So much for the honeymoon.
Barely a month into his term, Gov. David Ige already is in hot water with some Native Hawaiians.
Two key actions taken at the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands since he took office have prompted some to question whether Ige will bring the change he promised during the campaign to the agency that manages the 203,000-acre land trust on their behalf.
Two weeks after Ige’s inauguration, the Hawaiian Homes Commission, which oversees DHHL, approved a framework for revising the way the state agency deals with trust land not in the homesteading pipeline, including those properties originally leased under its controversial revocable permit program.
The proposal, designed to make the awarding of the month-to-month permits more transparent and fair, was developed under former Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s administration. But because it was presented to the commission by the staff of Jobie Masagatani, the Abercrombie Cabinet member whom Ige retained to run the agency, many DHHL beneficiaries view the proposal as a reflection of the new administration.
Even though the department made clear in December that beneficiary consultations would be held statewide before a final proposal was presented to the commission, the initial approval has since triggered intense criticism by those who consider the framework anti-beneficiary and not in line with the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, the federal law that created the trust nearly a century ago.
The proposal, they say, ignores the provision in the law that requires nonhomestead land to be offered to beneficiaries (those at least 50 percent Hawaiian) for "mercantile" use — basically, to open a business — before making it available to the general public.
A working group consisting largely of members from four Hawaiian organizations — the Sovereign Councils of the Hawaiian Homelands Assembly, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Association of Hawaiians for Homestead Lands and Homestead Community Development Corp. — is developing an alternative land-use policy to present to Ige. Because of the commission’s action last month, the working group’s effort has taken on a sense of urgency, beneficiaries say, with membership more than tripling to nearly 45.
The approval of the land-use framework and the reappointment of Masagatani, whom Abercrombie hired for the top DHHL job in 2012, has dismayed some Native Hawaiians, who said they had high hopes that Ige would bring change to the way the state deals with the trust. Although beneficiaries acknowledge that Ige, a 27-year legislative veteran, is still settling into his new job, they say the two key developments under his watch have been disturbing.
"It’s like another nail in the coffin," said Blossom Feiteira, president of the Homestead Lands association. "We’re not getting the change he promised."
"It seems like he’s working hard to get change — except at Hawaiian Home Lands," added Michele Kauhane, chief executive of the Native Hawaiian Advancement group. "I’m disappointed."
Ige, through a spokesman, said he recently met with Masagatani to discuss the issues being raised by beneficiaries and plans to meet with others this week to get a better sense of how to resolve the situation.
"At this point, the (governor) is not in a position to comment until he has had time to get a comprehensive understanding of the concerns and how to move forward," the spokesman said in an email to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Concern about how DHHL deals with trust land is not new. Beneficiaries have been frustrated for years by the department’s slow pace of developing homestead land for ranching, farming and residential lots.
Even though homesteading is the main purpose of the law, DHHL historically has had a poor track record in that arena. In a class-action lawsuit involving claims from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, the court has ruled that the state breached its trust duties by not getting beneficiaries onto homestead lots on a timely basis.
More than 26,000 beneficiaries are on waiting lists, and some have languished on the lists for decades.
Concern about nonhomesteading lands has focused in part on the amount in the hands of nonbeneficiaries.
In testimony to a state Senate committee in January 2014, Robin Danner, policy chairwoman for the statewide Sovereign Councils group, noted that only 4 percent of nonhomesteading land was in the hands of beneficiaries, including just one Hawaiian who had land under the mercantile category.
She told senators that DHHL in 2001 — when Masagatani was the agency’s deputy director — decided to ignore the federal law and end a long-standing policy in which land was made available to beneficiaries and beneficiary organizations for mercantile or commercial use before it was offered for lease to the general public.
At the time, DHHL justified rescinding the policy by citing the high rate of lease terminations involving Hawaiians (11 of 16 issued under the preference program) and the potential costs to defend the policy if the department were sued.
DHHL land-use policies also were flagged during the recent gubernatorial campaign. Beneficiary groups presented Ige and the other candidates with a DHHL strategic plan — developed by beneficiaries last year — that had as its top goal a commitment to distribute trust land based on the federal law, including the mercantile priority.
Several beneficiaries told the Star-Advertiser they were caught off guard by details of the revocable permit proposal approved by the commission last month.
Among other things, the proposal calls for making permit land available to the public via a bidding process. No beneficiary preference or priority is included.
The details were made public at the December meeting. No one testified against the proposal, and no commissioner voted against it.
Kanani Kapuniai, a Hawaii island beneficiary, said she disagrees with the notion that DHHL can make trust lands available to the public before offering the property to beneficiaries.
"That would be in direct conflict with the purpose of the act," Kapuniai said.
Kammy Purdy, a Molokai homesteader, agreed, saying beneficiaries should have first crack even at revocable permit land.
"It would be a slap in the face for the general public to get it because they bid higher," Purdy said. "The act was made for Native Hawaiians, not the general public."
Puni Chee, a DHHL spokesman, said proposed amendments to the new program will be presented to the commission once the beneficiary consultation process is completed. If beneficiaries call for a preference, the commission would make that decision, he said.
"While a few individuals may believe that the revised RP program is anti-beneficiary, we remind everyone that the framework approved by the commission is simply the start of the beneficiary consultation process, which will be undertaken soon," Chee wrote in an email to the Star-Advertiser. "We look forward to the discussion and deliberation with all of our beneficiaries and will do everything possible to make sure that every voice is heard in this process."
