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The episode examines a dispute over approximately 1.2 million acres of state-owned land in Hawaii — derived from crown and government lands transferred at the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy — and the legislature's consideration of House Bill 2207, which would govern revenue allocation from those lands to native Hawaiians. Clayton Hee, Chairman of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, maintained that the lands had been stolen, that the legislature had a poor record of protecting Hawaiian interests, and that Hawaiians must retain the right to seek judicial relief rather than depend on legislative action alone. Ed Case, a state representative and chair of the Hawaiian Affairs Committee, argued that the legislature was the proper institution for resolving the dispute, pointed to recent actions including a $600 million settlement for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and warned against the expanding scope of litigation against the state. The concrete question at issue is how revenues from these ceded lands should be allocated to native Hawaiians, and whether a durable settlement should come through legislative enactment or judicial proceedings.
Transcript
Read or download the full transcript (.txt). Speaker labels were assigned automatically and may contain errors.
Companion newspaper commentaries
Commentaries by the guests, published in The Honolulu Advertiser around the broadcast.
