In a rebuke of a proposed $200 million settlement between the state and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, three Senate committees voted against moving forward with the agreement last night.

Five senators representing the three committees voted unanimously to hold House Bill 266, which would have approved the settlement.

Sen. Jill Tokuda, D-24th (Kailua, Kane'ohe) announced the decision after five hours of testimony and the crowd of about 100, who mostly opposed the deal, applauded. Tokuda said too many questions remain about the settlement and more support from the Hawaiian community is needed.

The proposed agreement — which took four years to craft — seeks to resolve a 30-year-old dispute over rights to revenue from ceded lands, which once belonged to the Kingdom of Hawai'i.

The settlement would give OHA three parcels of land worth $187 million, $13 million in cash and a minimum of $15.1 million annually in exchange for OHA's agreement to waive further claims to ceded land income.

"We believe HB 266 was fair and just and are disappointed with the outcome of today's hearing," said Haunani Apoliona, chairwoman of the OHA board of trustees.

"OHA will review all the legislative and legal options available before deciding on the next course," said OHA Administrator Clyde Namu'o.

Another measure to approve the settlement is still alive in the House.

Tokuda, chairwoman of the Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs Committee, said the Legislature wants to see a resolution to the ceded lands dispute "but any resolution that would be taken seriously must be pono and must involve the beneficiaries it will affect."

Tokuda said the agreement may have a better chance of passing next session.

The three Senate committees that took up the measure yesterday were Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs, Judiciary and Labor, and Water and Land.

The bill that failed the committee vote was one of two versions moving through the Legislature, so the settlement isn't off the table, but it's unlikely the House and Senate will agree on terms of the settlement before conference committees are formed next month to deal with unresolved issues.

OPPOSITION CONCERN

The senators' decision to kill the bill came after five hours of public testimony with most speaking in opposition. Questions over the amount Native Hawaiians would be getting and what they would be giving up accounted for much of the concern.

Former state Rep. Michael Kahikina said: "We would like to have a seat at the table of democracy. We would want a seat at the table of appropriations. We would like a seat at the table of negotiation."

However, attorney Bill Meheula and state Attorney General Mark Bennett, who helped negotiate the agreement, urged the senators to pass the bill, which they argued had support among Native Hawaiians despite the passionate opposition at the hearing.

"In the fringes there is strong opposition, but in the middle there is strong support," Meheula said.

"I disagree with him," said Andre Perez, of the Hawaiian activist group Hui Pu. "We're not the fringe. Today we're the majority."

Perez, echoing many of the other opponents, complained about a lack of transparency during the negotiation process and took issue with waiving rights to future claims.

"Shame on the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for failing to meet their fiduciary obligations to the beneficiaries of the Hawaiian Homelands Trust," said Uilani Hew Len, chairwoman of the Kupuna Council of the Waianae Kai Hawaiian Homeland Association.

AMOUNT QUESTIONED

Many who came to testify wanted the Legislature to hold off for a better settlement. Former OHA trustee Moanikeala Akaka said it was unclear how the $200 million figure was reached and she noted that the amount due the Hawaiians had been $1.2 billion in a 1996 Circuit Court decision, which was overturned in 2001. After three decades of waiting for a settlement, Akana said it wouldn't hurt to hold out longer for a better one. "We should not be settling for this chump change of $200 million," she said. But Meheula, speaking for OHA, pointed out that if the settlement doesn't pass this session, a future attempt to settle could result in Hawaiians getting even less. Leialoha "Rocky" Kaluhiwa, president of the Ko'olau Foundation, for example, wrote, "Addressing these issues is the honorable, pono approach for this Legislature and the state of Hawai'i."

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Correction: Former OHA trustee Moanikeala Akaka's last name was misspelled once in a previous version of this story.