STAND. COM. REP. NO.1166

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: H.B. No. 444

H.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Water, Land, Energy and Environment, to which was referred H.B. No. 444, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BURIAL SITES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize the Department of Land and Natural Resources to execute mitigation plans for a landowner, permittee, or developer, upon request, in the event of an inadvertent discovery of a burial site; provided that bids from at least two other prequalified archaeological firms are solicited.

The measure also allows the Department of Land and Natural Resources to assess a fee for its services in this capacity.

The DLNR, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, a member of the Oahu Island Burial Council, and a concerned citizen testified in support of the measure. The Society For Hawaiian Archaeology testified in opposition to the measure. The Environmental Center of the University of Hawaii at Manoa submitted comments.

Your Committees find that under existing law, if an inadvertent discovery of a burial site is made, the DLNR sends a staff member to the discovery site to investigate the situation, and to decide on whether the human remains are to stay in place or be relocated. If the remains are to be removed, the DLNR has two to three days to notify, if feasible, the relatives of the person's remains of the removal. The DLNR also at times undertakes the responsibility of removal, especially in cases where the ocean has eroded parts of the site or remains along the shoreline. In most cases, the property owner hires a consulting archaeologist to perform this work. The Department then coordinates and assists the property owner with the reburial and other mitigation measures.

According to oral testimony provided by a private citizen at the hearing, there is concern that the two to three day timeframe that the DLNR has to notify relatives of the remains that have been inadvertently discovered is too short a timeframe to ensure that relatives are notified. Your Committees take note of this concern and hopes to address this issue in future legislation.

Your Committees find that this measure provides explicit authority to the DLNR to implement such mitigation plans and to offset their incurred costs by enabling the DLNR to assess and collect fees for their services.

Your Committees also note that the testimony of the Society For Hawaiian Archaeology which expressed concern over the potential conflict of interest this measure may have on pitting private archaeological consulting firms who perform burial site mitigation plans as a part of their business against the DLNR's employees. Your Committees are aware of this potential outcome but believes that the DLNR will be able to address this concern through careful and fair rulemaking.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Water, Land, Energy and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 444, H.D. 1, and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Water, Land, Energy and Environment,

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LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair

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JONATHAN CHUN, Chair