STAND. COM. REP. NO. 837

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1343

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 1343, S.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to

(1) Remove acreage restrictions on leases of Hawaiian home lands for agricultural purposes;

(2) Provide that the availability of leases shall be subject to the availability of suitable tracts of land; and

(3) Specify that leases may be for for-profit or non-profit purposes.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiian Affairs Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

Your committee finds that, as originally enacted by the United States Congress, the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act authorized the Hawaiian Homes Commission to lease twenty to eighty acres of agricultural land.  In the present day, the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act authorizes the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to lease no more than forty acres of agricultural land with at least twenty-six of those acres under continuous cultivation. Your Committee further finds that, while this measure could potentially allow for expanded opportunities in certain areas for farming, removing acreage restrictions on leases could inequitably disadvantage the large number of applicants on the waitlist for agricultural leases.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of May 6, 2137, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1343, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1343, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

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KARL RHOADS, Chair