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 H.B. No. 1305 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to require the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) to establish and maintain a registry of all persons of Hawaiian ancestry, regardless of place of residence.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs and a concerned individual testified in support of this measure. Written testimony in opposition to the measure was submitted by a private individual. A concerned individual provided comments.

The OHA Board of Trustees authorized OHA to initiate a program to place individuals who can establish, based on genealogical records sufficient to establish the person's descent from the aboriginal peoples inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, on the Hawaiian Registry. This bill codifies the program currently in place at OHA. No state general revenue funds are required.

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 H.B. No. 1305 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.