Saying the state Legislature should be a “force for needed change … and institute reform so that we can achieve justice,” House Speaker Scott Saiki opened the state Legislature with a call for millions in new state aid for Native Hawaiian housing programs.

Saiki’s charge to lawmakers on the Legislature’s first day last week shows the resilient power in Hawaii’s economy based almost entirely on tourism and military spending.

With tourism bubbling back to life and Hawaii remaining a military tactical key point in the Pacific, state leaders know the treasury is again full.

The latest report from UHERO, the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, acknowledges that Hawaii’s economy has been battered in the past few economic cycles, but points out it is still strong.

“As the local virus situation has dramatically improved, so have economic conditions. We expect moderate employment growth to resume in coming months and tourism to pick up once international visitors are able to return in significant numbers in 2022,” according to the report.

A Honolulu Star-Advertiser report on the Legislature’s opening ceremony noted that the sentiment is switching from “save” to “spend.”

For instance, House Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke (D, Punchbowl-Pauoa-­Nuuanu) told reporters “there is an opportunity for us to do great things this year and we shouldn’t miss that opportunity.”

Saiki’s move to flag out help for Native Hawaiian programs is part of a long-standing state effort to repay the millions that have either been taken or not given to required payment programs.

An estimated 28,000 Native Hawaiians are now waitlisted for leases from the state’s Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

Saiki’s call for what was termed a “one-time infusion of $600 million” is the largest in a list of attempts to pay money owed for required indigenous programs.

In 1995 during the Gov. John Waihee administration, there was a $600 million payment that, according to news reports, allowed the department to build more than 4,000 homes.

Then under Gov. Neil Abercrombie, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs accepted an offer to settle a $200 million claim with the transfer of Kakaako Makai land.

The problem with those 25 acres is that state law forbids the land from being developed into high-priced condominiums or hotels, so as OHA notes, “Our planning efforts to date have determined that the residential prohibition on our lands prevents us from generating revenues consistent with a $200 million investment.”

Without a change in state law, the state might as well say the sensitive oceanfront land was worth a trillion dollars, because it can’t be used for anything but minimally developed real estate.

Two OHA-supported proposals last year would have allowed 400-foot developments along the shoreline in what preservationists consider to be areas that should be left alone.

Saiki, who represents the Kakaako area, has not supported development there.

So it stands to reason that $600 million in outright grants to Native Hawaiian housing makes a lot more politically akamai sense than pasting yet more skyscrapers along Honolulu’s rapidly closing shoreline vistas.

But, this is the opening of the state Legislature. Come back in a few months to see what remains of today’s right-thinking calls for justice.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.