Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Water, Land, Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 105 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make existing funds available for the development of infrastructure for the Kikala-Keokea subdivision on the island of Hawaii.

Testimony in support of the measure was received from the Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Hawaii County Economic Opportunity Council, the Gibson Foundation, and Na Ohana O Kalapana.

Your Committees find that Act 314, Session Laws of Hawaii 1991, as amended (Act 314), authorized the Department of Land and Natural Resources to negotiate and enter into long-term leases with persons of Hawaiian ancestry who were dispossessed or displaced from their homes at Kalapana as a result of the volcanic eruptions on the island of Hawaii. Act 314 also authorized the Department of Land and Natural Resources to subdivide and provide for the creation of a residential subdivision in the Kikala-Keokea homestead area for persons who receive long-term leases from the Department.

During that same legislative session, the Legislature also enacted Act 242, Session Laws of Hawaii 1991 (Act 242), which appropriated $1.75 million to provide low interest loans of up to $35,000 to assist persons displaced or dispossessed by volcanic eruptions in the Kalapana area. To this date, only one person has received a loan under this program.

One of the reasons many former Kalapana residents have not utilized the resources made available to them to relocate and rebuild in the Kikala-Keokea area is that, unfortunately, the area set aside for this purpose, was, and still is, without adequate infrastructure necessary to sustain a community. The Department of Land and Natural Resources has only recently been able to complete the installation of subdivision roads and a waterline connection to the county water system.

Your Committees believe that authorizing the Department of Land and Natural Resources to utilize the moneys appropriated by the Legislature under Act 242 would accelerate the process of permanently situating the displaced and dispossessed former residents of Kalapana who have been waiting for over a decade to replace their homes.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Water, Land, Energy and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 105 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.