STAND. COM. REP. NO. 198

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 1358

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Water & Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 1358 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE PUBLIC LAND TRUST WORKING GROUP,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for the hiring of necessary staff and the purchase of equipment and professional services on behalf of the Public Land Trust Working Group.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Office of Hawaiian Affairs; one trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Malama Kauaʻi; Hawaiian Nationals Regardless of Race; Nohopapa Hawaii, LLC; Hana Health; Koʻolauloa Hawaiian Civic Club; The Spoehr Foundation; Naalehu Theatre; Ka Lahui Hawaiʻi; and numerous individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies and one individual.

Your Committee finds that Act 226, Session Laws of Hawaii 2022, established a Public Lands Trust Working Group (Working Group) to determine the pro rata share of income and proceeds from the Public Land Trust due annually to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Your Committee further finds that the Working Group has determined that information in the Public Land Trust Information System (PLTIS) developed and maintained by the Department of Land and Natural Resources is based in part on self-reporting of revenues by state agencies and counties and there has not been a third-party independent audit, review, or evaluation of the thoroughness or accuracy of the PLTIS, including existing reporting practices and determinations of what lands should be included or excluded from the PLTIS database. This measure is intended to support the efforts of the Working Group in accurately determining the pro rata share of income and proceeds due to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs by appropriating funds for a third-party review of the PLTIS.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount;

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $1,000,000.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water & Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1358, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1358, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water & Land,

____________________________

MARK J. HASHEM, Chair