House prepares to approve OHA settlement

Fulfilling a long-standing obligation, the state House is expected to vote today for a $200 million settlement between the state and the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs over OHA’s share of revenue from former crown lands since 1978.

The state would transfer land near the waterfront in Kakaako for OHA to redevelop, providing Hawaiians with a valuable foothold in a region Gov. Neil Abercrombie wants to transform into an urban village.

The House has scheduled a floor vote today on the bill, which has already been approved by the state Senate. The House Finance Committee passed the bill unamended Thursday, the last committee hurdle. Abercrombie will sign the bill into law.

"Be grateful that Hawaiians have something very positive in 2012," an emotional Colette Machado, OHA chairwoman, said after the committee vote.

The settlement is a milestone for OHA and a legislative and political achievement for Abercrombie.

OHA, established by a state constitutional amendment in 1978, is entitled to a portion of the state’s revenue from former crown lands. The state Supreme Court ruled in 1987 that OHA’s share of the revenue was a political question for the Legislature, but a resolution has been elusive.

The settlement agreement would convey state-controlled land in Kakaako to OHA to cover OHA’s share of revenue through June of this year. Separately, OHA receives $15.1 million a year in revenue payments. OHA, or an eventual Native Hawaiian government, will likely negotiate in the future for a global settlement with the state over all ceded land claims.

"This is a long-standing issue that should have been settled years ago, so it’s about rectifying that," former Gov. John Wai­hee, chairman of the commission preparing a roll of participants for a Native Hawaiian government, said of the settlement. "It’s really just about rent that’s already due to OHA."

State Attorney General David Louie, who helped negotiate the settlement, said the administration was "very pleased to put this behind us and go on to resolving other matters with the Native Hawaiian community."

After Abercrombie and OHA announced the terms of the settlement in November, there was some doubt about whether lawmakers would accept the deal. Several lawmakers were privately disappointed that they were not briefed during the negotiations and given the opportunity to relay potential concerns. A previous $200 million settlement agreement under then-Gov. Linda Lingle was approved by the House in 2008 but collapsed in the Senate.

Strategically, the House opted to have the Senate act first this year. Senate leaders put pressure on senators to approve the settlement bill unamended, reducing the chances that the House would alter the bill and force a House and Senate conference committee. Senators — including some who believe the settlement is not enough to satisfy what Hawaiians are owed — have moved a potential companion bill that would give OHA more flexibility to develop high-rise apartments in Kakaako, but that bill is awaiting action by the House.

Had the House and Senate drafted competing versions of the settlement and gone to conference committee, some worried that negotiators would protect their versions of the bill, risking final passage. Individual negotiators could have used the conference talks as leverage to win concessions on the settlement or on other legislation, which could have also jeopardized passage.

The interest in avoiding a conference was so great that the House Water, Land and Ocean Resources Committee and the House Hawaiian Affairs Committee reconsidered technical amendments that the committees had added to the settlement and then re-voted to pass the bill — Senate Bill 2783 — unamended.

For Abercrombie the settlement represents a significant accomplishment, both as a substantive resolution to an overdue problem and as an example that he and his staff can steer a difficult issue through the Legislature.

"It’s very rare where you have an unamended bill pass both chambers," said Blake Oshiro, Abercrombie’s deputy chief of staff and a former House majority leader. "We are extremely grateful that people realize it’s time that we bring this to resolution."

Rep. Marcus Oshiro (D, Wahiawa-Poamoho), chairman of the House Finance Committee, said lawmakers realized the settlement may be "as good as it gets" and did not want to put off an agreement any longer.

"I think it does so much for moving us forward as a community," he said. "Really good. Really good for the entire community, the Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians."