STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2163

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2623

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2623 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 exclude from any waiting list maintained by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, any lessee or successor who sells or transfers their lease on a tract of Hawaiian home lands.

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

Your Committee finds that certain native Hawaiians who are eligible for a lease pursuant to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, have acquired a lease, sold, or transferred their interest in the lease, and then placed their name on the waitlist for a second lease. Because all beneficiaries should be able to enter the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act program with a reasonable expectation of eventually receiving a lease, this measure prohibits lessees who sell or transfer their interest in a Hawaiian home lands tract from being placed on the waiting list maintained by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands for an additional lease.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that the lessee or successor is not eligible to return to the waitlist if they sell the lease for personal gain; and

(2) 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. 2623, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2623, 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