STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2868

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  H.B. No. 2762
                                        




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Water, Land, and Hawaiian Affairs, to
which was referred H.B. No. 2762 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ISLAND BURIAL COUNCILS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to clarify the current law to
make records of the Department of Land and Natural Resources
confidential if deemed sensitive by an island burial council or
the Hawaii Historic Places Review Board.

     Testimony in support of the measure from the Department of
Land and Natural Resources and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

     Your Committee finds that the confidentiality of description
and location information, especially for burial and other
cultural sites, is a highly sensitive issue within the Hawaiian
community.  The final resting place of the ancestors of Native
Hawaiians has always been sacred and consequently, hidden to
protect its sanctity.  Descriptions and sketches of specific
burial locations that are available to the public through the
Department of Land and Natural Resources, though not intended to
do so, have provided information that enabled desecration and
looting.

     Your Committee believes that the protection of historic
sites from desecration provides a legitimate basis to prohibit
public disclosure of specific locations and descriptions of
burial sites.

 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2868
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     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Water, Land, and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached
to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and
purpose of H.B. No. 2762 and recommends that it pass Second
Reading and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair

 
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