HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2511

THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022

H.D. 2

STATE OF HAWAII

S.D. 1

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  (a)  The legislature finds that the mission of the department of Hawaiian home lands is to develop and deliver land to native Hawaiians.  The public land trust, created by Congress through the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended (HHCA), set aside lands to be used for the benefit of native Hawaiians.

     As required by the Admission Act and as a compact with the United States, the State of Hawaii and the people of Hawaii adopted the HHCA as a provision of the Hawaii State Constitution and agreed to faithfully carry out the spirit of the HHCA for the rehabilitation of the Hawaiian race.  These trust responsibilities remain to this day.

     The legislature also finds that today, the department of Hawaiian home lands is responsible for the management of 203,500 acres of trust lands, 9,959 homestead leases statewide, and 44,096 lease applications.  However, over 28,700 applicants remain on the waitlist for residential, agricultural, or pastoral leases.

     The challenges faced by the department of Hawaiian home lands in fulfilling its mission are multi-faceted, and include but are not limited to:

     (1)  Availability of beneficiary-preferred land.  The greatest demand, and subsequently, the longest waiting list, is for residential property on Oahu.  However, the department of Hawaiian home lands' land holdings on Oahu represent only three per cent of its total lands;

     (2)  Cost of infrastructure.  Preparing the department's lands for homesteading with adequate roads, water, sewer drainage, electrical, and other necessities requires a steady source of funding to ensure that environmental compliance, planning, design, and construction phases are coordinated; and

     (3)  Capital for mortgage financing.  With one of the highest costs of living in the nation, department of Hawaiian home lands beneficiaries also face the challenging issue of obtaining capital for mortgages to build homes and reside on trust lands.

     The legislature further finds that the revenues collected by the State as of fiscal year 2021 provide an unprecedented opportunity to ensure critical long term access to adequate funding for the department of Hawaiian home lands to meet its challenges.

     (b)  Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to provide funds to the department of Hawaiian home lands to pursue a multi-pronged approach to eliminating its waitlist.

     Specifically, this Act:

     (1)  Requires the department of Hawaiian home lands to submit annual reports to the legislature regarding expenditures from the native Hawaiian rehabilitation fund and the number of beneficiaries removed from the waitlist for Hawaiian home lands through the use of funds from the native Hawaiian rehabilitation fund; and

     (2)  Appropriates moneys into and out of the native Hawaiian rehabilitation fund for:

          (A)  Hawaiian home lands lots and related projects; and

          (B)  Down payment assistance and mortgage payment assistance to department of Hawaiian home lands beneficiaries.

     SECTION 2.  The department of Hawaiian home lands shall submit an annual report to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the start of each regular session that includes:

     (1)  An accounting of the expenditures from the native Hawaiian rehabilitation fund in the previous fiscal year; and

     (2)  The number of beneficiaries removed from the waitlist for Hawaiian home lands through the use of funds from the native Hawaiian rehabilitation fund.

     SECTION 3.  There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $600,000,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2022-2023 to be deposited into the native Hawaiian rehabilitation fund.

     SECTION 4.  There is appropriated out of the native Hawaiian rehabilitation fund the sum of $487,614,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2022-2023 for plans, design, construction, land acquisition, and equipment for infrastructure for the following projects:

1.  East Kapolei IIC, Oahu

          A project for one hundred thirty new lots.

               Total funding                         $20,000,000

2.  East Kapolei IID, Oahu

          A project for one hundred sixty-seven new lots.

               Total funding                         $22,444,800

3.  East Kapolei IIE, Oahu

          A project for one hundred fifty-eight new lots.

               Total funding                         $24,460,800

4.  East Kapolei IIF, Oahu

          A project for two hundred fifty new lots.

               Total funding                         $30,374,400

5.  East Kapolei IIA, Oahu

          A project for three hundred new lots.

               Total funding                          $5,000,000

6.  East Kapolei LDA3, Oahu

          A project for two hundred fifty new lots.

               Total funding                          $5,000,000

7.  Waimanalo, Oahu

          A project for one hundred fifty new agricultural and residential lots.

               Total funding                         $25,000,000

8.  Maili, Oahu

          A project for development and two hundred eighty new lots.

               Total funding                         $55,300,000

9.  Puunani Homestead Subdivision, Maui

          A project for one hundred sixty-one new lots.

               Total funding                         $13,200,000

10.  Puunani Homestead Phase 2, Maui

          A project for one hundred forty new lots.

               Total funding                         $32,000,000

11.  Keokea-Waiohuli Phase 2B And Phase 3, Maui

          A project for seventy-six new lots.

               Total funding                         $27,834,000

12.  West Maui Development – Leialii 1B, Maui

          A project for highway and parkway improvements, water development, and two hundred fifty new lots.

               Total funding                         $60,000,000

13.  Hoolehua – Naiwa Agricultural Subdivision, Molokai, Maui

          A project for fifty-eight new agricultural lots.

               Total funding                         $30,000,000

14.  Hanapepe Phase 2, Kauai

          A project for seventy-five new residential lots.

               Total funding                         $20,000,000

15.  Laiopua Villages 1 and 2, Hawaii

          A project for four hundred new lots.

               Total funding                         $70,000,000

16.  Kau Phase 3, Hawaii

          A project for a water system and twenty-five new pasture lots.

               Total funding                         $40,000,000

17.  Honomu Phase 2, Hawaii

          A project for forty new subsistence agricultural lots.

               Total funding                          $2,000,000

The projects set forth in this section may include waste water lines and water transmission lines for state projects; repair, refurbishment, renovation, and new construction; ground and site improvements; and equipment and appurtenances for each project.

     The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of Hawaiian home lands for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 5.  There is appropriated out of the native Hawaiian rehabilitation fund the sum of $112,386,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2022-2023 for down payment assistance and mortgage payment assistance to beneficiaries of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920.

     The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of Hawaiian home lands for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 6.  If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the Act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are severable.

     SECTION 7.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2050.


 


 

Report Title:

Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; Native Hawaiian Rehabilitation Fund; Appropriation

 

Description:

Requires the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to submit certain annual reports to the Legislature regarding the Native Hawaiian Rehabilitation Fund.  Appropriates moneys into and out of the fund for Hawaiian home lands lots, related projects, and down payment assistance and mortgage payment assistance to the Department's beneficiaries.  Effective 7/1/2050.  (SD1)

 

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.