State government wages war with itself over DHHL

It is not yet a constitutional crisis, but just wait, because the state of Hawaii is at war with itself.

The hostilities were triggered by last year’s ruling by Circuit Judge Jeanette Castagnetti, who said that the Legislature “failed to appropriate sufficient sums to the Department of Hawaii Home Lands for its administrative and operating budget.”

Having the courts tell the state administration or governor to clean up its act is not an act of war, but the courts went further by directing the state to give DHHL $28 million.

The judge ordered the Legislature to do that because the state Constitution says it is supposed to provide “sufficient funds” for run and administer DHHL.

Now one of Gov. David Ige’s own departments is publicly battling the governor, and the House and Senate Democratic majorities have jumped into the fray with their own lawyer. All parties are expected in court Wednesday as they fight for and against the state court ruling.

Ige said you can’t tell the Legislature how much to spend. The House and Senate said you can’t tell us how much to spend because there is supposed to be separation of powers between the different branches of government.

Everybody is lawyered up. Ige’s got the attorney general. The Legislature hired Mark Bennett, who was AG under former GOP Gov. Linda Lingle, and DHHL hired a private law firm.

Bennett in a brief called it “an extremely important issue of the separation of powers in Hawaii.”

“Neither this court, nor any judge or justice, has the power to either determine the amount of any appropriation, order an appropriation or … decide how much to appropriate (or not appropriate) to DHHL,” it reads.

The situation is tense enough that the head of DHHL issued a press release going after the Ige administration.

“It’s discouraging to see the attorney general pursuing an appeal of this matter on the basis that the court has overstepped its powers,” said Jobie Masagatani, Hawaiian Homes Commission chairwoman and DHHL director.

Noting that the appeal will eventually end up at the Hawaii Supreme Court, and that the high court has already said it can determine what is “sufficient funding,” Masagatani said, “it feels like an unnecessary delay that hurts DHHL and its ability to effectively meet its mission to place native Hawaiians on the land.”

Former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who as president of the state Senate sued both Lingle and former Gov. Ben Cayetano, said there are big issues at stake.

“The issue is that you don’t have a right to dictate how much will be appropriated,” Hanabusa said in an interview.

The courts can direct the Legislature to give money to DHHL, but the issue is in the specifics of precisely how much.

“The Legislature has to say how all the state money will be divvied up. The question is whether you can say it is $28 million from now until perpetuity,” Hanabusa said.

To keep the storm raging, there is no agreement within the Legislature. A group of Democrats and Republicans is pushing to ignore the lawsuit’s appeal and just give DHHL the $28 million.

At minimum, the appeals and interventions point to a long-delayed case with no clear winner — and certainly no money for DHHL in the near future.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.