STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2917

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2640

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2640, S.D. 1, entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide to any beneficiary under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended, who is on the Department of Hawaiian Homes Lands waitlist, a cash award to purchase a residential lot outside of Department of Hawaiian Home Lands trust lands, or to pay the beneficiary's existing mortgage note or rent, in lieu of awarding the beneficiary a lease.

Your Committees received written comments in support of this measure from the Makaha Hawaiian Civic Club and five individuals.

Your Committees received written comments in opposition to this measure from the Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies.

Your Committees received written comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and one individual.

Your Committees recognize that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands lacks sufficient suitable land to provide leases to all of the approximately twenty-four thousand Hawaiian home land beneficiaries on the Department's waitlist. Your Committees find that cash awards will serve as a reasonable alternative to direct leases, help the Department meet the housing needs of beneficiaries, and reduce the number of beneficiaries on its waitlist.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting clarifying language to accommodate potential variation in the amount of the cash award granted, subject to an unspecified maximum amount, for any qualifying beneficiary;

(2) Clarifying that a beneficiary who accepts a cash award as proposed by the measure shall relinquish the beneficiary's right to receive a lease award directly from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2640, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2640, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary,

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair

________________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair