If approved by the Legislature, the state will have formally acknowledged it owes land and cash exclusively to Hawaiians, and Hawaiians alone, as their due share of the income the lands have generated over all these years.

It doesn't matter that the amounts are relatively minor. A precedent would have been struck.

As some have already signaled, this agreement takes care of one issue but leaves open the larger matter of whether Hawaiians are owed further compensation for loss of lands because of the 1893 overthrow and later annexation by the United States. That's where the big stakes come into play.

Resolution of those matters will most likely await the emergence of a Hawaiian "government" or political entity, either through the Akaka Hawaiian recognition bill in Congress or through some other, more organic process.

But when that day comes, and if lawmakers approve the Lingle-OHA deal, people will be able to point to 2008 as the moment when government officially recognized (and paid) Hawaiian claims for losses traced to the overthrow of the kingdom.