integrity of OHA, which is beneficial to the
trust, its beneficiaries, and the State as a whole, that the
current OHA trustees should fulfill their trust obligations for
the remainder of the term until the State can establish a
mechanism for compliance with the Fifteenth Amendment.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Water, Land, and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached
to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and
purpose of S.C.R. No. 93, and recommends that it be referred to
the Committee on Judiciary.


 
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                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Water, Land, and
                                   Hawaiian Affairs,



                                   ______________________________
                                   COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair

 
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