Report Title:
Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Constitutional Amendment
Description:
Proposes amendments to the Hawaii State Constitution relating to the abolition of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
1529 |
TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
proposing amendments to the hawaii state constitution to abolish the office of hawaiian affairs.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Hawaiians have paid a high price as a people for the coming of other ethnic groups to their islands. Disease has decimated their people, their system of land tenure was removed, and their government was overthrown in an act for which the United States government has apologized.
In an effort to assist the Hawaiians as a group, various programs were enacted to assist them, including the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, which Congress enacted to provide Hawaiians with homes or farms at a nominal lease, and the office of Hawaiian affairs, which was adopted by the voters of Hawaii after the constitutional convention of 1978 for the betterment of Hawaiians and native Hawaiians.
It was understood by the people of Hawaii that these programs were implemented to put the Hawaiian people back on an equal footing as a group, not to elevate them above the rest of the population. However, native Hawaiian entitlements have come under increasing attack in recent years.
Recent court decisions have indicated that a threat to the Hawaiian people exists as long as Hawaiian assets are held in governmental coffers. The legislature finds that in order to protect Hawaiians' entitlements, the Hawaiian people must be tasked with handling their trust assets in a such a way that the State no longer needs to serve as an intermediary between Hawaiians and their assets. The legislature finds that the Hawaiians' wardship relationship with the State must be replaced by a relationship based on self-sufficiency and control over their own assets. The legislature further finds that the future of the native Hawaiian people lies in the immediate resolution of these complex legal, political, and social issues to the greatest extent possible.
SECTION 2. The purpose of this Act is to repeal Article XII, sections 5 and 6, and Article XVIII, section 8, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii to divest the state of its responsibilities for the office of Hawaiian affairs and to place these responsibilities directly in the hands of its Hawaiian and native Hawaiian beneficiaries by transferring the assets, rights, duties and obligations of the office of Hawaiian affairs of that office to a private, nonprofit corporation to be known as the Hawaiian autonomy trust.
This newly created private trust will hold all of the assets and be legally responsible for all of the liabilities presently held by the office of Hawaiian affairs, thereby removing these assets and liabilities from the political arena.
This Act, however, does not divest the State of responsibilities for Hawaiian home lands, since the legislature believes that the disposition of those responsibilities must first come from the federal government.
SECTION 3. Article XII, section 5, of the Constitution of the state of Hawaii is repealed.
"[Section 5. There is hereby established an Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs shall hold title to all the real and personal property now or hereafter set aside or conveyed to it which shall be held in trust for native Hawaiians and Hawaiians. There shall be a board of trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs elected by qualified voters who are Hawaiians, as provided by law. The board members shall be Hawaiians. There shall be not be less than nine members of the board of trustees; provided that each of the following Islands have one representative: Oahu, Kauai, Maui, Molokai, and Hawaii. The board shall select a chairperson from its members.]"
SECTION 4. Article XII, section 6, of the Constitution of the state of Hawaii is repealed.
"[Section 6. The board of trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs shall exercise power as provided by law: to manage and administer the proceeds from the sale or other disposition of the lands, natural resources, minerals and income derived from whatever sources for native Hawaiians and Hawaiians, including all income and proceeds from that pro rata portion of the trust referred to in section 4 of this article for native Hawaiians; to formulate policy relating to affairs of native Hawaiians and Hawaiians; and to exercise control over real and personal property set aside by state, federal or private sources and transferred to the board for native Hawaiians and Hawaiians. The board shall have the power to exercise control over the Office of Hawaiian Affairs through its executive officer, the administrator of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, who shall be appointed by the board.]"
SECTION 5. Article XVIII, section 8, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii is repealed.
"[EFFECTIVE DATE FOR OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS
Section 8. The legislature shall provide for the implementation of the amendments to Article XII in Sections 5 and 6 on or before the first general election following ratification of the amendments to Article XII in Sections 5 and 6.]"
SECTION 6. The legislature shall enact enabling statutory requirements to implement the Hawaiian autonomy trust pending the ratification of a constitutional amendment requiring the abolition of the office of Hawaiian affairs and the creation of the Hawaiian autonomy trust. These requirements shall include a provision that the initial trustees of the trust shall be elected by state residents, with future trustees to be appointed by members of the board who are serving at the time a vacancy occurs.
SECTION 7. The question to be printed on the ballot shall be as follows:
"Shall the assets, rights, duties, and obligations of the office of Hawaiian affairs be transferred to a private non-profit corporation to be known as the Hawaiian Autonomy Trust, whose trustees shall be initially elected by state residents and subsequently appointed by the members of the board of trustees who are serving at the time a vacancy occurs, and whose beneficiaries shall be persons of Hawaiian and native Hawaiian ancestry?"
SECTION 8. Constitutional material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New constitutional material is underscored.
SECTION 9. This amendment shall take effect upon compliance with article XVII, section 3, of the Constitution of the state of Hawaii.
INTRODUCED BY: |
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