STAND. COM. REP. NO. 198
Honolulu, Hawaii
S.D. 1
President of the Senate
Thirty-First State Legislature
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1318 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO KULEANA LANDS,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose and intent of this measure is to require that claimants seeking to quiet title of kuleana land and original land titles that are land commission awards with a royal patent of confirmation which are based on claims to a right to the land before 1848, shall have a good faith claim to more than fifty percent of the land.
Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from four individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from Ka Lāhui Hawai‘i Kōmike Kalai‘āina and one individual.
Your Committee finds that the State has a
constitutional duty to protect the title to kuleana lands granted to native Hawaiians
over one hundred fifty years ago, kuleana claims that were approved by the land
commission, and land titles with a royal patent of confirmation which are based
on claims to a right to land before 1848. Following the Mahele of 1848, several thousand
native tenants, or makaainana (common people), pursuant to the Kuleana Act of
1850, filed for and were granted title to lands they occupied and
improved. Although these lands were, by
law, "subject to the rights of native tenants" there were, initially,
no formal protections in place to guard these rights and nothing to stop the
konohiki (chiefs) or the government from selling lands occupied by makaainana. In response to the concerns over the rights of
native tenants, the Kuleana Act of August 6, 1850, and the amendment of July 11,
1851, authorized the Kingdom of Hawaii to confirm several resolutions of the Monarch
and Privy Council that granted to the makaainana grant fee-simple title to all native
tenants for their cultivated lands and house lots, often referred to as kuleana
lands.
Your Committee also finds that very few native
Hawaiian families live on their ancestral kuleana lands. The rapid escalation of land values in the recent
years have resulted in further disenfranchisement, foreclosure, and emotional and
financial struggles for native Hawaiian families that are trying to keep kuleana
lands in their families. While quiet
title actions have been a beneficial legal tool for kuleana awardees to resist
adverse possession claims made by large agricultural entities, the current framework of quiet title action leaves kuleana
owners vulnerable to dispossession, including through the use of complex and
cost-prohibitive legal processes that effectively foreclose quiet title
defendants from challenging quiet title actions and adverse possession claims.
Your Committee notes concerns raised by Ka
Lāhui Hawai‘i Kōmike Kalai‘āina that
this measure could be strengthened further by limiting actions to quiet title
to kuleana land to plaintiffs who own at least a fifty percent interest in the
land. This measure will create a more
equitable and timelier safeguard to resolve disputes and hardships stemming
from quiet title actions filed against owners of kuleana lands.
Your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Requiring that claimants seeking to quiet title of kuleana land shall hold title rather than have a good faith claim, to more than fifty percent of the land;
(2) Inserting language to require that the plaintiff bear any costs for quiet title actions and may only recover costs, expenses, or attorney's fees from the defendant as the court may deem equitable under the circumstances; and
(3) 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 is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1318, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1318, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Hawaiian Affairs,
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________________________________ MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair |
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