STAND. COM. REP. NO. 915

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 922

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 922 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC LANDS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow 999-year homestead leases to be assigned to land trusts that are created for the purposes of managing and holding the homestead leasehold estate for the benefit of the lessee and lessee's family members.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and two individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that the structure of the 999-year leases continues to pose challenges for lessees and causes significant conflict in families.  Act 166, Session Laws of Hawaii 2000, was intended to make the leases more freely available to lessees' family members, but uncertainty regarding the Act's effect on existing legal rights has made it difficult to identify the rightful leaseholder and hampers the orderly transfer of leases.  Your Committee is in support of this measure as a means of addressing this continuing problem for lessees and their families.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by incorporating provisions from S.B. No. 1521, S.D. 2, and S.B. No. 2, S.D. 2.  As amended, this measure:

 

     (1)  In part I, retains the provisions relating to 999-year homestead leases;

 

     (2)  In part II, authorizes exemptions from state and county permits, including all permits required under chapter 205A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, for the Hawaii Marine Laboratory Refuge for repair and maintenance of its facilities located on the island of Moku-o-loe (Coconut Island), Island of Oahu;

 

     (3)  In part III:

 

          (A)  Requires the Department of Land and Natural Resources to initiate and coordinate all efforts to establish a public lands information system, beginning July 1, 2011;

 

          (B)  Requires all state agencies to report to the Department each parcel of land to which the agency holds title and the disposition of each parcel to which the agency holds title or is acquiring title by August 1, 2011, and any inaccuracies in reports to the Department by January 1, 2012;

 

          (C)  Requires the Department to submit a progress report to the Legislature prior to the Regular Sessions of 2012 and 2013; and

 

          (D)  Appropriates funds to create and maintain a comprehensive statewide public land trust inventory database and to provide funding for one staff position; provided that the funds shall be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; and

 

     (4)  Makes 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 H.B. No. 922, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 922, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

BRICKWOOD GALUTERIA, Chair