STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2498

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 2479
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Water, Land, and Hawaiian Affairs and
Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2479 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ELECTION OF THE BOARD OF
     TRUSTEES OF THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to amend the Office of
Hawaiian Affairs' trustee candidate voting procedures to allow
qualified Hawaiian voters to vote for trustee representation by
island.

     Your Committees have amended the measure by deleting the
amendments contained in the measure as received by your
Committee, and inserting amendments to section 13D-4, Hawaii
Revised Statutes, to specify that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs
shall pay for the costs of conducting the special elections in
which the trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs are elected.

     Your Committees have amended the measure in light of the
recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Rice v. Cayetano which struck
down the State's constitutional and statutory provisions that
reserved the right to vote in elections for the trustees of the
Office of Hawaiian Affairs to Hawaii residents of Hawaiian
descent.  Your Committees understand that the measure as amended
will not resolve the problems created by the U.S. Supreme Court
decision, but believe it is necessary to keep a legislative
vehicle moving through the legislative process while the
Legislature determines a more comprehensive solution.

 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2498
                                   Page 2



     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Water, Land, and Hawaiian Affairs and Judiciary
that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord
with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2479, as amended herein,
and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached
hereto as S.B. No. 2479, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar
for Third Reading.

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



____________________________       ______________________________
AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair        COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair



____________________________
MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair

 
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