STAND. COM. REP. NO. 243-00

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 2000

                                 RE: H.B. No. 2762
                                     




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Water and Land Use, to which was referred
H.B. No. 2762 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ISLAND BURIAL COUNCILS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to clarify the current law to
make records of the department of land and natural resources
confidential if deemed sensitive by an island burial council or
the Hawaii historic places review board.

     Testimony was received in support of the bill from the
Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), the Office of
Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), and one private citizen.

     No testimony in opposition was received.

     Your Committee finds that the confidentiality of description
and location information, especially for burial and other
cultural sites, is a highly sensitive issue within the Hawaiian
community.  The final resting-place of the ancestors of Native
Hawaiians have always been sacred and hidden.  The specific site
and description of the family burial sites were kept within the
family, often with specific individuals who had been given the
specific "kuleana" for insuring care in perpetuity. Changes
within Hawaii's socio-economic and political structures brought
about through colonization and annexation have prevented families
from carrying out their responsibilities to their ancestors.
Such changes have allowed accessibility to these sacred burial

 
 
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sites, resulting in their disturbance, desecration, and looting.
Descriptions and sketches of specific burial locations that are
available to the public have provided information that enabled
desecration and looting.

     This bill would make burial locations confidential.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Water and Land Use that is attached to this report,
your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B.
No. 2762 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be
referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   ROMY M. CACHOLA, Chair