STAND. COM. REP. NO. 742

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 436

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 436 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRAINING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide training to members of appropriate state councils, boards, and commissions about native Hawaiian and Hawaiian traditional and customary rights, natural resource protection and access rights, and the public trust.

     Specifically, the measure:

     (1)  Requires the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to establish, design, and administer a training course on native Hawaiian and Hawaiian traditional and customary rights, natural resource protection and access rights, and the public trust;

     (2)  Requires members of appropriate state councils, boards, and commissions to take the training course; and

     (3)  Authorizes other state or county officers, representatives, or employees to request to enroll in the training course.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Land Use Commission, the Aha Moku Advisory Committee, the Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law, the Koolaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club, King Kamehameha HCC, the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, Kua‘aina Ulu ‘Auamo, the Koolau Foundation, and the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology.  Your Committee received written comments in opposition to this measure from the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii and the Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies.

     Your Committee finds that certain state councils, boards, and commissions administer public trust resources and programs that directly impact native Hawaiian and Hawaiian traditional and customary rights, natural resource protection and access rights, and the public trust.  Your Committee further finds that, as entities of the State, these councils, boards, and commissions have a duty to protect and preserve these rights and a fiduciary duty to administer the public trust in the interest of the beneficiaries.  Your Committee believes that the training course required by this measure will better prepare members of state councils, boards, and commissions to fulfill their responsibilities relating to native Hawaiian and Hawaiian traditional and customary rights, natural resource protection and access rights, and the public trust.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 436 and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair