WHEREAS, the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920, as amended
(HHCA), enables native Hawaiians to return to their lands in order to fully
support self-sufficiency, self-determination, and the preservation of the
values, traditions, and culture of native Hawaiians; and
WHEREAS, the HHCA created a land trust to enable displaced
native Hawaiian people to lease residential, agriculture, or pastoral homestead
land from the trust for one dollar per year; and
WHEREAS, in the years following the Territory of Hawaii joining the
United States in 1959, the State promised to take responsibility for
managing these lands and supporting native Hawaiian people through
ensuring the perpetuation of the HHCA; and
WHEREAS, native Hawaiians who meet the fifty per cent blood quantum
are eligible for the Hawaiian Home Lands program; and
WHEREAS, further, the reduction prevents generationally held
homestead leases from being lost when elderly lessees or wait list
beneficiaries, many of whom are older than seventy years of age, die without a
qualified successor; and
WHEREAS, in 2017 the State of Hawaii Legislature enacted Act 80,
which amends the HHCA to lower the minimum required Hawaiian blood quantum from
one quarter to one thirty-second; and
WHEREAS, because the amendment to the HHCA made by Act 80 changes
the qualification of leases, the Department of the Attorney General determined
that Act 80 requires consent of the United States Congress and is not effective
until the United States gives its consent; and
WHEREAS, before a State-proposed amendment to the HHCA is
transmitted for congressional consent, the Secretary of the United States
Department of the Interior must review the amendment, make a determination as
to whether the amendment requires congressional approval, and submit the
amendment to the United States Congress for approval if consent is required;
and
WHEREAS, in 2018, in accordance with the procedure outlined above,
the United States Department of the Interior sent a set of questions and data
requests to the State in order to conduct a preliminary assessment of Act 80;
and
WHEREAS, the United States Department of the Interior noted that
the State’s failure to conduct further reviews or supply data has impeded its timely
analysis of Act 80; and
WHEREAS, in 2022, based on the information provided by the State,
the Solicitor of the United States Department of the Interior completed the
preliminary assessment and issued a determination that the Department cannot
endorse the amendments proposed by Act 80 due to the inequitable effects on
beneficiaries and their successors; now, therefore,
BE IT
RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of
the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2024, the Senate concurring, that the United States Department of the Interior is urged
to work with the Office of the Governor, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands,
United States congressional delegations from Hawaii, and Sovereign Council of
Hawaiian Homestead Associations to make a determination in support of Act 80;
and
BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that the United States Department of the
Interior is urged to directly engage with the State of Hawaii and
Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations to request additional
information and data to move Act 80 forward; and
BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that the United States Congress is urged to
give its consent to Act 80 to lower the minimum required Hawaiian blood quantum
from one quarter to one thirty-second; and
BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the United States Secretary of the Interior, members of
the Hawaii congressional delegation, Governor, Chairperson of the Department of
the Hawaiian Homes Commission, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the
Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and Chair of the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian
Homestead Associations.
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OFFERED BY:
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Report Title:
United States Department of the Interior; Act 80; Hawaiian
Blood Quantum