STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2293

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2994

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2994 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HAWAIIAN HOMES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Allow the Hawaiian Homes Commission and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to retain independent legal counsel as needed;

     (2)  Authorize the Hawaiian Homes Commission and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to use the services of the Attorney General as needed and when the interests of the State, Hawaiian Homes Commission, and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands are aligned; and

     (3)  Provide that funds owed to independent legal counsel shall be paid by the State.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, Villages of Laiopua Association, Moku o Keawe Homestead Alliance, Kailapa Community Association, and ten individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

     Your Committees note the testimony of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands that twenty-one other state agencies currently have the autonomy that this measure would provide to the Hawaiian Homes Commission and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.  Your Committees also note its concern that there are currently no limits to the cost of independent legal counsel for the state agencies that retain such counsel.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2994, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2994, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Judiciary and Labor,

________________________________ GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair

________________________________ MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair