OHA suit against state dismissed

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

State Circuit Judge Gary Chang yesterday dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs against the state over money OHA claims it is due resulting from the state's use of "ceded" lands for airport and other state activities.

The state had paid OHA about $30 million to cover a 10-year period, but in 1997 the Federal Aviation Administration concluded that money generated from the use of airport properties should be used only for airport purposes.

Ceded land is property once controlled by the Hawaiian Kingdom for public purposes or to support the crown. About 1.8 million acres was ceded to the United States on annexation and back to Hawai'i upon statehood.

Native Hawaiians are among the beneficiaries of revenue from that land, and OHA received a share that was calculated at 20 percent until nearly two years ago, when the state law enabling those payments was struck down by the state Supreme Court.

Chang sided with Deputy Attorney General Dorothy Sellers, who argued that the statute of limitations had expired and that there is no state law that defines "revenue" as it pertains to income derived from ceded lands.

Chang said OHA should consider working with the state Legislature to cure the problem.

It is impossible to say how much money OHA may be entitled to, Sellers said after the hearing.

"No one can calculate the number — there's nothing on which to premise it," she said.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.