Bill Text: HI SCR159 | 2011 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Urging the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to release pastoral and agricultural leases to its beneficiaries

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2011-06-06 - (S) Certified copies of resolutions sent, 06-06-11. [SCR159 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2011-SCR159-Amended.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	159
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2011		S.D. 2
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS TO release pastoral and agricultural leases to its beneficiaries and report statistical data related to implementation of article Xii, section 1 of the hawaii state constitution.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, native Hawaiians have traditionally had close ties to the land; and

 

     WHEREAS, after contact with the West:

 

     (1)  Native Hawaiians' traditional ties to their lands were disrupted; and

 

     (2)  The size of the native Hawaiian population began to decrease because of the introduction of new illnesses and diseases to which native Hawaiians had not previously been exposed; and

 

     WHEREAS, it was and continues to be widely believed that one way to improve the condition of native Hawaiians is to provide them with greater access to ancestral lands; and

 

     WHEREAS, as Hawaii's delegate to the United States Congress, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole spearheaded the passage of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, designed to create a rehabilitation program for the dwindling numbers of native Hawaiians; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1921, with the enactment of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, the United States set aside approximately 200,000 acres of land to establish a permanent homeland for native Hawaiians, who were a landless and "dying" people; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, was subsequently incorporated into the Hawaii State Constitution; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands was established by the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, and is headed by an executive board known as the Hawaiian Homes Commission; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands owes a fiduciary duty to its beneficiaries; and

 

     WHEREAS, it is essential that the beneficiaries of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands gain access to lands set aside for them as expeditiously as possible; and

 

     WHEREAS, pastoral and agricultural leases are an important, valuable, and viable use of Hawaiian Home Lands; and

 

     WHEREAS, the court in Lum v. Hawaiian Homes Commission, Civil No. 09-1-2332-10 (1st Cir. Ct. Haw., Oct. 10, 2010), ordered the Hawaiian Homes Commission to adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, before awarding any further pastoral homestead lands; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2011, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is urged to take immediate action to comply with the court order in Lum v. Hawaiian Homes Commission, and to resume releasing pastoral and agricultural leases to its beneficiaries as soon as possible; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is requested to provide:

 

     (1)  The following data or statistics for the period 2000 through 2010 on the number of:

 

          (A)  Homestead awards reported to the Legislature (if there is a discrepancy with the appropriate annual report, an explanation shall be provided), and a breakdown for each year in each of the following categories of homesteads:  residential, pastoral, agricultural, and aquacultural;

 

          (B)  Vacant improved lot awards;

 

          (C)  Homestead awards with improved homes;

 

          (D)  Homestead awards built under the self-help home-building strategy;

 

          (E)  Homestead awards under the undivided interest program; and

 

          (F)  Applicants offered homestead awards for each category;

 

     (2)  Funds expended each year to improve lots with infrastructure; and

 

     (3)  Type of funding, such as general, special, trust, or federal, broken down by homestead type, including:

 

          (A)  Infrastructural costs to provide utilities; and

 

          (B)  Homes built on each type of homestead under the following strategies:  turnkey, self-help, and owner-builder; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands submit to the Legislature, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2012, the data requested in this measure and a report of its activities and efforts with respect to the release of pastoral and agricultural leases to its beneficiaries; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, Hawaii's Congressional delegation, Governor, the Chairperson of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, and Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Report Title: 

Urging the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to release pastoral and agricultural leases to its beneficiaries