STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3563

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    GOV. MSG. NO. 897

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred Governor's Message No. 897, submitting for study and consideration the nomination of: 

 

Island Burial Council, Island of O'ahu

 

G.M. No. 897

ELTON MAGALLANES,

for a term to expire 6-30-2015,

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     Your Committee has reviewed the personal history, resume, and statement submitted by the nominee and finds Elton Magallanes to possess the requisite qualifications to be nominated to the Island Burial Council, Island of O‘ahu.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of the nomination of Elton Magallanes from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

 

     Your Committee finds that Mr. Magallanes understands the native Hawaiian practices with respect to ancestral bones from his continuing studies and his family tradition.  Mr. Magallanes has studied various forms and levels of ceremonial protocols under the late kumu John Keola Lake and continues to study them under ‘Olohe Ke‘eaumoku Kapu.  The subject of ancestral remains stokes a deep sense of responsibility in Mr. Magallanes--a responsibility passed down to him from his great grandfather--and out of this responsibility he cares for an monitors numerous family burials and relics on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Kauai, and O‘ahu.

 

     Mr. Magallanes has been a resident of Wai‘anae for over thirty years and has served in an interim capacity on the Island Burial Council since November 2011.  His assistance helped Wai‘anae regional descendants protect, recover, and repatriate ancestral bones that were unearthed at Mauna Lahilahi in 2008.  Aside from his work as an educator at Alu Like, the nominee also works with young men in a ha‘a group for Wai‘anae youth and assists with burial protocols and restoration efforts in Kalaeloa. 

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee, after full consideration of the background, experience, and qualifications of the nominee, has found the nominee to be qualified for the position to which nominated and recommends that the Senate advise and consent to the nomination.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Hawaiian Affairs,

 

 

 

____________________________

BRICKWOOD GALUTERIA, Chair