HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

149

TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2014

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting a report from the chairperson of the hawaiian homes commission relating to the waiting lists for hawaiian home lands homestead leases.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, an applicant for a Hawaiian Home Lands homestead lease is placed on an island-wide waiting list of the applicant's choice; and

 

     WHEREAS, an applicant is encouraged by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to designate a successor to succeed to the applicant's application rights upon the applicant's death; and

 

     WHEREAS, an applicant's number on the waiting list is established on the date that the application is accepted by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and this number generally decreases as applicants with lower numbers are removed from the waiting list because they have requested to be removed or because they have been awarded leases; and

 

     WHEREAS, an applicant's number on the waiting list may also increase as a result of actions taken by the Hawaiian Homes Commission, which is authorized to approve adjustments to a waiting list, resulting in increases, rather than decreases, to an applicant's number on a waiting list; and

 

     WHEREAS, furthermore, an applicant with a higher waiting list number may be given an award of a homestead lease before an applicant with a lower waiting list number through a lease transfer from another lessee or through successorship from a deceased relative who was a lessee; and

 

     WHEREAS, with the written approval of the Chairperson of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, lessees of residential homestead leases may also transfer their leasehold interest to qualified transferees who are able to assume any outstanding indebtedness on the lease; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2014, that the Chairperson of the Hawaiian Homes Commission is requested to submit a report to each legislator not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2015, on the following issues pertaining to the waiting list for Hawaiian Home Lands homestead leases:

 

     (1)  The total number of applicants on the waiting list by island;

 

     (2)  The total number of designated successors of lessees of a homestead lease;

 

     (3)  The total number of lessees in the last ten years who were reinstated as applicants to a waiting list after transferring homestead leases to transferees;

 

     (4)  The total number of wait-listed applicants in the last ten years who choose not to accept an award of a homestead lease;

 

     (5)  An explanation of the decision-making process used in retaining or reinstating applicants to a waiting list; and

 

     (6)  The specific reasons that an applicant is allowed to be reinstated to a waiting list after transferring a homestead lease to a transferee; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson and members of the Hawaiian Homes Commission.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title: 

Hawaiian Home Lands Homestead Leases