Report Title:

Special Deputy Attorneys General; Barrett and Carroll Lawsuits

 

Description:

Appropriates funds for DHHL and OHA to appoint one special deputy attorney general each to defend against lawsuits brought by Patrick Barrett against the State and John Carroll against various State department heads based on alleged constitutional violations of certain government entities. (SD1)

 

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1488

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RElating to special attorneys general.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that in 2000, two cases were filed concerning the constitutionality of certain government agencies established for the benefit of Hawaiians and native Hawaiians.

In the first case, John Carroll filed suit against the following in federal district court: chairperson of the board of agriculture; superintendent of education; chairperson of the board of land and natural resources; director of business, economic development, and tourism; director of transportation; comptroller; and trustees of the board of trustees of the office of Hawaiian affairs (OHA). This suit alleges racial discrimination with no compelling state interest and deprivation of equal protection of the laws in violation of the fourteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution. These allegations are based on the facts that article XII, sections 5 and 6, of the State Constitution and chapter 10, Hawaii Revised Statutes, grant twenty per cent of the revenue generated by the public land trust and the ceded lands to OHA to be used solely to benefit those individuals who are native Hawaiian.

"Native Hawaiian" is defined by the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920, as amended, as "any descendant of not less than one-half part of the blood of the races inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands previous to 1778."

"Hawaiian" is defined by statute as "any descendant of the aboriginal peoples inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands which exercised sovereignty and subsisted in the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, and which peoples have continued to reside in Hawaii."

Because the U.S. Supreme Court in Rice v. Cayetano, __ U.S. __, 120 S. Ct. 1044, 145 L. Ed.2d 1007 (2000), held that the definitions of "native Hawaiian" and "Hawaiian" in the laws establishing OHA are racial classifications, Carroll alleges that he was denied equal financial entitlements solely due to his racial extraction and ancestral origin. In the lawsuit, Carroll has requested the court to issue a preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining the defendants from enabling the expenditure of state revenues on the basis of race.

One day later, Patrick Barrett filed suit against the State of Hawaii and Governor Cayetano alleging facts similar to those in the Carroll suit and requesting that the court find that article XII of the State Constitution, the office of Hawaiian affairs, and the department of Hawaiian home lands are unconstitutional.

Because of the seriousness of these charges and the State's overriding interest in this lawsuit, the legislature further finds that the appointment of special deputy attorneys general to assist in the defense of the department of Hawaiian home lands and the office of Hawaiian affairs against these two lawsuits would facilitate a favorable outcome for these agencies.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to enable the department of Hawaiian home lands and the office of Hawaiian affairs to appoint special deputy attorneys general in their defense of these two lawsuits.

SECTION 2. Notwithstanding section 28-8.3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and any other law to the contrary, the department of Hawaiian home lands may appoint a special deputy attorney general for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2001-2002 for the department of Hawaiian home lands to appoint one special deputy attorney general for the purpose of defending the respective agencies in Patrick Barrett v. State of Hawaii and Governor Benjamin Cayetano, civil number CV00-00645 and John Carroll v. James Nakatani, et al., civil number CV00-00641.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of Hawaiian home lands for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2001-2002 for the office of Hawaiian affairs to appoint one special deputy attorney general for the purpose of defending the respective agencies in Patrick Barrett v. State of Hawaii and Governor Benjamin Cayetano, civil number CV00-00645 and John Carroll v. James Nakatani, et al., civil number CV00-00641.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the office of Hawaiian affairs for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2001.