Voters OK Plan to Expand Native Hawaiian Category

In a bid to boost their political clout and benefits, native Hawaiians voted 4 to 1 to expand the definition of their people to include anyone with a drop of Hawaiian blood, state officials announced Tuesday.

Currently, only those Hawaiians deemed to have 50% or more native blood are eligible to receive income from a valuable 1-million-acre land trust. If the vote by the native Hawaiians leads to a constitutional amendment, that restriction could be lifted.

There are an estimated 208,000 native Hawaiians living in the islands, of which only 81,000 are considered to have 50% or more native blood. The 1980 U.S. Census estimated that another 65,000 part-Hawaiians live elsewhere in the United States, with the largest group, 32,000, in California.

The balloting, conducted by mail by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, resulted in 14,702 yes votes and 3,598 no votes. All residents of Hawaiian descent in the islands were eligible to vote.

Native Hawaiians have contended that the state has given them only a tiny fraction of the money they deserve from the land trust. Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees described the vote as a move toward making sure all native Hawaiians get a slice of the pie by showing greater strength in numbers.

The trust is made up of land seized from the Hawaiian monarchy, without compensation, and ceded to the U.S. government at annexation in 1898. In 1959, when Hawaii became a state, the federal government returned most of the land and earmarked a portion of the proceeds for the betterment of native Hawaiians.

The state is not fulfilling that promise, leaders of the native Hawaiian movement contend. For example, to date native Hawaiians have been receiving no rent from airports and harbors located on ceded lands.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, created by constitutional amendment in 1978 to advocate for native Hawaiians, currently receives about $1.4 million a year from the land trust and a matching amount from state general funds. The funds do not go to individual Hawaiians, but rather to programs run by the office, including education, economic development and substance abuse.

Native Hawaiians suffer the worst health of any ethnic group in the islands and generally find themselves at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.

The issue now goes to the state Legislature, which is expected to put a constitutional amendment changing the definition of native Hawaiians on the general election ballot this fall.

“This referendum vote takes one step toward reunifcation of our people and the return of our lands,” said Rodney Burgess, an Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee. “We realize it will be a lengthy process, but we are planning for tomorrow.” Native Hawaiians cannot continue being “predefined by others into two separate classes,” he said.

Opponents of the plebiscite argued that changing the definition will hurt those who most need help and said there is not enough land or money to go around now.