HB2975.DOC

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Father Damien's canonization will likely increase the number of visitors interested in traveling to Kalaupapa National Historical Park. Presently, the department of health oversees the administration of health services for the patients who reside in the Kalaupapa settlement. In the future, however, when there is no longer a resident patient population, the department of health will have no reason to be involved in the administration of the Kalaupapa settlement.

The legislature also finds that the department of Hawaiian home lands is the appropriate agency to manage the lands when there is no longer a resident patient population.

SECTION 2. Chapter 326, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§326- Department of health; department of land and natural resources; transfer of land. (a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, when there is no longer any person receiving care for Hansen's disease at Kalaupapa Settlement, the department of health and the department of land and natural resources shall timely execute the transfer to the department of Hawaiian home lands of:

(1) All parcels of land in Kalawao county under the department of health and the department of land and natural resources' respective control; and

(2) Any administrative authority over Kalawao county that the department of health and the department of land and natural resources heretofore possessed;

provided that no parcel of land in Kalawao county that is transferred to the department of Hawaiian home lands under this subsection shall attain the status of Hawaiian home lands as defined in section 201(a) of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended.

(b) The department of health and the department of land and natural resources shall not alienate any parcel of land in Kalawao county that is under their respective control, except as authorized under subsection (a).

(c) Upon the transfer as authorized under subsection (a), the powers over Kalawao county heretofore reserved to the department of health and the director of health, respectively, and the department of land and natural resources and the chairperson of the board of land and natural resources, respectively, shall be vested with the department of Hawaiian home lands and a commissioner of the Hawaiian homes commission elected by commission members to serve as the executive administrator of Kalawao county."

SECTION 3. Section 225, Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) (1) The department may receive, manage, and invest moneys or other property, real, personal or mixed, or any interest therein, which may be given, bequeathed, or devised, or in any manner received from sources other than the legislature or any federal appropriation, for the purposes of the Act.

(2) All moneys received by or on behalf of the department shall be deposited into the state treasury to be expended according to law and for purposes in accordance with the terms and conditions of the gift. All moneys shall be appropriated for purposes enumerated in such gifts and if no specific purpose is enumerated, shall be appropriated to the Hawaiian home trust fund.

(3) The department is authorized to sell, lease, or in any way manage such real, personal, or mixed property or any interest therein, in the manner and for the purposes enumerated in the gift. If no conditions are enumerated, the gift may be sold, leased, managed, or disposed of and the income or proceeds therefrom shall be deposited into the Hawaiian home trust fund.

(4) The real property or any interest therein received by the department through contributions or grants shall not attain the status of Hawaiian home lands as defined in section [[]201(a)[]].

(5) The department shall cause to be kept suitable books of account wherein shall be recorded each gift, the essential facts of the management thereof, and the expenditure of income.

(6) Any action to be taken with respect to gifts shall be made in a public meeting where any pertinent information and reasons for any decisions shall be fully disclosed.

(7) Effective when there is no longer any person receiving care for Hansen's disease at Kalaupapa Settlement, the department is authorized to:

(A) Receive the transferred parcels of land in Kalawao county from the department of health and the department of land and natural resources; provided that these transferred lands shall not attain the status of Hawaiian home lands as defined in section 201(a); and

(B) Manage Kalawao county and exercise its authority as granted and vested pursuant to section 326‑ , Hawaii Revised Statutes;

provided that if a sovereign native Hawaiian entity is recognized by the United States and the State, all of the land subject to transfer under subparagraph (A) and all of the authority described in subparagraph (B) shall be transferred to that sovereign native Hawaiian entity."

SECTION 4. Section 326-34, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§326-34 County of Kalawao; governance. (a) The county of Kalawao shall consist of that portion of the island of Molokai known as Kalaupapa, Kalawao, and Waikolu, and commonly known or designated as the Kalaupapa Settlement, and shall not be or form a portion of the county of Maui, but is constituted a county by itself. The county of Maui shall have no authority, including zoning authority, in the county of Kalawao. As a county [it], the county of Kalawao shall have only the powers especially conferred and given by [~~sections 326-34 to 326-38~~] section 326‑ and, except as provided in [~~those sections,~~] that section, none of the provisions of the Hawaii Revised Statutes regarding counties shall be deemed to refer to or shall be applicable to the county of Kalawao.

[(b) The county of Kalawao shall be under the jurisdiction and control of the department of health and be governed by the laws, and rules relating to the department and the care and treatment of persons affected with Hansen's disease, except as otherwise provided by law.]"

SECTION 5. Section 326-35, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is repealed.

["~~§326-35 Sheriff, appointment, removal.~~ There shall be no county officer in the county other than a sheriff, who shall be a patient resident of and be appointed in the county by the department of health and who shall hold office at the pleasure of the department or until a successor is appointed by the department. When a qualified patient resident is not available, the department may appoint a staff employee or other qualified person to serve as sheriff."]

SECTION 6. Section 326-36, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is repealed.

["~~§326-36 Sheriff, salary.~~ ~~The salary of the sheriff shall be fixed and paid by the department of health out of the appropriation allowed by the legislature for the care and treatment of persons affected with Hansen's disease.~~"]

SECTION 7. Section 326-37, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is repealed.

["~~§326-37 Sheriff, duties.~~ The sheriff of the county of Kalawao shall preserve the public peace and shall arrest and take before the district judge for examination all persons who attempt to commit or who have committed a public offense and prosecute the same to the best of the sheriff's ability."]

SECTION 8. Section 326-38, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is repealed.

["~~§326-38 Sheriff, powers.~~ The sheriff may appoint and dismiss and reappoint as many police officers as may be authorized by the department of health for the county. Patient residents, for the services rendered as police officers, shall receive pay as the department determines and which pay shall be taken out of and from the appropriation made by the legislature for the care and treatment of persons affected with Hansen's disease. The sheriff shall have other powers and duties within the county of Kalawao and appropriate thereto as are prescribed by law for the chiefs of police or police officers of the several counties respectively."]

SECTION 9. All rights, powers, functions, and duties of the department of health and the department of land and natural resources are transferred to the executive administrator of Kalawao county elected by members of the Hawaiian homes commission pursuant to section 326- , Hawaii Revised Statutes.

All officers and employees whose functions are transferred by this Act shall be transferred with their functions and shall continue to perform their regular duties upon their transfer, subject to the state personnel laws and this Act.

No officer or employee of the State having tenure shall suffer any loss of salary, seniority, prior service credit, vacation, sick leave, or other employee benefit or privilege as a consequence of this Act, and such officer or employee may be transferred or appointed to a civil service position without the necessity of examination; provided that the officer or employee possesses the minimum qualifications for the position to which transferred or appointed; and provided that subsequent changes in status may be made pursuant to applicable civil service and compensation laws.

An officer or employee of the State who does not have tenure and who may be transferred or appointed to a civil service position as a consequence of this Act shall become a civil service employee without the loss of salary, seniority, prior service credit, vacation, sick leave, or other employee benefits or privileges and without the necessity of examination; provided that such officer or employee possesses the minimum qualifications for the position to which transferred or appointed.

If an office or position held by an officer or employee having tenure is abolished, the officer or employee shall not thereby be separated from public employment, but shall remain in the employment of the State with the same pay and classification and shall be transferred to some other office or position for which the officer or employee is eligible under the personnel laws of the State as determined by the head of the department or the governor.

SECTION 10. All appropriations, records, equipment, machines, files, supplies, contracts, books, papers, documents, maps, and other personal property heretofore made, used, acquired, or held by the department of health and the department of land and natural resources relating to the functions transferred to the department of Hawaiian home lands shall be transferred with the functions to which they relate.

SECTION 11. The provisions of the amendments made by this Act to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended, are declared to be severable, and if any section, sentence, clause, or phrase, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held ineffective because there is a requirement of having the consent of the United States to take effect, then that portion only shall take effect upon the granting of consent by the United States and effectiveness of the remainder of these amendments or the application thereof shall not be affected.

SECTION 12. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 13. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that sections 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 shall take effect when lands located in Kalawao county, that are under the control of the department of health and department of land and natural resources are transferred from the department of health

and the department of land and natural resources to the department of Hawaiian home lands in conformance with this Act.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2975
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010
STATE OF HAWAII