The state Senate is poised to pass a measure requiring that any proposed sale of ceded lands must first be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature.

Senate Bill 1677 is designed to counteract an appeal by the Lingle administration to the U.S. Supreme Court of the Hawai'i Supreme Court's decision last year barring the state from selling ceded lands until disputed claims by Native Hawaiians to those lands are resolved.

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the state's appeal on Feb. 25. The bill is not likely to be approved by the Legislature by then, but those who oppose the state's appeal are hoping it will still make a difference.

The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs and four Native Hawaiians first brought the lawsuit seeking to prevent the state from selling ceded lands in 1994. They and their supporters say a loss before the nation's highest court could undermine Hawaiians-only programs and funding.

The Lingle administration says it simply wants to reassert its claim to those lands as allowed by the Admission Act that granted Hawai'i statehood.

Under the bill, which is expected to move over to the House for consideration by Monday, any ceded land sales would first need to be approved by two-thirds of the House and the Senate.

OHA and the Legislature's Native Hawaiian Caucus have been seeking a full-blown moratorium on all ceded land sales pending the resolution of Native Hawaiian claims. But bills citing a full moratorium in both the House and Senate have yet to gain as much momentum as the Senate's "two-thirds approval" measure.

OHA Administrator Clyde Namu'o said the agency's attorney, Kannon K. Shanmugam, believes passage of the bill can be helpful, even if approved after Feb. 25.

"Even though it's not going to make it in time for oral arguments, hopefully it will pass before the court issues its opinion," Namu'o said. He estimated that justices will take about two months to make their decision.

Namu'o said a two-thirds approval bill is just as substantive as a straight moratorium.

"The reality is the land would not end up getting sold because ... no developer would want to go through the rigor of trying to get the Legislature to approve a sale," he said.

Sen. Clayton Hee, D-23rd (Kane'ohe, Kahuku), chairman of the Water, Land, Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs Committee, said Senate Bill 1085 is also still alive although it still needs to get the approval of the Judiciary and Government Operations Committee.

That bill, crafted by Hee, calls for a five-year moratorium on ceded land sales, and if there is no resolution of Native Hawaiian claims at that point, a requirement that two-thirds of the Legislature before ceded lands could be sold.

In the House, four bills calling for a moratorium or a two-thirds approval moved out of Rep. Mele Carroll's Hawaiian Affairs Committee but have been stalled, awaiting required hearings before the House Water, Land and Ocean Resources Committee.

Committee chairman Rep. Ken Ito, D-48th (Kane'ohe), could not be reached for comment yesterday. Carroll said she was told by Ito that he was waiting for a green light to hear the bills by House Speaker Calvin Say.

Say, D-20th (St. Louis Heights, Palolo Valley), said in a statement that House committees will hear moratorium-related bills that come over from the Senate.

"I have always taken the position that the bills should be heard, and they should go through the full legislative process," Say said.

Carroll said she hopes some of the House bills can pass and make it over to the Senate. "This issue is too important to shelve," she said.