Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 610, S.D. 2, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to enable individual beneficiaries under the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust to have their breach of trust claims resolved by replacing the expired Hawaiian Home Lands Trust Individual Claims Review Panel (Panel) with a new special master.

The Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and Davis, Levin, Livingston, and Grande Attorneys testified in support of this bill. The Attorney General testified in opposition to this bill. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands commented on this measure.

The Panel was established in 1991 to award monetary compensation to native Hawaiians who suffered a breach of trust by the State of Hawaii in its administration of the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust. By the time of the statutory deadline in 1995, 2,752 native Hawaiians filed claims with the Panel. However, the Panel could not complete its work and was dissolved in 1999, after being extended several times. At that time, the Panel recommended awards for 469 claimants and rejected awards for 874 claimants. However, 1,376 claims remain unresolved.

A class action lawsuit was filed by the claimants to preserve their claims and their right to compensation from the State. The claimants were successful in winning the right to sue, but the decision was appealed by the State, and a ruling from the Hawaii Supreme Court is pending.

Your Committee finds that the State needs to complete the work that was begun over ten years ago. The appointment of a special master to complete the evaluation process for the remaining claimants whose claims were not considered by the Panel is a means of resolving this issue.

However, your Committee is mindful of the concerns of the Attorney General that this measure may allow for double recovery by claimants under both the class action lawsuit and any disbursement that may be recommended by the special master. Accordingly, your Committee received assurances from both the Attorney General's Office and the claimants' attorneys that language could be worked out and presented to your Committee on Judiciary.

Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this measure by:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 610, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 610, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.