STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1477

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2021

 

RE:   S.B. No. 1409

      S.D. 2

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1409, S.D. 2, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRAINING IN NATIVE HAWAIIAN RIGHTS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Prohibit newly appointed or reappointed council, board, and commission members from serving if the member has not completed, within the requisite time, the required training course related to native Hawaiian and Hawaiian traditional and customary rights, native Hawaiian and Hawaiian natural resource protection and access rights, and the public trust, including the State's trust responsibility; and

 

     (2)  Require the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Department of Land and Natural Resources to compile an annual report of council, board, and commission members who have failed to complete their training course requirement.


     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law, Kuaāina Ulu Auamo, Kūpuna for the Moopuna, and seven individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies.

 

     Your Committee finds that Act 169, Session Laws of Hawaii 2015 (Act 169), required the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to establish, design, and administer a training course on native Hawaiian and Hawaiian rights, the sources of these rights, and how the infringement of these rights affect the native Hawaiian and Hawaiian people.  Act 169 also required new members of certain state councils, boards, and commission to complete the training course within one year of their appointment.  Currently, a significant number of board and commission members subject to the mandatory training course continue to fail to comply with their training course completion responsibility.  This measure ensures greater recognition and incorporation of native Hawaiian and Hawaiian knowledge, values, and rights in land use and resource management decision-making.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Requiring the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to record the training courses and make the recordings available to those who were unable able to attend the training course;

 

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 3021, to encourage further discussion; and

 

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

 

     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 S.B. No. 1409, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1409, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

MARK M. NAKASHIMA, Chair