Requires the department of land and natural resources to map burial sites that are inadvertently discovered using a global positioning system device and record the location of the burial site and the site to which the remains are reinterred, if any.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. Section 6E-43.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:

1. By amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) The discovery shall be reported as soon as possible to the department, the appropriate medical examiner or coroner, and the appropriate police department. As soon as practicable, the department shall notify the appropriate council and the office of Hawaiian affairs. The department shall also map the coordinates of the location where the human skeletal remains were discovered, using a global positioning system device, and record the information with the bureau of conveyances."

2. By amending subsection (f) to read as follows:

(f) In cases where remains are archaeologically removed, the department shall determine the place of relocation, after consultation with the appropriate council, affected property owners, representatives of the relevant ethnic group, and any identified lineal descendants, as appropriate. The department shall also map the coordinates of the location where the human skeletal remains are to be relocated, using a global positioning system device, and record the information with the bureau of conveyances. Relocation shall conform with requirements imposed by the department of health, and may be accompanied by traditional ceremonies, as determined by the lineal descendants, or, if no lineal descendants are identified, the appropriate council or representatives of the relevant ethnic group that the department deems appropriate. Specific or special reinterment requests from lineal or cultural descendants may be accommodated provided that the additional expenses incurred are paid by the affected descendants."

SECTION 2. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.