STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2475

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2874

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Water and Land and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2874 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE BOARD OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require at least one member of the Board of Land and Natural Resources to have a background in native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Board of Land and Natural Resources and three individuals.

     Your Committees find that the Department of Land and Natural Resources, as a state agency, is obligated under the state constitution, state law, and case law to preserve and protect the exercise of traditional and customary native Hawaiian rights.  Requiring one member of the Board of Land and Natural Resources to have a background in native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices supports this obligation.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water and Land and Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2874 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water and Land and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________ MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair

____________________________ MALAMA SOLOMON, Chair