A key Senate committee is expected to push out a bill approving a tentative agreement between the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Lingle administration over ceded land revenues, despite the claims of two of the lawmakers that Hawaiians are entitled to much more.

The Senate Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee yesterday listened to testimony on the proposal from a variety of Native Hawaiian organizations that support the plan as a first step toward resolving the long-standing debate over how much the state should pay Hawaiians for the use of former crown and government lands that were once part of the Hawaiian kingdom and are held in trust by the state.

Under the agreement, the state would pay OHA $15.1 million annually as its share of ceded land revenues. OHA has been receiving about $10 million annually over the past three years. Additionally, OHA would get a one-time payment of $17.5 million to cover back payments.

Committee Chairwoman Colleen Hanabusa said she will recommend the committee move the bill out on Monday. A similar bill is moving through the House.

Attorney General Mark Bennett, lead negotiator for the state, and OHA leaders stressed that the proposed agreement is a stop-gap measure while they negotiate over how much, or whether, the semi-autonomous agency should receive from so-called disputed revenue sources.

"This doesn't in any way satisfy on any type of permanent basis the state's constitutional obligation to OHA," Bennett said. "But sometimes the way to get at a bigger, more comprehensive issue is to start with more modest goals."

Senators Clayton Hee, D-23rd (Kane'ohe, Kahuku), and J. Kalani English, D-6th (E. Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i), maintained that the proposed agreement's figures are too low.

Hee peppered OHA administrator Clyde Namu'o and legal counsel Robert Klein with questions about how the figures were calculated. Hee, a former OHA trustee and one-time chairman, said he found the $15.1 million in annual payments suspicious, noting that was how much OHA was paid in 1997.

Both Namu'o and Klein declined to provide many specifics, citing ongoing negotiations over the disputed revenue sources.

"Obviously, there were other numbers that were floating around — $15.1 million just happened to be the end point," Klein said. "It's not exactly where OHA started ... it's not exactly where the state started, either."

After the meeting, Hee said, the temporary arrangement should have included about $7 million annually in OHA's share of landing fees for the runways at Honolulu and Hilo airports, which are on ceded lands.

"There's no question in my mind, based on what (Klein) has testified, that OHA believes it should be more," Hee said. "He did everything but say it."

Hee said he will seek to convince his colleagues to give OHA more although he doubted that he would be successful.

"I think it is too low," English said. With 40 percent of his constituency made up of Native Hawaiians, he said, he would like to be able to explain how the settlement was reached. English said any amount being paid out should include some amount from disputed revenue sources as well.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.