STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3825

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.R. No. 130

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.R. No. 130 entitled:

"SENATE RESOLUTION URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS AND OTHER TRUST ASSETS TO ITS NATIVE HAWAIIAN BENEFICIARIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to urge the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to improve access to Hawaiian home lands and other trust assets to its native Hawaiian beneficiaries.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from two individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

Your Committee finds that the purpose of the Hawaiian Home Commission Act was, and is, to restore the cultural link between native Hawaiians and the land and to provide native Hawaiians the stability, financial equity, and economic self-sufficiency that comes from land and home ownership. Your Committee further finds that few homesteads have been resettled and many beneficiaries remain on the waitlist. This measure urges the Hawaiian Home Commission to take certain actions so that housing and information are better provided to native Hawaiian beneficiaries.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that fewer than ten thousand homesteads have been resettled rather than one hundred thousand;

(2) Specifying that SMS Research & Marketing Services completed the 2019 Hawaii Housing Planning Study, which found that of the native Hawaiian households surveyed, eleven percent were living on Hawaiian homestead land (12,755 households) in 2019, similar to 2016;

(3) Specifying that among native Hawaiian households, twenty percent had at least one member on the waitlist to receive a Department of Hawaiian Home Lands award (23,883 households) on which they intended to reside and of those households, only about three-quarters (seventy-three percent) were sure that they intend to have a house on that land;

(4) Specifying that an additional 21,399 native Hawaiian households stated that they have a household member eligible to apply for a Hawaiian home lands lease but were not yet a leaseholder nor an applicant;

(5) Making conforming amendments to the title; and

(6) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 130, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 130, S.D. 1.

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

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MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair