STAND. COM. REP. NO. 685

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 1358

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1358, H.D. 1, 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; Pilina Center for Wellbeing; Ali‘i Pauahi Hawaiian Civic Club; ACLU Hawai‘i; and numerous individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Center for Hawaii Sovereignty Studies and one individual.

Your Committee finds that the Public Lands Trust Working Group (Working Group) was established pursuant to Act 226, Session Laws of Hawaii 2022, to account for all ceded lands in the public land trust inventory and income and proceeds from the public land trust 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. Your Committee notes that 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 will appropriate funds for a third-party review of the PLTIS to support the Working Group in accurately determining the pro rata share of income and proceeds due to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Your Committee has amended this measure by 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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1358, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1358, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair