STAND. COM. REP. NO. 32

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 261

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 261 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 provide to beneficiaries of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920, as amended, monthly accountability reports that contain certain information on leases and fiscal matters.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations and three individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and Hui Kako‘o ‘Āina Ho‘opulapula.

Your Committee finds that transparency in government is of the utmost importance. Transparency promotes accountability and provides information to citizens about what their government is doing. Your Committee further finds that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is a government agency established and governed by the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920, as amended. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands serves native Hawaiian beneficiaries and manages an extensive land trust for their benefit. Therefore, this measure promotes transparency by requiring the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to provide quarterly accountability reports to beneficiaries within fifteen days following the end of each quarter.

Your Committee also notes the testimony of Hui Kako‘o ‘Āina Ho‘opulapula, expressing concerns that the measure would require the disclosure of land lease transactions exchanged or sold between beneficiaries, which are personal and unrelated to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

Therefore, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language that narrows the required disclosure of land lease transactions to those exchanged or sold between beneficiaries and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; and

(2) Making 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 S.B. No. 261, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 261, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair