STAND. COM. REP. NO.460

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: S.B. No. 1102

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1102 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAIIAN HOMES COMMISSION ACT, 1920, AS AMENDED,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to exempt the descendants of native Hawaiian homesteaders who received a homestead lease from the blood quantum requirements to succeed in a homestead lease in the same manner that non-native Hawaiians are currently exempt.

On February 13, 2001, your Committee heard supportive testimony from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and the State of Hawaii Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations.

At the February 13th hearing, your Committee decided to add provisions to the measure which authorizes community-based self determination on Hawaiian home lands and to subsequently re-hear the amended measure prior to making a formal decision. Your Committee received testimony on the amended measure on February 15, 2001.

At the February 15th hearing, your Committee received testimony in support of the proposed amendments from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the State of Hawaii Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations, the Waimanalo Hawaiian Homes Association, residents of the Waimanalo homestead community, the Maku`u Farmers Association, the Ana Hola Hawaiian Homestead Association, the Ana Hola Hawaiian Land Farm Association, and Ahupua`a O Molokai. Testimony in opposition to the amendments was received from Hui Kako`o `Aina Ho`opulapula and a private citizen.

Your Committee finds that the amended measure reaffirms the State's and the federal government's trust obligations as established under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920, as amended (HHCA) and provides existing lessees and their homestead associations with a greater level of self determination with regard to how their communities would be managed and improved. According to the testimony submitted, although this process has been in effect unofficially for some years, official establishment at this time would ensure its continuance.

Your Committee also finds that in light of the recent court cases filed in federal court challenging the validity of and the entitlements bestowed by the HHCA, the addition of sections to the HHCA reaffirming the State's and the federal government's trust relationship with HHCA beneficiaries and formally establishing a process of community self determination seems prudent in that such additions could serve as a basis by which to defend the rights of HHCA beneficiaries.

However, your Committee has some concerns regarding the plight of those qualifying native Hawaiians who are on the waiting list to obtain a Hawaiian homestead lot. The proposed amendments make no mention of including this class of beneficiaries, potentially placing their future rights to Hawaiian home lands and the resources that the HHCA and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands provide, in jeopardy, if a federal court rules against the validity of the HHCA.

With these concerns in mind, your Committee, as a part of its recommendation to pass this measure, would like the interested parties to work together to find a mutually beneficial solution to this problem. A solution that concomitantly does not detract from the entitlements already provided to HHCA beneficiaries with homesteads and which preserves future benefits for those beneficiaries on the waiting list as well.

For these reasons, your Committee believes that this measure serves as a proper vehicle to ensure that the entitlements provided under the HHCA remain intact for both landed and waiting list HHCA beneficiaries.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1102, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1102, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

JONATHAN CHUN, Chair