Opinion ID: 2633532
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Act 382 (extending the Panel's existence and some of Act 351/Chapter 674's filing deadlines)

Text: As previously stated, the Panel was established via Act 323 in 1991 and its existence was extended via Act 351 from 1994 to 1997. The 1997 Legislature agreed to again extend the Panel's existence for an additional two years until 1999 through the passage of Act 382. 1997 Haw. Sess. L. Act 382, § 4 at 1210. Act 382 did not modify the deadline to file claims with the Panel (previously revised via Act 351 in 1993); however, it did extend the deadline for claimants to (1) file a written notice with the Panel rejecting legislative action upon their claims from October 1, 1997 to October 1, 1999 and (2) bring an action in circuit court from September 30, 1998 to December 31, 1999. 1997 Haw. Sess. L. Act 382 §§ 6 and 7, at 1210 (amending HRS chapter 674). In order to resolve the disagreement over the formula used to determine damage awards, Act 382 also created a working group (Working Group) comprised of the Attorney General, the Director of Budget and Finance, the Chair of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, and the Panel Chair to determine a formula and any criteria necessary to qualify and resolve claims filed under HRS chapter 674. The Working Group ultimately submitted an interpretation of chapter 674 that proposed to significantly change the Panel's formula for calculating actual damages and thereby effectively eliminated nearly sixty percent of the claims from consideration. In response to the Working Group's proposed formula, certain claimants brought suit in circuit court in Apa v. Cayetano, Civil No. 97-4641-11, alleging that Act 382 was unconstitutional. Specifically, the claimants asserted that the Working Group was biased and its proposed formula, inter alia, violated their right to due process of law under the United States Constitution. The first circuit court agreed, finding that the members of the Working Group appeared to be biased as a result of (1) their official positions and (2) the fact that several of them had testified before the legislature against the types of claims they later found to be non-compensable, i.e., the waiting list claims, which, as previously indicated, are those claims involving claimants who had been waiting an unreasonable amount of time for a homestead award. The circuit court ruled that, [b]ecause Act 382 and the composition of the Working Group create[d] a significant appearance that the fairness of the claims process under HRS chapter 674 has been abrogated, certain provisions of Act 382 were an unconstitutional denial of due process and delegation of legislative power. The circuit court further noted that: Act 382 violate[d] Plaintiffs' rights to equal protection. For those similarly situated, i.e. those who filed claims under HRS § 674, the relief accorded to them will be determined by whether or not they were included in the Panel's 1997 report to the Legislature and entitled to nonmonetary remedial relief or excluded from any relief, if their claims were determined to be ineligible under the Working Group's formula and criteria. The court finds that the distinction between the [waiting list claims and non-waiting list claims] is arbitrary and capricious, as there is no rational basis to treat them differently. The circuit court, thus, enjoined the members of the Working Group from taking any further action in determining the formula for compensation. [11] The portions of Act 382 that were left intact subsequent to the circuit court's ruling included the extensions of: (1) the life of the Panel by two years, mandating a final report to the 1999 Legislature; (2) the deadline for claimant to file a written notice rejecting the legislative action to October 1, 1999; and (3) the time for filing suit in the circuit court until December 31, 1999.