STAND. COM. REP. NO. 880

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 717

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 717 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAIIAN HOMES COMMISSION ACT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to create a digital database of its applicant, beneficiary, and lessee records.

Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

Your Committee finds that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands waiting list for leases awarded pursuant to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act has more than twenty thousand applicants. Your Committee believes that digitizing the Department's applicant, beneficiary, and lessee records will increase departmental efficiency, reduce abuse of lease awards by lessees, and facilitate the efficiency and transparency of the lease award process.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 717, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 717, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair