HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

198

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING the COUNTIES TO ADOPT MEASURES THAT PROVIDE REAL PROPERTY TAX RELIEF FOR OWNERS OF KULEANA LANDS.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, King Kamehameha III recognized that the aina, or land, did not belong to him, but belonged to the people of Hawaii who had an interest in the land and that he was the trustee; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Kuleana Act of 1850 created Hawaii's first system of private land ownership; and

 

     WHEREAS, through the Kuleana Act, King Kamehameha III created a process that allowed the people of Hawaii to claim and obtain fee simple title to their family kuleana, or the land where their family homes were built and where they grew their food; and

 

     WHEREAS, King Kamehameha III intended for the Kuleana Act to allow Hawaiians to secure these kuleana lands for their subsistence, as their ancestors had done; and

 

     WHEREAS, in order to carry out the intent of the Kuleana Act, King Kamehameha III reserved important rights of access and water to support the continued occupancy of kuleana lands and the continued practice of subsistence living, that at a minimum provided a place to live and grow food; and

 

     WHEREAS, the kuleana lands awarded under the Kuleana Act were recognized by Hawaiian ancestors as being the most desirable places to live and were the best lands for subsistence food production; and

 

     WHEREAS, kuleana lands are some of the most historically, culturally, and environmentally significant lands in Hawaii; and

 

     WHEREAS, at the time of the enactment of the Kuleana Act, kuleana lands made up only one-tenth of one per cent of the land in Hawaii; and

 

     WHEREAS, the number of kuleana land parcels has significantly decreased as a result of condemnation, development, and the tremendous tax increases that have been caused by speculative real estate practices; and

 

     WHEREAS, article XII, section 7 of the state constitution provides that the State "reaffirms and shall protect all rights, customarily and traditionally exercised for subsistence, cultural, and religious purposes and possessed by ahupua‘a tenants who are descendants of native Hawaiians who inhabited the Hawaiian Islands prior to 1778, subject to the right of the State to regulate such rights"; and

 

     WHEREAS, the owners of the small number of kuleana lands that remain today face serious challenges to their ability to carry out and continue the traditional and customary practices of subsistence living in their ahupua‘a, because the increasing real property taxes places serious and unreasonable financial burdens on the kuleana land owners; and

 

     WHEREAS, the increases in property tax due on kuleana lands have been astronomical, especially in rural areas that are experiencing real estate speculation and development, that results in the exponential increase of property assessments for those kuleana lands; and

 

     WHEREAS, the typical traditional use of kuleana lands as a site for a family home and place for growing food makes it impossible to raise the revenue to pay the increased property taxes; and

 

     WHEREAS, compelling kuleana land owners to generate revenue to match the rise in real property taxes contradicts the original purpose of the kuleana lands and is incompatible with the mandate of the state constitution to protect and reaffirm traditional and customary subsistence practices; and

 

     WHEREAS, the kuleana lands used in subsistence living and food production promotes a public policy of the State and provides valuable and irreplaceable cultural, historical, and environmental assets for the counties in which they are located and the value of which encompasses much more than any short term financial gain that might accrue from their loss; and

 

     WHEREAS, in many instances, the increased amount of real property taxes has compelled the sale or loss of the kuleana lands in real property tax auctions because of the landowner's inability to afford the increasingly burdensome taxes assessed on the kuleana lands; and

 

     WHEREAS, the State resolutely avows its constitutional mandate to "reaffirm and protect all rights customarily exercised for subsistence" on the kuleana lands of the State that provide essential cultural, historical, and environmental assets that contributes toward maintaining a culture and society that is unique and deserving of protection; and

 

     WHEREAS, without some form of recognition and property designation, it appears inevitable that owners of the few remaining kuleana lands will suffer severe hardships that threaten their existence and undermine the very subsistence life that provide Hawaii and its people with a unique identity; and

 

     WHEREAS, this continuing threat to the capacity and continuing existence of the use of kuleana lands for traditional subsistence and culture is unacceptable as a matter of public policy; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, that the counties are urged to adopt measures that provide real property tax relief for owners of kuleana lands, and:

 

     (1)  Recognize the value of protecting the rights that are customarily and traditionally exercised for subsistence, cultural, and religious purposes on kuleana lands, as stated in the state constitution;

 

     (2)  Include a more appropriate method for assessing these properties, consistent with the reaffirmation and protection of traditional and customary subsistence practices and free from the dictates of real property speculation and development so that any assessments of such taxes are maintained at a reasonable level or exempted all together;

 

     (3)  Mandate a taxpayer information campaign to inform all such kuleana land owners who wish to continue living in a traditional manner of the availability of the tax relief provided and means to obtain the relief; and

 

     (4)  Incorporate consultation with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to design an appropriate means of qualifying for the subsistence exemption; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor and the Chairperson of the Council of each county, the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Executive Director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, and the Director of the Kamakaukuokalani Center for Hawaiian Affairs at the University of Hawaii.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

Kuleana Lands; Real Property Tax