Key events in ceded lands dispute
| • | Supreme Court dismisses OHA ceded lands claims |
Advertiser Staff
The Hawai'i Supreme Court's decision yesterday deals with what's known as "ceded lands," an estimated 1.2 million acres or a third of the state's land that once belonged to the Hawaiian monarchy.
The land was taken over by the federal government upon annexation in 1898 and transferred to the state when Hawai'i gained statehood in 1959. The state holds the land in trust for five purposes, including the improvement of the conditions of Native Hawaiians. The other purposes are public education, farm and home ownership, public improvements and public use.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs was created by a 1978 amendment to the state Constitution and is financed by revenue from the ceded lands.
Those lands lie beneath hospitals, roadways, airports, government buildings, agricultural businesses and other enterprises.
Yesterday's decision is the latest development in the more than two-decade-long controversy over how much money the state should turn over to OHA from revenues generated from ceded lands.
Key developments in the controversy:
• 1979: Legislature passes Act 196 — one of several in an attempt to resolve the dispute. It directs the state to give OHA an unspecified "pro rata share" of proceeds from ceded lands.
• 1980: Act 273 sets the pro rata share at 20 percent — based on the mandate that one of the five purposes of the ceded land trust was to improve conditions for Hawaiians.
• 1987: Hawai'i Supreme Court refuses to rule on a 1983 OHA lawsuit seeking a court determination on how much money OHA is owed for disputed claims. The court indicates it is a political issue that should be left to legislators.
• 1990: Legislature passes Act 304 which seeks to resolve the dispute. It sets up a process to resolve OHA's claims from 1980 to 1991.
• 1993: After extensive negotiations, Legislature passes Act 35 to pay OHA for claims from 1980 to 1991. OHA receives $130 million.
• 1994: OHA files lawsuit over other claims that it says weren't resolved with the $130 million payment.
• 1996: Circuit Judge Daniel Heely rules that the state must pay on those claims. One of the key points of his ruling involves the revenues the state receives from the Duty Free Shoppers' Waikiki outlet. The store doesn't sit on ceded lands, but Heely ruled that the state must pay OHA 20 percent of the revenues because the outlet wouldn't exist without the Duty Free Shoppers operating out of Honolulu International Airport which partially sits on ceded lands. The state filed its appeal before Heely could determine the amount the state had to pay OHA. Estimates of the amount were in the hundreds of millions of dollars and went as high as $1.2 billion.
• 1998: Congress passes the "Forgiveness Act," prohibiting the state from using airport-related money to pay OHA for ceded land claims.
• Yesterday: The Hawai'i Supreme Court rules Heely's decision was correct at the time, but the 1998 federal law requires the justices to dismiss OHA's lawsuit. The court suggests that the Legislature should pass a law to meet the state's constitutional obligations to native Hawaiians.
