STAND. COM. REP. NO. 180

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 568
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Water, Land and Hawaiian Affairs, to which
was referred S.B. No. 568 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HISTORIC PRESERVATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to clarify and strengthen the
State's historic preservation laws.

     Specifically, the measure amends Chapter 6E, Hawaii Revised
Statutes (HRS), relating to historic preservation, by:

     (1)  Establishing a burial site program within the
          Department of Land and Natural Resources to assist
          island burial councils in their mandated
          responsibilities;

     (2)  Strengthening the chapter's penalty section to include
          forfeiture of property for violation of Chapter 6E,
          HRS;

     (3)  Establishing qualifications for burial specialists and
          allowing them to inspect inadvertent discoveries of
          burial sites; and

     (4)  Removing the medical examiner from the inadvertent
          discovery of burial sites process.


 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 180
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     Testimony in support of the measure was received from the
Kawaihae Hawaiian Homes Community Association and two concerned
citizens.  Testimony that supported the passage of the measure
with  amendments was received from the Chairperson of the Board
of Land and Natural Resources and a concerned citizen.

     Your Committee has amended the measure by:

     (1)  Reducing the experience requirement to become a burial
          specialist from five to three years experience with
          human skeletal remains;

     (2)  Adding heiau to the list of sites protected under
          Section 6E-11, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

     (3)  Adding a new subsection to Section 6E-11, Hawaii
          Revised Statutes, that makes it unlawful to knowingly
          take, appropriate, excavate, injure, destroy, or alter,
          any heiau or its contents, unless permitted by the
          Department of Land and Natural Resources.

     Your Committee believes that the measure, as amended, will
provide the necessary staffing, procedural clarification, and
penalties to ensure that historic Hawaiian burial and religious
sites are protected.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Water, Land and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to
this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and
purpose of S.B. No. 568, as amended herein, and recommends that
it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B.
No. 568, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and
Means.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Water, Land, and
                                   Hawaiian Affairs,



                                   ______________________________
                                   COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair

 
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