STAND. COM. REP. NO. 174-00

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 2000

                                 RE: H.B. No. 2782
                                     




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. 2782 entitled: 

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to authorize the Department of
Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to execute mitigation plans for
the landowner, permittee, or developer, on request, for
inadvertent discovery of burial sites.

     Testimony was received in support of this bill from the
Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and the
Environmental Center of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

     No testimony in opposition to this bill was received.

     Comment was offered by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA)
supporting this bill but asking that it be amended to allow
families to be involved in the process.

     Your Committee finds that when inadvertent burials are
discovered, DLNR sends staff to the scene.  The staff
investigates the situation and decides whether the human remains
are to stay in place or be relocated.  If the remains are to be
removed, DLNR will on occasion undertake this task, especially in
cases when the ocean has eroded the remains from the shoreline.
However, the property owner usually hires a consulting
archaeologist to perform this work.  The language in this bill

 
 
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will explicitly give DLNR authority to implement mitigation
plans, and to charge appropriate fees as compensation for such
action.  There is already provision in this bill that addresses
the concerns of OHA.

     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. 2782 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be
referred to the Committee on Finance.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   ROMY M. CACHOLA, Chair