STAND. COM. REP. NO. 19

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 196

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021                                         

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 196 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE HAWAII STATE CONSTITUTION TO REQUIRE THE REAPPORTIONMENT COMMISSION TO ESTABLISH A REAPPORTIONMENT PLAN TO DRAW DISTRICT LINES FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS BOARD OF TRUSTEES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend the State Constitution to require the Reapportionment Commission to establish a reapportionment plan to draw district lines for the total number of members of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of the Attorney General and Office of the Hawaiian Affairs.

 

     Your Committee finds that members of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs are elected during an at-large statewide election in which all registered voters are permitted to vote to elect all trustees.  This measure provides for an election in which only qualified voters of a district within the State's four basic island units – Hawaii; Maui, Molokai, and Lanai; Oahu; and Kauai and Niihau are permitted to elect one of the nine members of the Board of Trustees.

 

     Your Committee further finds that the reapportionment of the nine-member Board of Trustees among the four basic island units may fall short of the one-person, one-vote standard established by the United States Supreme Court in Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964).  States must make honest and good faith efforts to construct districts with equal numbers of persons as practicable.  Due to the significant disparities in population sizes among the basic island units, deviations from population equality in the reapportionment of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs may be required.

 

     Accordingly, your Committee notes the concerns expressed in the testimony of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs indicating that the Board of Trustees would likely lose the seat for the Trustee representing the islands of Molokai and Lanai, and that six of the nine trustee seats would likely be apportioned to Oahu, with one trustee seat for each of the remaining island units.  These deviations and change in representation may raise concerns under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.  Your Committee finds that addressing these constitutional equal representation requirements, combined with the apportionment envisioned in this measure may require a significant increase in the number of trustees on the Board of Trustees, resulting in potential increases in trust fund spending and impacts to governance from an expanded Board of Trustees.

 

     Moreover, your Committee finds that there is uncertainty as to how the current Board of Trustees will transition to the new configuration and how all members will serve concurrent four-year terms following reapportionment.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Inserting language to require that at the election immediately following the adoption of the apportionment plan:

 

          (A)  The term of office for all members of the Board of Trustees shall end;

 

          (B)  The Reapportionment Commission shall assign two-year terms to a simple majority of the seats; and

 

          (C)  The remaining seats shall be assigned to four-year terms;

 

     (2)  Updating the question to be printed on the ballot; 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. 196, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 196, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair