STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2353

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2771

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2771 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO KALAUPAPA,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to provide a mechanism for the future consolidation of land ownership and management of Kalawao County. 

 

     Specifically, when there is no longer any person receiving care for Hansen's disease living in Kalaupapa, this measure:

 

     (1)  Transfers ownership and management of Kalawao County from the Department of Health and the Department of Land and Natural Resources to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands;

 

     (2)  Authorizes the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to accept the transfer, provided that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands transfers that land to the native Hawaiian sovereign entity upon its recognition; and

 

     (3)  Prohibits Maui County from applying its zoning authority in Kalawao County.

 

     Three state agencies submitted comments on this measure.  Written testimony presented to the Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committees recognize that the National Park Service has undertaken a planning process involving the Kalaupapa residents for a future management plan of the Kalaupapa National Historical Park.  Your Committees further recognize that the Attorney General is concerned about the effect this measure may have on existing cooperative agreements between the Department of Transportation, the Department of Health, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and the National Park Service.  However, your Committees find that a mechanism for future consolidation may ease relations between the State and the National Park Service, by consolidating the number of agencies that the National Park Service must enter into agreements with.  Additionally, the varying interests of Kalawao County may be better served by having consolidated leadership for the entire area.  Your Committees hope that the Attorney General can provide more specific guidance regarding the effect of this measure on existing cooperative agreements, and remind interested stakeholders that the transfer provisions of this measure will not take effect unless there is no longer any person receiving care for Hansen's disease living in Kalaupapa.  Thus, your Committees believe that this measure would not disrupt or interfere with the current status of Kalaupapa. 

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050 to facilitate further discussion; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2771, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2771, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 


Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs and Health,

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

 

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair