Reform process already point of contention

With the help of Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s administration, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has begun reforming its controversial revocable permit program and evaluating other aspects of its operation.

But Native Hawaiian beneficiaries already are raising questions about the process, saying they are not being allowed to participate from the start.

The department was established to get beneficiaries — those who are at least 50 percent Native Hawaiian — onto homestead lots.

"Once again we’re being cut out from the process," Blossom Feiteria, president of the Association of Hawaiians for Homestead Lands, said in a phone interview Friday with the Star-Advertiser. "Beneficiaries have a right to sit at a place at the table, but (the state) is trying to ignore us again."

At a Hawaiian Homes Commission meeting on Molokai last week, Feiteria questioned why no beneficiary was on a task force the governor named to assist the department as it considers ways to reform the program. Several commissioners also raised questions about the task force, and two told the Star-Advertiser they shared Feiteria’s concerns.

Kama Hopkins, one of the nine commissioners who oversees DHHL, said he agreed with several of his colleagues that beneficiaries don’t seem to have a voice in the department’s process early on.

"We feel we’re missing an important link," he said, stressing that he was speaking about the department’s efforts, not the governor’s task force.

The governor’s group initially consists of the attorney general, state finance director and Department of Land and Natural Resources chairman, according to a briefing paper distributed to commissioners for last week’s meeting.

Despite that composition, an Abercrombie spokes­woman indicated that beneficiaries will have opportunities to weigh in as the process unfolds.

"The purpose of the task force is to provide state expertise, analysis and assistance to the DHHL," Louise Kim McCoy wrote in a statement to the Star-Advertiser. "We anticipate this process may involve confidential matters and consequently the participants, at this point, are limited to state departments. The input by beneficiaries may be considered at a later date. The recommendations by the task force will have to be approved by the Hawaiian Homes Commission prior to implementation. As always, beneficiaries can contact the DHHL to express their opinions and concerns as some beneficiaries have already done so."

The revocable-permit program, which DHHL uses to issue month-to-month leases for land deemed unsuitable or not ready for homesteading for at least the foreseeable future, has come under fire in the wake of a three-day Star-Advertiser series this month.

The newspaper found that the program — designed in part to get tenants onto the land so the department doesn’t have to spend its resources to maintain the property — was plagued by problems of mismanagement, lax oversight, selective enforcement and a lack of transparency.

In response, DHHL said it intended to place a 60- to 90-day moratorium on issuing new permits and review all existing ones to determine whether they needed to be continued, modified or terminated. It also said it planned to re-evaluate the program to look for ways to improve it.

Abercrombie also stated his intention of forming the task force, and commissioners were told last week that DHHL had accepted the governor’s offer of help.

Feiteria and other beneficiaries have told the Star-Advertiser that the problems uncovered in the series reflected broader concerns they have voiced for decades. Independent reports and audits also have outlined similar problems, yet the problems have persisted through the years, beneficiaries said. The department typically has cited a lack of resources.

But some beneficiaries are detecting a difference this time, particularly with the heavy criticism the agency has received since the series and the newspaper’s continued efforts to scrutinize the department.

Beyond the formation of the task force and the department’s vow to make improvements, the agency already appears to be taking some action.

In the 19 days since the series was published, DHHL land agents have visited 90 percent of the roughly 180 revocable permit sites statewide to update photo records, document compliance with permit conditions and begin plans for improvements, Director Jobie Masa­ga­tani said Friday in a statement to the newspaper.

In addition, it plans to conduct the same level of review for licenses, general leases and right-of-way permits, according to Masa­ga­tani, who also heads the commission. Like revocable permits, those agreements are used by the agency for leasing lands not in the pipeline for homesteading use.

DHHL has sent letters to all its non­home­stead tenants — roughly 800 — saying that this is an opportunity for them to review whether they are in compliance with their rental agreements, the director said.

In the briefing document to the commission, Deputy Director Darrell Young said the department plans to create an internal database of existing revocable permits to catalog pertinent information, including an estimated time frame for future actions such as homesteading.

The task force also will look at multiple issues, including mapping out a revised process for land dispositions using revocable permits, Young said.

In addition, the department is planning to provide more public information on its website, including outlining the process for a revocable permit, according to the briefing.

"Although it is never easy to air our department issues publicly, we view this as an opportunity to better our programs and services for beneficiaries and their direct successors for years to come," Masa­ga­tani wrote in her statement to the newspaper. "While we cannot speak to prior administrations, this DHHL administration is grateful for the support it has received from Gov. Abercrombie, our legislative leaders and our beneficiaries as we improve upon how we do business."

Masagatani said improving the agency’s land disposition program has been something it intended to do all along.

"Addressing the bigger picture and challenge of how we effectively manage our lands with insufficient state funds to convert them timelier into homesteads is a conversation that must continue throughout all facets of our community," she said.

Despite the department’s vow to make changes, some beneficiaries still have concerns, including about transparency.

After discussing the revocable-permit program for a brief period during last week’s public portion of the meeting, the commission adjourned to go into executive session after several commissioners raised questions about the governor’s task force, according to Feiteria and others at the meeting. The panel didn’t emerge until more than two hours later, they said.

Young noted that the agenda item regarding revocable permits was "for information" only, was discussed during the public portion of the meeting and did not result in any commission action other than to call for a special meeting in the future, which will be publicized under the sunshine law. He said the commission went into executive session to obtain legal advice from counsel.

Commissioner Renwick "Uncle Joe" Tassill, among those pushing for reforms, said the department must adopt clearer policies for the revocable-permit program and others to achieve lasting and meaningful gains.

"That’s the key," Tassill said. "Without that we ain’t going no place. Without that it’s business as usual."