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OHA readies separate supplemental report calling for full pro rata shares and claiming $638 million in underpayments
Summary
At the Nov. 20 meeting OHA presented a separate, advocacy-oriented supplement to the interim report asking the Legislature to require full pro rata transfers, yearly accounting, and repayment of an alleged $638 million in underpaid Public Land Trust revenues for 2012'022.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) presented a separate supplemental report at the Public Land Trust Working Group meeting on Nov. 20, 2024 that sets out OHA's positions and stronger recommendations for legislative action.
Sherry Broder, presenting OHA's supplemental document, said it is intended to record OHA's positions for the Legislature and future working groups. OHA's recommendations, as summarized at the meeting, include that the State transfer the full pro rata share of gross revenues from public land trust (PLT) lands to OHA, require annual public accounting of all income and proceeds from PLT lands by managing departments, and update pro rata-share calculations periodically via independent accounting reviews.
The supplemental report cited two financial figures that OHA has asserted: a prior 2016 demand of $78,900,000 referenced in OHA materials, and a separate assertion that $638,000,000 in PLT revenues were underpaid during the 2012'022 period. Sherry Broder said the supplemental document is OHA's advocacy piece and that OHA intended to submit it to the Legislature: "I want OHA's position to go in to the legislature because we've worked on this. We've been 2 years at this... I want to leave a record so that when the young people come and take over, they can..."
State partners said they would not contest OHA's right to submit its own advocacy document. One state participant described the supplemental as OHA's position and advised the working group and Legislature are the appropriate forum to adjudicate conflicting claims. Don Chang said the state partners view the piece as an OHA advocacy document rather than a jointly agreed factual record.
The working group agreed to circulate the OHA supplemental report for comment and to keep the interim joint report distinct from OHA's separate recommendations. Members requested any comments on the OHA document by the following Monday and scheduled a final meeting on Dec. 11 to complete submissions to the Legislature.
The meeting produced no changes to state accounting or transfers; OHA's monetary assertions remain OHA positions to be considered by the Legislature.
