STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1311-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.R. No. 164

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.R. No. 164 entitled:

"HOUSE RESOLUTION REQUESTING A STUDY ON THE RIGHTS OF NATIVE HAWAIIANS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this resolution is to acknowledge native Hawaiians as indigenous traditional knowledge holders with collective intellectual property rights by:

(1) Requesting the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, in collaboration with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Department of Land and Natural Resources, and any other relevant and interested state agency, to conduct a study on:

(a) The rights of native Hawaiians as traditional, indigenous knowledge holders;

(b) The impacts of western intellectual property rights on native Hawaiian rights; and

(c) The cultural, social, and economic development of the native Hawaiian people;

(2) Requesting the University of Hawaii to adopt a Board of

Regents policy that:

(a) Acknowledges the collective intellectual property rights of the native Hawaiian people; and

(b) Native Hawaiians retain equitable title to the State's biological diversity and biological resources on public lands;

and

(3) Urging the federal government to recognize native Hawaiians and other indigenous, native people living within the United States as indigenous, traditional knowledge holders who have collective intellectual property rights that must be recognized by the United States Copyright Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Two concerned individuals testified in support of this measure. The Hawaiian Political Action Council of Hawaii supported this measure with amendments. OHA supported the intent of this measure.

Your Committee has amended this resolution by:

(1) Inserting language from the Native Hawaiian Education Act, Part B, Public Law 107-110, relating to the relationship between the United States government and the native Hawaiian people; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.R. No. 164, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Judiciary in the form attached hereto as H.R. No. 164, H.D. 1.

 

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water, Land Use, and Hawaiian Affairs,

 

____________________________

EZRA R. KANOHO, Chair