HCR296.DOC

WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii has fiduciary responsibilities as the trustee of the public land trust established by section 5(f) of the Admission Act; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the Legislature has a constitutional obligation to clarify the amount of revenues derived from the public land trust that should be transferred to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for the benefit of Native Hawaiians under Article XII, sections 4 and 6 of the Hawaii State Constitution; and

WHEREAS, one of the purposes of Act 178, Session Laws of Hawaii 2006 (Act 178), was to identify revenue-generating public trust lands and the amounts derived from those lands by requiring that the Department of Land and Natural Resources provide an annual accounting to the Legislature; and

WHEREAS, section 5 of Act 178 requires that no later than January 1 of each year, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, with the cooperation of the Department of Budget and Finance and any other state department or agency that uses or manages public lands, provide an accounting of all receipts from lands described in section 5(f) of the Admission Act for the prior fiscal year; and

WHEREAS, section 5 of Act 178 also requires that with respect to each receipt, the Department of Land and Natural Resources must identify:
(1) The total gross amount;

(2) The amount transferred to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs;

(3) The amount retained by the State;

(4) The account or fund in which the amount specified in paragraph (3) was transferred or deposited;

(5) The parcel of land subject to section (5)f of the Admission Act that generated the receipt, whether by tax map key number, Department of Land and Natural Resources inventory number, or other recognizable description; and

(6) The state department or agency that received the total gross amount identified in paragraph (1);

and

WHEREAS, in addition, section 5 of Act 178 requires that the accounting also indicate whether any parcel of land described in section 5(f) of the Admission Act was sold or exchanged in the prior fiscal year and, if so, the amount of consideration that the State received for the respective parcels; and

WHEREAS, section 5 of Act 178 also requires that the Department of Land and Natural Resources consult the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in determining the method in which the accounting must be conducted; and

WHEREAS, full compliance with Act 178 is critical to fulfilling the State's trust obligation regarding the lands in the public land trust and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2011, the Senate concurring, that the State Auditor is requested to conduct an audit of the State's compliance with section 5 of Act 178; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all government agencies are requested to provide their full cooperation and all relevant data and other information to the State Auditor during the planning and implementation of the audit; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the State Auditor is requested to submit her findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than 20 days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2012; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, Director of Finance, State Auditor, and Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Audit of State's compliance with Section 5 of Act 178, Session Laws of Hawaii 2006

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	296
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2011
STATE OF HAWAII