Opinion ID: 2633532
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Panel's 1997 Report

Text: In early 1997, the Panel prepared and submitted its Report to the Governor and the 1997 Hawai`i Legislature (1997 Report). Therein, the Panel reported that it had received 4,327 claims brought by 2,752 claimants prior to the August 31, 1995 filing deadline. [9] The Panel stated that, of the 4,327 claims filed, 396 claims were closed and 3,931 had been accepted for investigation. Further, of the 3,931 claims being investigated, 601 claims were concluded and in various stages of disposition, i.e., recommended award, dismissal, pending hearing, or on remand to the hearings officer. By the end of 1996, the Panel had issued final decisions in 172 claims, affecting 147 claimants, finding 165 [of those] claims meritorious. [10] The 1997 Report also recommended damage awards for 162 claims, totaling approximately $6.7 million. However, the Panel requested a two-year extension to investigate and hear claims in order to complete the distribution of any damage awards by December 1999 because of the large number of claims and the Panel's limited staff and resources. The Panel categorized all of the claims and determined that waiting list claims, i.e., those claims involving claimants who had been waiting an unreasonable amount of time for a homestead award, comprised forty-two percent of all claims. Twenty-five percent of all of the claims were waiting list claims with other issues, such as determinations of blood quantum and claimants affected by DHHL's preference policies. In other words, sixty-seven percent of all claims were waiting list claims. After the 1997 Report was submitted, the 1997 Legislature found that there was disagreement between the parties over the formula utilized by the [Panel] to arrive at award amounts and that [t]his disagreement, coupled with the legislature's belief that [the] claims should be handled together, rather than in a piecemeal fashion, necessitated the enactment of Act 382, discussed infra. 1997 Haw. Sess. L. Act 382, § 1 at 1209. The legislature, therefore, declined to appropriate the requested funding, stating: In light of the ambiguities inherent in the claims currently on submission to the Legislature and addressed in this measure, and the advisability of deliberating on all submitted claims in one package, your Committee declines to recommend funding any portion of the $6.8 million requested appropriation at this time. Your Committee emphasizes that this is not an action by the Legislature triggering a claimant's right to sue . . ., but a deferral of such action and referral of submitted claims back to the Panel for reconsideration in light of the clarifications set forth in this measure. Hse. Stand. Comm. Rep. No. 603, in 1997 House Journal, at 1349 (emphasis added).