Ceded lands system should await lawsuits

While the idea is good, the timing may be off on a proposal for an automated statewide public land trust information system.

A consultant to the state auditor said such a system would cost at least $18 million to construct and as much as $200,000 a year to run.

In theory, the system would be a valuable management tool. Today, there is no accurate inventory of all public lands — including ceded lands — and how they are used.

This is a problem for the state. But it is even a greater problem for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which by law is supposed to receive a percentage of all ceded land revenues to spend on behalf of Native Hawaiians.

Ceded lands are former Crown or Hawaiian government lands that were ceded to the United States upon annexation and back to Hawai'i upon statehood.

Until and unless there is an accurate inventory of the ceded lands and up-to-date information on how they are being used, it will never be clear how much should be set aside for OHA.

But spending the $18 million now might be premature, because the legal underpinnings to OHA and the allocation of ceded land revenues are under challenge. Supporters of OHA hope — and expect — that the legal cloud will be lifted.

If it is, the automated system can and should be put into place. Until then, there are far more pressing needs for that $18 million.